Working on the Headstock

Next, I began working on the headstock. For this guitar, I choose to use a slotted headstock as it looks a bit different than most guitars and it is more of the classic style of a parlor guitar.

The first thing I did was determine the size of the bushings for the Gotoh tuners that I purchased. Additionally, I had to determine the depth of the cut that we had to make. This was done in order to make sure that there were no excess holes in the slots.

After doing all the math, it was time to make the cuts. It is definitely a kind of stressful time, as you have one shot to make it work. However, all that work, I successfully was able to make the cuts perfectly. On the picture to the left, you can see the pencil marks that I used to determine the placement of the drill press. Additionally, you can see one of the tuners that has been placed to make sure that they will fit perfectly (and they did!)

So it is at this time that we start to make the slots in the headstock. To do this, I first determine the height and length of the slots and then use the drill press again to cut out as much of the waste as possible.

Using the drill press is just a quick way to get out the waste. It could be done all by chisels, rasps, and files. But this made my life a heck of a lot easier.

Then I began the long process of getting rid of the rest of the excess wood. You can see in the picture to the left that I placed the headstock in the vice so that the lowest point of the drill cuts. I the used a 1/4" chisel to continue to cut the excess out. This was a relatively time consuming process but once it was complete, you can see some great looking slots for a slotted headstock.

There was one issue, I had decided that I did not want to have the slots be rounded over at the top and the bottom. Therefore, I had to continue to chisel out the slot in order to make it flat.

This was completed using a 3/8" chisel and some brute force. Basically, I would make small cuts in to the wood and then knock them out. It took some time but finally the four rounded humps were flat.

Lastly, I had to file the slots so that each side was completely flat. The picture to the left shows the finished product to this point.

There was one last thing that needed to be done was to make the ramps in the slots. The reason that you must have these are to let the strings be unimpeded when they are tight. This was accomplished through the use of yet another chisel and files.

By the time that this process was complete, a nice white line was able to be seen at the bottom of the slot which really made the slots pop (or at least in my eyes - see for yourself). Finally after a long process, the neck and the headstock are set to be glued up to the top of the guitar.

First, a small notch had to be cut out of the heel in the neck. This is to make it so the top and the neck were flush. Then, I had to make sure the top and the neck lined up perfectly. This is a rather stressful glue-up because if you mess this one up, the neck will have an angle which will cause issues with intonation.

To do this, center lines are drawn on each surface so that we can really line them up. Also, a piece of flat MDF has a line drawn on it so that we have a way to set everything up. Glue is then applied to both the neck and the inside of the top of the guitar.

Then the neck is placed on the top and lined up perfectly. After about five minutes of holding the neck and top in place, a large granite block is placed on the heel of the guitar to apply pressure. Then it is a waiting game. After a few hours the glue is all dried and I can finally see what I have accomplished.

Take a look at the picture on the right. You can see that the top and neck are completely straight and there is no angle. Though stressful, another perfect glue up.