Ash Les Paul: Shaping the Headstock

I finally got the headstock shaped this morning, and that marks the end to the woodworking for this build - phew! As usual, I used the LP headstock template from here:

http://www.australianlespaulforums.c.../Headstock.pdf.  

Also as usual, it didn't quite fit the blank, but I just shifted it up until the sides of the blank and the sides of the template met at the top most point.

A bit or work with the jigsaw, the bastard file and slapwheel and she was finished. It took all of 15 minutes. I'm reasonably happy with the results - it's one of my better attempts with this template.

I'm considering a gloss black headstock for this build, with the neck stained the same colour as the back and sides of the body. It would be very similar to my PRS neck finish, whcih I ended up liking a lot. To be honest though, I'm still not sure. I may end up trying to dye the headstck at the same time as the neck.

James' Les Paul Jnr DC: Shaping the Headstock

With the body of James' Double Cut Jnr prepared for Wudtone, it was time to concentrate on the neck. In general, the rock-maple necks that come with these guitar kits come finished quite well from the factory. They are smooth to the touch and to be honest, need little work. Still, it's customary to give them a going over with the sandpaper anyway, just to make sure the finish will take, and so I initially sanded the neck and headstock with 240 grit.

Before finishing the sanding with 360 grit, the headstock needed shaping. James indicated that a traditional Gibson headstock shape was desirable, and so it was to the interweb I went. Gibson headstock templates are a little thin on the ground compared to Fender, but I did manage to find my good old favourite - the Les Paul headstock template - here:

http://www.australianlespaulforums.com/download/Headstock.pdf. 

The template doesn't quite fit the Pitbull blank perfectly - neither in width or tuner hole positions - but with a little fudging it's close enough to provide an indication of position and shape. Using a centre line, I lined the top profile up with the sides of the headstock width-wise and ignored all other aspects of the template.

I then traced the template profile with my clutch pencil and roughed it out with my scroll saw.

Taking the roughed out shape, I sanded the curves right down to the pencil line using my smallest diameter Josco Brumby Slap Wheel.

The tight curves at the centre of the shape always seem to pose a problem for me. I got these close with the scroll saw, but still needed to use my half-round bastard file get them closer to acceptable. In the end they came out pretty well. This is about the 5th time I've had to cut this headstock shape, and I'm finally starting to get more comfortable with the steps required.

Burley 335: Shaping the Headstock

Not much happening on the Burley 335 build at the moment (too many builds!), so I thought I'd get the headstock shaped in between working on the Stone Roses Tribute. Gibson headstock templates are a little thin on the ground compared to Fender, but I did manage to find a template for a Les Paul here: http://www.australianlespaulforums.com/download/Headstock.pdf. The template didn't fit my headstock perfectly - neither in width or tuner hole positions - so I had to do a little fudging to work out how it should go.

Using a center line I lined the top profile up with the sides of the headstock width-wise and ignored all other aspects of the template.

I then traced the template profile with my clutch pencil and roughed it out with my scroll saw. Taking the roughed out shape, I sanded the curves right down to the pencil line using my smallest diameter Josco Brumby Slap Wheel.

The tight curves at the centre of the shape always seem to pose a problem for me. I got these close with the scroll saw and still needed to use a tiny file to get them closer to acceptable. In the end they came out OK but I'm yet to find the best method to get them really perfect.

Solid Body PRS - Headstock Shaped

Hello out there in google-blogger-land. Today it's raining in Holgate so instead of mowing the lawn and chainsawing firewood and the miriad other chores that the weekend brings, I could work on my PRS instead! Two tasks remain before I can begin the finishing proper on this little beasty, and the first of them - shaping the headstock - I was able to get completed today.

The headstock blank supplied with the kit from DIY Guitars was nicely shaped to permit a facsimille of the standard PRS headstock. This, then, is what I went for.

It was a fairly easy shape to produce, requiring only a quick freehand sketch and some work with the jigsaw and belt sander to get it 95% complete. The majority of the time, though, was taken getting the last of the belt-sander induced burn out of the top cutaway with 240 grit sandpaper. I think it looks the business!

Surf Monster Telecaster: Shaping the Headstock

Time to shape the headstock on the Surf Monster Telecaster. Thankfully, this task is made easy by our old friend the inter-web! Many of the Fender headstock shapes can be found here: http://pdfcast.org/pdf/fender-headstocks. This pdf file contains headstock templates at a 1:1 scale. All you need to do is print out the page you need (make sure you use 1:1 scale) and off you go.

Alternately, if you are having trouble accessing pdfcast, templates can be found in a number of other places. Here are a couple of other pdf documents for Fender headstocks, both hosted by Google:

Google GuitarPlansCollection link 1
Google GuitarPlansCollection link 2

With the PDF in virtual hand, I decided to use the 'modern' Telecaster design shown below as the basis for my headstock, as it's the one from the pdf that most closely aligns with my headstock blank.

