Asdrael Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 Hey there, after a pretty rough end of the year rush, I am starting to plan my second build. This time around, I am toying with the idea of designing my "own" headstock, with heavy inspiration from headstocks I like and an idea of how I want it to look like to go with the body style. But I realize I have no idea how to do it and ressources are scarce (or I couldn't find the right keywords to search?). I am currently aiming for a 10° headstock angle and a 3+3 style. I made it so the tuners are all equidistant from the edge of the headstock, but I am not taking into account string thickness to offset the tuner holes. The string pull isn't perfectly straight, it has a slight angle (symetrical for unwound and wound strings.). Any red flags so far? Anything I should be aware of? At that stage my CAD looks like this (subjective feedback also welcome!): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 The headstock looks fine to me. Technically and aesthetically. On a more subjective side, regarding the Blackmachine body design. I always get the feeling that the horns are from two different guitars. Their mass distribution is uneven. If the upper horn was a bit slimmer the balance would be better in my eyes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asdrael Posted January 17 Author Report Share Posted January 17 Thanks for the feedback, and interesting point about the horn. I have never looked at it this way. I might try to even horns a bit more. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 I agree with @henrim about the headstock. It looks nice and the string angle at the nut is close enough to straight string pull. The slight angle reminds me of PRS but they have the left and right tuners aligned. Anyhow, straight string pull isn't a must although it helps with tuning stability when bending. But have you ever heard any LP user complain about that? There's one minor thing, though, that caught my eye: The string pull on the bass side is straighter than on the treble side. Yet most of the bending happens on the plain strings so that's where straightness would be most beneficial. Easy fix: Cut the lower corner a bit: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asdrael Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 That's a good point. I will try to work on the angles a bit. In addition to what you mention, the thickness of the low string will make this difference even more pronounced. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asdrael Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 I reworked the headstock slightly to accomodate for a straighter string pull, while still keeping the shape (slightly cut the lower side but not too much). I like it. Strings are between 2 to 3° off straight, which should be no issue whatsoever. The slightly higher angle on the wound strings side should be compensated by their thickness, at least visually. I think I like it. I will laser cut it and have a look at it on some plywood. Thanks for the tips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 9 hours ago, Asdrael said: Strings are between 2 to 3° off straight, which should be no issue whatsoever. You definitely won't need a String Butler with that design! Nor is there any chance for the high e string to fall off the nut slot like in some Jackson guitars. Yet another trick to consider: How about locating the tuners about 1 mm inwards? Just enough to straighten at least the outermost strings. The knob shaft should be long enough to allow such minor adjustment - if I'm not totally mistaken there's headstocks with curved sides but the tuners are aligned on a straight line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asdrael Posted January 19 Author Report Share Posted January 19 The tuner holes are currently straight on both sides. The limiting factor currently is going to be the tuners themselves, I have to make sure they fit and don't bump into each other (for the d and g string). Right now I should have 2mm room but the technical drawings of the tuners I am going for are a bit wrong I think. So prototype time. Thanks again for the feedback this place is a gold mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 (edited) Sorry. got it wrong. Edited January 19 by henrim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 Another try. I got the scale a bit wrong so I removed the previous drawing and false statement. Actually your headstock looks fine, if the tuners are what I think they are. The middle tuner on the right (treble side), is a bit off though. And spacing on that side is not exact, although not far off. This is now based on an assumption that the nut is 43 mm wide. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 19 Report Share Posted January 19 7 hours ago, henrim said: The middle tuner on the right (treble side), is a bit off though. Thanks, I have been watching it, seeing there's something wrong with the string angle compared to the adjacent ones. That explains it. The human eye can be ridiculously accurate at times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asdrael Posted January 19 Author Report Share Posted January 19 Damn good eye, you are right. It's around 0.5mm off so that throws the angle by 0.5deg or so. I will correct it next run... Too late for that one it's cutting already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 20 Report Share Posted January 20 It's not about "good eyes", it's something in the spine, hard coded to our caveman within. Seeing things that don't fit the pattern like grass swaying against the wind at one spot was a life saver as the culprit might have been a saber tooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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