plaidtone Posted July 15, 2020 Report Share Posted July 15, 2020 Hi All, I am in the process of designing a guitar neck using a neck blank that is about 1" thick. I want to have an angled headstock, so I figured a scarf joint would be the way to go. While drawing it out, I came up with a weird idea to do add a curve along the scarf joint and laminate a thick head plate on top: Any thoughts on the stability of this idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 15, 2020 Report Share Posted July 15, 2020 Your thick headstock cap is mimicking a scarf joint so that is alright....but there is not much of it. The curved joint is 2:1 end grain joined over long grain join. End grain to end grain glue joints are notoriously weak, so I would be wary of this configuration. It could work okay, you should test fit some scrap and see how it holds up to abuse before committing it to a guitar build. SR 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted July 15, 2020 Report Share Posted July 15, 2020 my gut feeling is... not good. end grain and short. reg scarf joint would prob be better. that said... thick overlay is a great idea. I do that on all my stuff, or at least try to. it's crazy how much rigidity it adds. I like to place it higher so that it can 'hold' the nut in place... not that it matters much but it looks nice imo. also, end up with a thicker headstock. I've had no trouble getting tuners to fit the exta 1/8" of thickness I add. anywho, just one aholes o. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaidtone Posted July 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2020 Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it! How about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaidtone Posted July 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2020 Here is a more traditional layout idea: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 16, 2020 Report Share Posted July 16, 2020 Both of your most recent diagrams are the two main implementations of a scarf headstock joint, with the second one perhaps being the most common. Both are equally viable. The second one has the advantage of hiding the glue/join line in the back of the neck. The first version places the glue line right across the face of the headstock. If you don't use a cap to cover the face of the headstock this may be visually distracting to look at. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted July 16, 2020 Report Share Posted July 16, 2020 Hi, this is something I've looked into and I hope it helps if I show you what I decided to do. The neck timber starts off about 25 to 30mm so I kept that going straight through so at least the first and second string are into the one piece of timber of the neck On this neck I flipped the cut piece over which means one end is glueing to end grain. But I think the head veneer and the ears will give it some strength. The only downside which Curtisa pointed out is you can see the joint at the back of the headstock 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted July 16, 2020 Report Share Posted July 16, 2020 21 hours ago, plaidtone said: Here is a more traditional layout idea: Speaking about "viable", I have an acoustic steel string parlour guitar dating back to the 40's or even earlier. When I got it the top was partially loose and by the spots and flecks the guitar had served as a summer flower vase on the wall! It has a similar scarf joint without any headstock veneer. I've had the top repaired and the guitar strung up, the neck including the scarf joint is in its original shape without any issues or signs of failing. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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