PBG 6 Inline Headstock Design

Our good friend SonicMountain has been busy cooking up some new designs for a PBG 6 Inline Headstock shape.

This shape would be used on our finished TL style guitars and any new JM or ST guitars we might stock in the future.

He used the original design I came up with and sketched live in the Headstock Shaping video.

We have settled on this reworking of that design as having the most universal appeal.

Attachment 22599

Headstock shapes are very personal, as we have seen from some of the designs you guys have created for your builds. Finding something with universal appeal is always a challenge.

I think SonicMountain has got it with this design.

What do you think?

Hi Adam, I like it a lot and if it came done like that from the factory that would save a lot of work for newbies and those not so confident using a coping saw.

I like it Ads and Sonic. As you say headstock shapes are personal but think there is enough meat to do minor mods if the builder chooses to

Is that finished JM or ST types, or is that on future kits - which means they won't come with paddle headstocks?

I reckon it's a nice design, reminiscent of a Tele headstock, I would agree with Wazkelly about getting the headstock shape pre-cut at the factory, since the maple wood used for the Pitbull guitar necks does tend to be a bit hard to cut due to the hardness of the wood, going by my experience with cutting out the headstock on the maple neck for my Gold Strat build, that would just leave the sanding work to be done.

You could even have it as a kit option, where you could choose between a neck with a pre-cut headstock, or a neck that hasn't had the headstock pre-cut.

It strikes that difficult balance of familiarity and uniqueness.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. It is certainly a challenge to make something neutral, that still looks 'right' and isn't infringing on other major manufacturers designs.

I believe this is for the finished guitars primarily and you will still be able to get blanks for your own designs, but I'll let Adam confirm that.

Slightly larger image for perusal - the measurements indicate the existing Pitbull blank paddle -I've put that baseline I worked out here as well for comparison.

https://i.imgur.com/2qrCaC5l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RDiJBftl.jpg

I'd agree with Dr. No. Have it as an option.

Personally, given the haphazard tuning hole placement it would be preferable to have the whole blank paddle undrilled.
It would remove one of the few items in the kit that can be readily customised.
cheers, Mark.

I'd really like to fix the tuning hole situation.

Leaving it blank would be fine for some people but some others might find that a bit of a challenge to get right. I'd like to see a pilot hole template that physically clamps to the back of the head stock and lines up with the top edge to get the initial small holes in the right spot.

It doesn't really matter how you try to fool proof it, if its being done by factory workers then human error will always factor in unless more care is taken.

I like the design, on finished guitars it will look great AND be an identifier of the brand

I think is perfect for the finished guitars.

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, this will be for finished guitars, predominantly, but I do like the idea of offering as it an option for all our ST, TL and JM kits.... for those who would struggle shaping their own.

We will still offer the blank Paddle headstock on all kits and can even order some undrilled as another option.

Seems like a nice design, however, are the tuning holes shown in the diagram in an accurate position?
Their current position don't look to promote a straight string pull.

Hi Zandit, The tuner holes are not precisely located - the initial drawing was done based on several tracings I found on the forum, so are a bit of a best guess.

I can see what you are saying, they probably need to come down a bit - the space from the top of the headstock was based on my JMA headstock, which had a fair bit of variance between the holes, which makes it difficult to be really accurate. They are there mostly to give an idea but the main focus was on the actual shape, and its just that outline that has been sent.

If you look at the 'blank' drawing, I am not sure I have the break angle for the headstock in relation to the neck exactly right, which will affect that.

We are currently seeing how close I got, so there may be some fine tuning to do yet. Good pick up though, I will keep that in mind.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Hi Zandit, The tuner holes are not precisely located - the initial drawing was done based on several tracings I found on the forum, so are a bit of a best guess.

I can see what you are saying, they probably need to come down a bit - the space from the top of the headstock was based on my JMA headstock, which had a fair bit of variance between the holes, which makes it difficult to be really accurate. They are there mostly to give an idea but the main focus was on the actual shape, and its just that outline that has been sent.

If you look at the 'blank' drawing, I am not sure I have the break angle for the headstock in relation to the neck exactly right, which will affect that.

We are currently seeing how close I got, so there may be some fine tuning to do yet. Good pick up though, I will keep that in mind.

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No worries bud, glad to help!

To get the straightest string pull you need align the holes so that the bottom edge of the fitted tuner post (+ ½ a typical string diameter) is in line with the appropriate string nut slot. To some extent this will vary with the tuners fitted by between 1 and 2mm depending on post thickness and amount of curvature of the post. In practice it will also depend on how many turns of string you end up with round the post. For most standard tuners, the more turns you have, the bigger the diameter of the post at the point the string comes off.

Locking tuners tend to have straight-sided posts, as they don't need a convex-sided shape to push the strings up against itself where it passes through the hole to help lock it in place.

You'd really need to get hold of the tuners fitted to the finished guitars and work out the post diameter at (I'd suggest) around 3 or 4 wraps of string (2 to 3 for the thicker bottom E string) and work back from there as to the centre point of the tuner holes.

Yes, thats good in theory but I don't know how much we can do about the factory accuracy. When you are talking 1 or 2mm that is the kind of tolerance we are already working at. Good information none the less and makes sense. It's certainly an area on the kits I'd like to see improved, so including an accurate mark up of them can only be a good thing.

IMHO the proposed head stock looks very similar to a G&L head stock.

Perhaps, but there is no real mistaking that headstock either. Its a fine line to walk between the already established shapes to be different without doing something completely outlandish and divisive.

https://i.imgur.com/EmRkxhGl.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Yes, that's good in theory but I don't know how much we can do about the factory accuracy. When you are talking 1 or 2mm that is the kind of tolerance we are already working at. Good information none the less and makes sense. It's certainly an area on the kits I'd like to see improved, so including an accurate mark up of them can only be a good thing.

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I'd like to think that I could work at sub-1mm accuracy using hand tools so I'd hope that the factory could be persuaded to do likewise, especially if they are using CNC machinery. Of course it all depends on the factory setting up the CNC machines correctly to start with, otherwise they're just making consistently wrong necks. :)

Hopefully Adam can get the factory to provide some sample necks using the new headstock design to check before signing-off on it for production.

I believe that is the idea. I'm not really across the factory operations and can only comment based on the neck I received which is a pretty small sample size.

Anyway, my focus is providing the most accurate files I can, so this is all good info.