www.KitGuitarsForum.com

When making a custom headstock, does the distance from the nut to the 1st tuning peg make a difference? I drew this one up in Google Sketch, and the distances between pegs are consistent with Martin, but I moved them up slightly for the shape. I can easily re-design if need be. Thanks!

V/R
Ken

Looks lovely to me, not like a (canoe) paddle. Having said that, I offer a personal 'but': I think the E string tuners will be very close to the join of two arcs, have you tried a prototype made out of nothing-much wood but with the tuners installed to see if the mind's eye matches a 3-dimension model? My eyes are more at peace if I see the D and G string tuners about the same distance from an intersection as the 'E' strings. (I've tried to draw my own and have temporarily given up and I'm copying a Martin Herringbone headstock, off StewMac's plans for the two I'm building right now. You're doing lots better than me at design!)

Thanks for offering us a chance to see such nice work.

Thanks Peter. I haven't drilled it out or cut it out yet. Before I do, I just want to verify that there is no hard requirement for distance from the nut to the tuners. Looking at it more, I think I'll just stick with the distance Martin uses, and pull the bottom arc down. Hopefully I don't end up messing it up!

V/R
Ken

Looks good Ken. No hard fast rule for distance. I like the overall design. I would do a test with tuners in place like Peter suggests. My thought is that you don't have enough room above the top tuners to be ascetically pleasing to the eye. Gotta have some room for a logo?

This is very close to your design, just tweak it a little.

Because of the peghead angle, the closer you are to the nut the closer the tuning post will be to the plane of the fretboard. You might want to draw the side view and check the break angle of the string over the nut from relatively high on the tuner post. Basically the angle of the peghead and the distance from the nut (also where the angle breaks) gives you the break angle.

Also when I do a custom headstock shape, I draw in the nut and where the strings will be and check that the string will not hit a post closer to the nut. Take into account the radius of the tuner post when doing your drawing. Your curved shape actually helps avoid this issue, but it is still worth checking. So go the whole way with the drawing as a check before building the guitar.

Designwise I agree with John, you need more room above the top tuners or it will look a bit chopped off. But that is just an opinion.

Re-drew the headstock on Google Sketch; made a template and I'm pretty happy with it now. Obviously, the sticker is just a place-holder.

The symmetry of where the tuning machines are located seems a lot more natural-looking to me than the original sketch. Sure looks good to me.

Thanks for sharing.