Calling Mr. Wilson...guitar headstock backstraps

[John Coloccia]

How do you do yours? I've been experimenting with all sorts of different techniques. I haven't screwed one up yet, and generally they come out pretty well, but I always feel like I'm on the edge of disaster.

For my next guitar, I believe I will try to do it AFTER I've shaped the neck. Then I will plane off the proper thickness from the headstock and blend into the neck shaft with a drawknife. This way, I don't have to make this complex little cut and get the geometry/thickness perfect so early on in the building process. I'm thinking that will relieve a bit of the stress that goes into it...if I screw it up later in the game, I can always just use a slightly thicker backstrap and fix my boo-boo.

For the benefit of the other 40,000 of you that are wondering, "What's a backstrap?", it's the piece of walnut veneer (actually, it's pretty thick as veneers go) that covers the back of the headstock and extends into the neck. It's inlayed into the neck shaft, for lack of a better word, and is actually bent to follow the headstock to neck transition. It greatly strengthens the otherwise weak point of the headstock, and also hides the scarf joint...which you can't see because it's hidden. LOL

217799

[Bruce Haugen]

I don't know that you will get a reply.

George posted this:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?178724-I-am-going-on-vacation

[John Coloccia]

Who said he could go on vacation? LOL. I'm sure it's well deserved. Honestly, I'd be happy to hear what anyone has to share on the subject, but I know George thinks about things like this and he probably has a very simple method to do it.

But yeah, George isn't allowed to go on vacation, so that must just be an early April fools day joke :)

[Bruce Haugen]

Yeah, the nerve of that guy!! :-)

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've only done it a couple of times, unfortunately the first guitar was gifted and the second painted, so I can't photo it. I was doing a fairly pronounced volute, so the back of the headstock kind of curved up into the peak of the volute, and the backstrapping ran right up to the edge. I got my neck and the volute mostly shaped, got the back of the headstock flat where it needed to be and the curve into the volute faired and even across the thing. Planed the face of the headstock to bring the thickness where I wanted it. Steamed and pre-bent the veneer a bit. I probably did something ridiculous and cheap like steam the wood over the stove with a veggie steamer or something, and then bent it in a form and let it set up.

I got it close enough to the final bend that I could easily press it in place, but left it just a hair under-bent, so that I really only need to clamp it over the curve to clamp the whole thing. Used one clamp and a form over the curve where it bends into the volute, and then a flat block and a couple more small clamps to clamp against the flat part of the headstock. I remember I had to do some jiggery with curved block, make a notch of something so the clamp held it well, and I sort of skewed the clamp a little so it pulled down and back towards the body to be secure.

After the glue dried, I use chisels and rasps to carefully shape the end of the backstrap veneer (I had rough cut it fairly large) and then blend it with scrapers.

I feel like somebody, (for some reason, I want to say David Myka, but I really don't think it was him) had posted a nice thread about their process doing this on the Project Guitar forum - but that would have been years ago now, I haven't been there in ages.

[John Coloccia]

Le' Bump, because he's back. :D

Incidentally, I DID do it after final shaping of the neck on the latest guitar. It came out rather nice, but had a whole bunch of other problems associated with it. Nothing with this gosh dang guitars is easy.

[Matthew N. Masail]

while I'm not Mr. Wilson, I'd like to offer what my 2 cents : I can't speak for steel string guitar makers, but in classical guitar construction in is not bent rather glued flat again the flat of the headstock. always the edges where is connects to the neck are shaped somewhat but I have never heard of it being bent. like this http://www.jasonwolverton.com/index.php?/puesta-del-sol/ if you decided to bend it you are defiantly making things harder. the part near the nut doesn't have to be shaped like the rest of the neck .a screw won't add squat, I wouldn't screw down anything in a guitar except for a end pin for a strap.

[george wilson]

It is common to graft the headstock onto a classical or flamenco guitar. Most likely because these guitars were mostly made by small makers working by hand,with no bandsaw to saw out thick stock,and no money to buy thick stock anyway. Even Torres used bits and pieces of left over wood. I curve the juncture where the headstock meets the neck,so that the curve nearly hides the joint.

I don't use the grafted on headstock on steel string "American" style guitars. It just wasn't done because most American guitars were made in factories where the necks were sawn out of thick stock.

If I want to use a thinner piece of wood that is nicely figured for a neck,I glue up some laminations down the center of the neck,and glue on the thinner material on each side. I did this on the sunburst "Super 400" style guitar posted before. The "thinner" wood I used was genuine Cuban mahogany,which is hard as blazes,and has a natural,dark color-darker by far than the 19th.C. plane I just posted.

Here are two laminated necks. The first was when I had a nice piece of curly hard maple too thin for a solid neck.
.

The other picture is the "400" style guitar with the Cuban mah. neck. I do not have a direct picture of the back of that neck,though. Well,I see one of the pictures is out of focus. Must get a more reliable camera.

[John Coloccia]

while I'm not Mr. Wilson, I'd like to offer what my 2 cents : I can't speak for steel string guitar makers, but in classical guitar construction in is not bent rather glued flat again the flat of the headstock. always the edges where is connects to the neck are shaped somewhat but I have never heard of it being bent. like this http://www.jasonwolverton.com/index.php?/puesta-del-sol/ if you decided to bend it you are defiantly making things harder. the part near the nut doesn't have to be shaped like the rest of the neck .a screw won't add squat, I wouldn't screw down anything in a guitar except for a end pin for a strap.

You had me very confused for a minute there, but I understand now. When I said "screw up", in the USA that means "mess up" or make a mistake. I don't screw my backstraps down. LOL.

Mine extend down the neck. Sometimes not very far, like in the pictures. Sometimes, significantly farther. I have no volute at all so there's really no where to hide the joint and there's no logical place for the backstrap to end. It really needs to go down the neck. This is desirable to me because the area of the neck and headstock is notoriously very week. The head plate and back strap both greatly reinforce this area, as does the scarf joint itself (the scarf allows the grain to be straight down the headstock).

[Matthew N. Masail]

LOL !... sorry:confused: second time this has happened to me here. I understand now why you are doing it, I know a hell of a lot more about classical construction than acoustic, not sure if the trust-rod add or weakens that point, also the string pull is so much more. so I get it.

[John Coloccia]

LOL !... sorry:confused: second time this has happened to me here. I understand now why you are doing it, I know a hell of a lot more about classical construction than acoustic, not sure if the trust-rod add or weakens that point, also the string pull is so much more. so I get it.

The truss rod definitely weakens that point. When it's practical to put the adjustment at the heel end of the neck, that's where I put it.