Enlarging a kit guitar headstock

[ruby@magpage.com]

looks like you have it under control. If you like belt AND suspenders you might put a small spline across the joint to help in keeping the glue from creeping over time. I am thinking a piece of hardwood, about 3/16" thick and 3/4" long that crosses the joint, then gets hidden by the head plate. Don't forget to check the thickness with the one or both sides plates to make sure your tuners will work with the added thickness

Looking good

Ed

[MaineGeezer]

Yes, put the veneers on first! I have it on good authority :-) that putting them on after shaping the headstock is the hard way to go about it.

Though it can be done....

[tubegeek]

Looking good indeed - you didn't think I was actually going to wait TWO DAYS before busting out the sandpaper & the cabinet scraper, did you?

More pictures soon - I'm VERY pleased with how it's going. The joint is ALMOST good enough not to need the veneer. The patch matches the original wood very poorly, though, and the veneer approach will permit a somewhat see-through finish on the headstock if I choose to do that. The inner layer would not look good by itself unless I carefully fill and put an opaque finish on. The original guitar had an opaque black headstock - that's probably not what I'm going to do.

Great tips, veneer first before cutting, check thickness against tuners carefully before installing, check, check. Package tracking says tuners arrive tomorrow, and I can check the final outline and plan drill locations once they get here. The prospective outline I've got drawn fits on the blank now (which was the whole point, let's not forget!) I just have to doublecheck against the tuners.

Thanks for the co-piloting. Much appreciated.

[MaineGeezer]

One other idea for you. The overall appearance will be enhanced if you put a sllight taper on the headstock thickness frrom nut to the end. 1/16" will do it. It doesn't take much.

[tubegeek]

One other idea for you. The overall appearance will be enhanced if you put a sllight taper on the headstock thickness frrom nut to the end. 1/16" will do it. It doesn't take much.

I'll look at that when I get the veneers - good idea.

I'm really excited about how this is turning out - rough cut the shape this afternoon, here's what it's looking like.

2020-02-26 15.59.07.jpg

2020-02-26 15.59.48.jpg

2020-02-26 15.58.55.jpg

The tuners arrived and I'm working on their mounting holes tonight.

[MaineGeezer]

That's nice! I like the proportions of that. It flows.

The taper to the thickness is sort of akin to the way the Greeks put a slight bulge in their columns to make them look straight. Without the taper, the headstock tends to look heavy on the end.

[tubegeek]

That's nice! I like the proportions of that. It flows.

It does, right? And it looks 10x better than any approximation I could have fit into the original blank. To me it looks like a modernized Stauffer shape, with the swirled-over top. The little point on the bass edge is still a bit larger than the original as you see it in the photo. I'm still sanding/scraping the edges into shape.

There's an issue, though, I just realized today. ES-335 case probably won't fit it. Nor a standard gig bag, I think. Going to need a gig bag or case for a 12-string, I think. I'm assuming the ES-335-12 case would fit it but I expect that to be expensive. I will contact Gibson - they have reissued this model so they must offer some kind of case. That problem can get solved further down the road.

The taper to the thickness is sort of akin to the way the Greeks put a slight bulge in their columns to make them look straight. Without the taper, the headstock tends to look heavy on the end.

It's true - I was actually noticing this as I was working on it. I will have to thin it down anyway to allow for the veneer's thickness, the pegs will be too short if I don't. Cabinet scraper time. Veneer is getting here today. Amazon free fast shipping is addictive.

[MaineGeezer]

You should be able to find a case without too much trouble. Once you know the overall length of the guitar, check out TKL cases http://www.tkl.com (usual disclaimers). They make a lot of different styes and may have something that will fit.

[tubegeek]

Damn. Setback. Veneer arrived: 3 sheets, 12"x12". That part was what I was looking for. But I thought they were EACH 1/16th thick, what I got was a total of 1/16th with the 3 sheets stacked. Not sure if it was my mistake or theirs, but I don't think I can use this. We'll see what they say. Maybe I will have to resaw my own from a bigger blank - but I don't think I have any pieces big enough to cover this in one piece.

[MaineGeezer]

You probably want something like this:
https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_S ... eneer.html
or this:
https://www.lmii.com/search?controller= ... =headplate