Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I can't decide on what type of headstock to put on my new build. An angle or flat? I purchased one with a spoke and I love the ease of a heel adjusted rod, but I don't believe I've ever ever seen an angled headstock with a heel adjusted truss rod. Is it okay to use one? Wise? Thanks.

Posted

There's no reason why you couldn't do a heel-adjust truss rod on a pitched headstock neck. Probably the reason why it's not often done is because most guitarists prefer a headstock-adjust truss rod, no matter whether the headstock is pitched or straight. So when you do get to that somewhat more limited market of people who prefer a heel-adjust, they're almost always vintage Fender guys and vintage Fenders, of course, have straight headstocks. Additionally, with a heel-adjust truss rod, you have to make sure that there is some kind of access to it, which is why you won't find it on set-neck guitars very often.

Of course that's all assuming that we're talking about electric guitars here, because acoustics very often have set necks with pitched headstocks and heel-adjust truss rods.

Posted

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, obviously we're talking about bolt on necks and that's a Fender thing. I didn't even think about acoustic guitars having heel accessed truss rods... I was just wondering if it was wise to have the rod go through the scarf joint. On heel adjusted rods, there are a few inches of fretboard left with no truss rod. It's probably a bit weaker because of the wood removal under the nut. Thanks again.

Posted

I think you are talking about the spoke adjustment commonly found on Ernie Ball guitars and also on the EVH Wolfgang models. If that's correct, I prefer to do the spoke adjustment at the heel rather than the traditional headstock type. Unlike the EBMM or EVH guitars, I do an angled headstock and haven't had any problems. Right or wrong, it's my opinion that leaving the headstock unmolested makes it a little stronger and I like the aesthetics of not having to do a truss cover. Here's some examples of mine...

P9100042R.jpg

Marsh07.jpg

Posted

you can do anything you want. Sounds like a winner

Posted

I thought the new EVH did have an angled back headstock? Something like 8 degrees... no? I don't have one but I am going to build one and I remember this from my research...

Posted

Warrior does it just like jpmarsh. The headstock has an 11 degree break, and the truss rod spoke wheel is accessed through a cutout in the end of the fretboard at the heel. (Sweet guitar jp!)

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...