Crusader Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 Looking at pictures of various Gibson guitars online I notice their "Citation" has a larger headstock. Does anyone out there have any dimensions for these guitars? I haven't been able to find anything on them apart from photographs Thanks in advance http://espanol.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Archtop/Gibson-Custom/Citation.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 If you can't find any drawings, simply try to find photos of that and headstocks whose size you know taken at the same angle. Put them on top of each other as semi transparent layers in an image processing program and adjust the size using the tuner posts of the outermost strings as a reference. Check in the settings that the image size changes proportionally so you don't stretch anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 Oh gosh are you suggesting I use PhotoShop? It is a massive head-bender! But I have thought of doing something like that so thanks for the suggestion it is very encouraging. What I am thinking is find photos of the whole guitar and compare to a LP or ES Les Pauls have a 24.75" scale and the Citation has a 25.5 which is probably actually 25.3 like my Songwriter. Wow hang on I should just compare to a Songwriter - same scale length! Match the photos up at the bridge and nut, then everything should be in proportion thanks for the idea, cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 19 minutes ago, Crusader said: Oh gosh are you suggesting I use PhotoShop? It is a massive head-bender! I know. That's why I prefer Paint .Net. Glad you liked the idea so much it turned your brain to the right direction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 Yeah cheers, so this is what I've done so far. Notice the frets match up but not the bridge? That's nuts but at least it must be somewhere in the ballpark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 23, 2019 Report Share Posted September 23, 2019 A rough measurement told that the headstock of the Citation is almost 25% longer than that of the Songbird. Looking at the string angle it looks like they'd be about the same width, though. I tried to do a similar comparison, but the images I used didn't match at all. Either the shooting angle was different or they weren't the right models. Your images aren't comparable, either: The Songbird was shot from a slightly higher position than the Citation since you can see the rim around the heel. So unless you're going to build an exact clone you're in the ballpark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2019 Yes the angle is slightly different but they were the closest I could find, so getting in the ballpark is the best I can hope for i think the Citation is wider, it seems to be about 90mm at its widest. The other thing is it seems there a variations in the Citation headstock design. On some the strings are all parallel. On LPs and ESs the 3rd and 4th strings almost touch the middle pegs The position of the pegs is what I'm also interested in, you don't want the string length to be the same as a harmonic because it will ring-on On some Citations the 1st and 6th string pegs seem to be same as a LP, then the others further apart. While some have 1st and 6th further from the Nut and pegs spaced same as LP I've decided for myself where to position them roughly based on positions decifered from photos But of course I'm going back up the shed and spend another two hours humming and harring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 25, 2019 Report Share Posted September 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Crusader said: But of course I'm going back up the shed and spend another two hours humming and harring Sounds like a good idea! Isn't it frustrating to try to calculate the width of the headstock by measuring the difference between the width of the nut which you "know" and the headstock? Good practice for percentage maths! For length you could compare the known length of the first fret (or three) to the length of the headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2019 8 hours ago, Bizman62 said: For length you could compare the known length of the first fret (or three) to the length of the headstock. Hey yes I tried that and came up with the same result as other methods, so that is re-assuring. I keep calculating the length of headstock to be 210mm. By the way I expand photos on the screen to match exact sizes, so I just measure off the screen. From the original picture I expand it to exact size then take a screen shot of it (Command-Shift-4) Then whenever I open that screenshot it comes up exact size On one of the photos I realised you are looking straight over the tuning pegs and I got good results from that. By the way another thing to check is the trussrod cover screws. Measured centre to centre I found they are about 53mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 25, 2019 Report Share Posted September 25, 2019 Creative measuring! Re real size photos, a fellow at the course built a body template for a semi hollow using a real size colour photo print. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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