Once you have a board prepared for use as the headstock (as described in the previous post), you need to decide how you will be attaching it to the neck and how you will be installing the tuning machines (tuners).


Let's start by discussing how I plan to connect the headstock to the neck. As you may recall from the first post, my neck and neck stock both have a 22 degree cut (plus or minus a degree), revealing a sloped surface about 2 inches long. The question is how the headstock will be positioned relative to the neck for gluing. Here are the four possibilities:

Here's my first diagram, and when positioning the two pieces relative to each other. Notice how this "method" tilts the headstock down by about 20 degrees, like many guitar heads. The reasoning for doing this is based on hearsay (not first hand scientific testing), and the story goes that the strings will stay in the groves of the nut better and that the strings won't buzz at the nut. I really don't know. It's likely just an old luthier's tales. But modeling an instrument after traditional design practices are more likely to produce a better instrument. So, I'm planning for a 20-25 degree tilt in the head relative to the neck.

However, I don't really like how exposed (visible) the head-to-neck joint will be. This is better illustrated in the diagram below (circled in red). I think this placement will look ugly without doing a lot of work with wood putty, bondo, or some other "filler" to round out and sculpt the joint to make it look better. But, that may make the problem worse should I go to stain and varnish the wood. So, at this point, I'll skip this method and move on to the next possibility.

The next head-to-neck positioning possibility places the headstock over the neck, hiding most of the ugly head-to-neck joint. This is how I'm going to do mine.




Like the first method, this second method tilts the headstock downward about 20 degrees or so, like a real guitar. But, unlike the first "method", this "method" hides the ugly neck joint under the headstock, making it a lot less noticeable as shown in the diagram below (see the red circled area).




There are a couple other possibilities... but they don't provide the traditional headstock tilt found on most guitars and other lutes. I have tried this third option on a "soda can on a stick" variety canjo and it worked pretty well, especially when I did a similar cut and join on the "tail" end of the canjo stick for the "strum hollow" and the can resonator. The net effect of this canjo design was to raise the "fret board" area of the neck up closer to the strings for easier playing action. This design would also allow you to sit your canjo down and it would rest on the flat lower head an lower "tail" sections, assuming you mount your tuners so the knobs point out to the side and the gears are recessed into the headstock. Issues for another article/post, I guess. The down side of positioning option 3 is that the ugly neck joint is again starring you in the face.

Well, the fourth method doesn't make much sense, but if you had to have a flat head-to-neck layout, it could be done; and the ugly neck joint would be mostly hidden by the headstock.

Okay, now that I have decided how to connect the headstock to the neck, I going to hold off on actually attaching the two pieces until I have finished drilling holes for mounting the tuners in the headstock, and until after I add frets to the neck. Adding frets with a 20 degree downward tilt in the neck is more difficult unless you've build some kind of "rig" to hold the neck steady without putting pressure on the headstock.

[As a note, when I do glue to two pieces together, I also will screw them together using a short wood screw. Want to mention that now in case I forget mentioning it later. The screw hole comes through the bottom of the neck through the headstock where the two pieces join along their sloped sides.]