This morning I continued working on my first attempt at a guitar neck with an angled headstock. I tried a new headstock design with my most recent build and I really liked the look of it, but my only concern was the force of the strings on the nut. I didn’t account for adding a string tree in the design because I thought I could get away with enough nut force by making sure the string was wound the whole way down the tuner. I think that it would have been fine, but I was concerned, so I ended up putting a bar style string retainer across all six strings.
I eventually wanted to make a neck with an angled headstock, and so I thought this would be perfect timing. I am going with a 10 degree angle, which should be more than enough. I would have preferred to have a piece of maple thick enough to make the neck one piece, but since I only had 4/4 maple, I had to go with the scarf joint. That’s fine, though I like the idea of not being able to see the joint line, I know that it’ll make for a stronger headstock.
It’s not a hard joint, but since I mostly work in the early mornings while my wife and daughter sleep, I can’t run the band saw or table saw. So I had to hand-saw the joint and try to clean and square the mating surfaces with a hand plane. It takes a bit longer, but I actually prefer hand tools, so it works for me!
I definitely get some looks when I talk about enjoying hand sawing. Any other hand tool woodworkers out there?
I smoked a Padron 2000 Maduro while I worked this morning. I enjoy these for this type of smoke. They’re affordable and flavorful, but more of a one dimensional cigar. Perfect for when you are working on something. Plus they’re bonus points in the forum contest this month!
-Trevor