Anyway, a quick trip to the laser printer, printed at 1:1 and everything was ready to get the shape traced on to the blank. You can see that the blank doesn't quite match the traditional shape towards the bottom where it meets the neck. The best I could do was to line up the tuner holes and take it from there.

Using a clutch pencil, I carefully traced around the cutout giving a guide for the jigsaw. The corner near the lowest tuner hole (where the neck meets the headstock) will have to be rounded off some to approximate the original shape, but otherwise it looked pretty good.

And then came the east bit! Using the jigsaw I cut around the design - staying reasonably close to the line, especially in the concave sections. Why especially the concave sections? Well because I don't have a bobbin sander! Once the cut was completed, the convex portions of the headstock were easily finished off down to the line on the belt sander. Unfortunately the concave portions could suffer no such luxury and had to be finished off using a bastard file and 180 grit sandpaper.

In the end it all came out nicely and the whole neck is now ready for some sanding and some Wudtone neck finish.Still deciding whether to go with the Vintage Yellow Wudtone neck kit, or the colourless finish over Vintage Amber Colortone dye. Hmmm decisions, decisions...

Stone Roses Tribute: Headstock Finalised

As you may have seen in the second instalment of my build diary, I finally got my headstock shaped for the Stone Roses RC-1 build. A little jig-saw and belt sander action left me with the headstock almost complete - just a few burn marks to take care of with some 180 and 240 grit sand paper.

In no time I had the original 'shark-fin' look that the Rickenbacker 330's are known for. Pretty sweet. I'm going to go for a clear Wudtone finish on the neck and back of the headstock, so it was important to get rid of all the burn marks from the belt sander before going any further. It was worth it! The maple neck and headstock looks real puurdy and should contrast well with the white headstock face. Now for more sanding!

Stone Roses Tribute: Video Build Diary #2

The second instalment of my video build diary for the RC-1 Stone Roses Tribute is now on YouTube. This instalment deals with the shaping of the headstock for the Pitbull RC-1.


Not sure my presentation skills are improving. If anything they may have gotten worse ;). Apparently, all my tools are "trusty". Hmm....

Les Paul Jnr Double Cut: Shaping the Headstock / Custom Truss Rod Cover

Time to shape the headstock on my Les Paul Jnr in readiness for its coat of Vintage Amber Wudtone. Gibson headstock templates are a little thin on the ground compared to Fender, but I did manage to find a template for a Les Paul here: http://www.australianlespaulforums.com/download/Headstock.pdf. The template didn't fit my headstock perfectly - neither in width or tuner hole positions - so I had to do a little fudging to work out how it should go.

As it is, I think I placed it a little low - too far down towards the tuners. My "Turner" logo may not have the whitespace it greatly deserves, but no point crying over spilled milk. The scroll work could also be a little better (those curves are damn hard to get even!) but it isn't too bad for my first attempt at a Gibson headstock design.

I also quickly knocked up a custom truss rod cover from the same 3-ply tortoiseshell that I used to fashion the pickguard. I think it really adds something, and really ties the room together nicely. Ha! Thanks Dude..

Siena's Stratocaster - Shaping the Headstock

Time to shape the headstock on Siena's stratocaster. Thankfully, this task is made easy by our old friend the inter-web! Many of the Fender headstock shapes can be found here: http://pdfcast.org/pdf/fender-headstocks. This pdf file contains headstock templates at a 1:1 scale.

Alternately, if you are having trouble accessing pdfcast, templates can be found in a number of other places. Here are a couple of other pdf documents for Fender headstocks, both hosted by Google:

Google GuitarPlansCollection link 1
Google GuitarPlansCollection link 2
All you need to do is print out the page you need (make sure you use 1:1 scale) and off you go. I have decided to use the 50s stratocaster design as the basis for my headstock on this build.

The pdf template printed out without issue on my trusty laser printer, and I was away.

I traced the headstock template with pencil and then cut close to the line with my jigsaw. A bench sander then allowed me to remove the rest of the material and get as close to the line as I needed to. In the absence of a bobbin sander, for the very tight curve I resorted to 120 grit paper applied by hand. I'm pretty happy wth how it turned out. I may return to the tight curve with a bit more 180 grit paper to round it out some more if/when I get some spare time.

Incidentally, If you are building your own kit and need a headstock for a gibson style guitar, headstock designs are not as easy to come by. If you are willing to put in a little effort, however, there are resources at hand! If it's a Les Paul headstock design you are after, then the following pdf template may suffice: http://www.australianlespaulforums.com/download/Headstock.pdf.

If not, there are a large number of vector graphics guitar templates for all kinds of guitars available on ultimateGuitar.com: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-1190193.html. These can be used to generate your own 1:1 pdf templates. To do this you need to use a vector graphics package (such as Inkscape). The instructions are given on the same page. Have fun!