Oh, another thing. It might seem obvious, but the way to cut slotted heads is by drilling the ends then joining the dots with a jigsaw. Would love to know if anyone else has a better system that doesn't involve a laser cutting CAD machine.
Yep, scarfed headstocks do look good. And Dave, you're welcome. Drove me nuts when I was trying to figure stuff out and everyone had advice (welcome) but no-one had figures. I'd read "Don't set your action too high" or "Make sure you have some relief angle in the neck" , but what was too high and how much angle? Figures are only a guide but they're better than nothing.
I always find actual figures useful, Kiwi, so here you go. For a flat headstock that has enough break on all strings so you don't need any retainers, you need the face of the headstock to be about 12mm below the surface of the fingerboard. My fingerboards are 9mm, and I take 3mm off the face of the headstock. Of course, you try to avoid putting the furthest tuners too far from the nut too.
I don't scarf my headstocks. Only one I did was for the uke because it was a one-piece, no fingerboard. Otherwise, my fingerboards are quite thick and if I thin from the top of the headstock (starts 19mm, ends up 16mm) I have plenty of break over the nut. I wouldn't say slotted is better. You get more break over the nut of course but like I said, I get plenty from a flat headstock anyway. I like the look of slotted for something different, but changing strings can be a bit of a pain. And they take a bit more work, getting them all nice on the inside. Fiddly sanding. Also there's often a problem getting the low string to clear the edge of the slot. As you can see, I don't put a wing on the upper edge - that would solve the problem, but part of the neatness in my way is by avoiding wings so the headstock is one smooth mutha. But my answer to your scarfing wait would be to use thicker fingerboard and a flat headstock. The next Blind Gee, half-finished right now, has 2 slotted strings and 1 vertical one! Very interesting look. Had to try it and it looks like it will pay off in buckets.
Thanks guys. Yeah, I like checkerboard necks for dulcies. Pointless putting dots on them, so doing this alternating colour thing gives a handy visual reference. Checkerboard makes even more sense when you don't split fret the 61/2 and 7 because the 8 (octave) will then have it's own colour. In this case it would have been dark if I hadn't done split frets. You can see the sparkly headstock and bridge better in the other pics.
Comments
Oh, another thing. It might seem obvious, but the way to cut slotted heads is by drilling the ends then joining the dots with a jigsaw. Would love to know if anyone else has a better system that doesn't involve a laser cutting CAD machine.
Sheesh, PhrygK, 27 gats without a dulci and then 3 virtually in a row.
Yep, scarfed headstocks do look good. And Dave, you're welcome. Drove me nuts when I was trying to figure stuff out and everyone had advice (welcome) but no-one had figures. I'd read "Don't set your action too high" or "Make sure you have some relief angle in the neck" , but what was too high and how much angle? Figures are only a guide but they're better than nothing.
Thanks for the clear information about your work. Actual figures are good...
I always find actual figures useful, Kiwi, so here you go. For a flat headstock that has enough break on all strings so you don't need any retainers, you need the face of the headstock to be about 12mm below the surface of the fingerboard. My fingerboards are 9mm, and I take 3mm off the face of the headstock. Of course, you try to avoid putting the furthest tuners too far from the nut too.
I don't scarf my headstocks. Only one I did was for the uke because it was a one-piece, no fingerboard. Otherwise, my fingerboards are quite thick and if I thin from the top of the headstock (starts 19mm, ends up 16mm) I have plenty of break over the nut. I wouldn't say slotted is better. You get more break over the nut of course but like I said, I get plenty from a flat headstock anyway. I like the look of slotted for something different, but changing strings can be a bit of a pain. And they take a bit more work, getting them all nice on the inside. Fiddly sanding. Also there's often a problem getting the low string to clear the edge of the slot. As you can see, I don't put a wing on the upper edge - that would solve the problem, but part of the neatness in my way is by avoiding wings so the headstock is one smooth mutha. But my answer to your scarfing wait would be to use thicker fingerboard and a flat headstock. The next Blind Gee, half-finished right now, has 2 slotted strings and 1 vertical one! Very interesting look. Had to try it and it looks like it will pay off in buckets.
Thanks guys. Yeah, I like checkerboard necks for dulcies. Pointless putting dots on them, so doing this alternating colour thing gives a handy visual reference. Checkerboard makes even more sense when you don't split fret the 61/2 and 7 because the 8 (octave) will then have it's own colour. In this case it would have been dark if I hadn't done split frets. You can see the sparkly headstock and bridge better in the other pics.
Fabulous neck. Masterwork. Sparkleon!
Looks great.