Adding Width To An Angled Headstock

[Mr. Preston Swift]

I'm making a 13 degree angled headstock by scarf joint (i think that's what it's called; see picture) but I'm pretty sure that the headstock itself is not wide enough for the design i want. Should i add more wood to the sides of the headstock before or after i glue the joint?

Edited November 17, 2007 by Mr. Preston Swift

[PTU 7's.]

No, before you glued the headstock you will need to flat the joint and the sides. Then you can add the pieces you need onto the sides.

[chennik]

The standard answer would be to glue the scarf join first, then the ears. But,It depends on the profile of your headstock really.

I would glue the head to the neck first, then go back and glue the 'ears' on. That way, you are working with a neck blank and a head that are the same width, and when clamping, you can use a flat surface, like a work top or a jig of straight boards, to line them up as you clamp them, and keep lateral movement to a minimum. Once that is complete, you can glue up the ears and they can overlap the neck side of the joint as well, just in case your headstock profile requires a width greater than the neck in the area of the scarf join.

If your head design would not require a width greater than the neck blank through the area of the scarf join, then you could glue ears up first, which would make working with the head easy. But, that would be added bulk that could be awkward and get in the way when you glue up the scarf. That would make it more difficult to clamp, and more difficult to keep in line, for the scarf join.

[Mattia]

Glue the scarf, then worry about jointing the edges and gluing on ears.

[Xanthus]

Setch has some good tutorials on general headstock-making, if you haven't seen them yet.

Oh... And his website isn't working at the moment. Nevermind

[VesQ]

I would glue the joint first then route slot for truss rod. and after that i´d glue sides to headstock. but that´s just me. You can do it like you want.

[PTU 7's.]

I would glue the joint first then route slot for truss rod. and after that i´d glue sides to headstock. but that´s just me. You can do it like you want.

Yeah. It deppende also what method you use to do the truss rod chanel. But your idea I think that's the better option.