Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

rcnewcomb
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:04 pm
Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by rcnewcomb »

You probably want something like this:
I agree on the headstock veneer.

If you are feeling really brave a backstrap would be a bonus.
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- Randall Newcomb
10 fingers in, 10 fingers out - another good day in the shop
tubegeek
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:49 am

Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

Thanks for that - "headplate" was the search term I was missing. That yields some options. I have to measure and see just how big a blank I need for this big goofy headstock: I'm not sure the sizes I'm seeing (8 x 3 and change) will cover it in one piece. It's pretty wide at its widest part.

9 ½" x 4 ½". LMI does not stock blanks large enough. Hmmm.

The LMI ebony blanks would look fantastic in place of the original design's Paint It Black approach.

Those tricky laminated headstocks are gorgeous!
tubegeek
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:49 am

Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

I was able to get a maple board sliced thin yesterday and I wasted no time applying it to the built-up headstock. Here's a couple pics of the glue-up, in progress now.
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Also here's a detail that will be under this overlay.The stock kit uses a cover with three screws but I want to use a correct bell-shaped cover. I wasn't sure the overlay would be enough to hold the screw for the truss rod cover, so I made a little filler piece to bridge over the adjustment nut and accept the screw. You can see where I filled the other two screws also.
20200316_172146.jpg
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Last edited by tubegeek on Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tubegeek
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:49 am

Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

A couple more modifications to the kit: the neck joint isn't really a mortise and tenon, it's more like a bolt-on neck's layout with a slot the full width of the neck. It mostly looked OK, and it lined up well to the bridge height with a thin shim in the neck pocket, but behind the neck there was a binding strip where there was supposed to be the heel cap, and this looked terrible, especially compared to the smooth graceful heel shaping of the original Trini and ES-335 models. I removed the section of binding that didn't belong (1st photo) and shaped a maple heel cap to go in the spot where it belongs. The 2nd photo shows it partially sanded to shape.

The areas of dark finish you see were an experiment in tinting some green shellac to fill the grain (the guitar is going to be finished in British Racing Green lacquer.)
20200313_230930.jpg
20200315_220702.jpg
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ruby@magpage.com
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Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Nothing like progress to inspire more progress. Looking good

Ed
Ed M
tubegeek
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Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

Drilled holes for the stoptail studs and tuner strip and installed these. Trimmed a blank nut to fit, and strung it up for the first time! Sounds like a guitar! It needs some setup attention of course, but it's definitely playable as of now.

The 6-on-a-strip tuners I bought are replacements for Fender and they are ever so slightly further apart than the harder-to-find-inexpensively Gibson replacements. So sue me!

With my chunky fingers, the extra 1/32nd or so between each tuner is quite welcome and the string pull is almost perfectly straight the way it all lays out. A very slight angle to the low E and even less to the A.

The headstock is quite a bit too thick as it is now: there is just a short stub of the tuning peg coming out the front. Going to have to thin down the veneer somewhat and also the back of the stock so I can have room for a thin backside veneer just to hide the seam. The measurement info I have found is that an ES-335 headstock is ⅝" thick; it'll take some doing to get down to that dimension without weakening the area behind the nut unduly - I may not go quite that thin after all is said and done.
2020-03-18 20.40.58.jpg
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2020-03-18 20.40.49.jpg
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tubegeek
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Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

:(

I blew through the veneer belt-sanding it thinner.Removed it using a heat gun and knife & chisel & scraper.

Going to thin down the veneer BEFORE applying it this time. Thanks to lockdown, plenty of time for this stuff though.
tubegeek
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Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

Glue drying on replacement front veneer. Looking OK so far.
tubegeek
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Re: Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

Post by tubegeek »

Dupe
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