Silent Guitar Scratch build ideas

[Zandit75]

ok Zandy you still have all of us in suspense what mods to the headstock you are doing and why a thicker veneer must be used

Alright, I'm shocking at keeping a secret!!
Woks, as I said you were close, but still off by a little.
This is the idea I have in mind....


I need the thicker head stock to be able to place the tuners on the sides, and still have enough meat to hold the locating screw.

[wokkaboy]

wow that will look ultra cool Zandy ! Sure you can pull it off. I guess the headstock will have to be somewhere between 20 and 25mm thick. It will need to be strong with all that meat missing in the middle

[Zandit75]

wow that will look ultra cool Zandy ! Sure you can pull it off. I guess the headstock will have to be somewhere between 20 and 25mm thick. It will need to be strong with all that meat missing in the middle

I was hoping to get away with it thinner than that, especially since the standard PBG LP headstock is about 14mm thick. I've measured the tuning machines, and I need 18mm minimum, so maybe 20mm would be workable. Adam has some mini grover style machines available that will bring the thickness minimum down a little too.
Having said that, you could be right in needing it to be thicker. I keep forgetting that acoustics gave higher tension than electrics.
I have a laminating factory near work that I am looking to visit soon and hopefully get some off-cuts of veneers.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Zandy. I presume you will be gluing the veneer to the bottom so you keep the same string break angle from nut to tuner posts. Have to check out how all the string angles will work once you have the neck.
Actually because the tuner posts are much lower than traditional ones I don't think it would matter if you glued about 3mm to the top and 3mm to the bottom.

[FrankenWashie]

Alright, I'm shocking at keeping a secret!!
Woks, as I said you were close, but still off by a little.
This is the idea I have in mind....


I need the thicker head stock to be able to place the tuners on the sides, and still have enough meat to hold the locating screw.

WHOA NELLY! Wow, I am DEFINITELY getting the popcorn ready for this one! That's a great challenge. Really looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Frankie you must have shares in a company that makes popcorn ? You seem to eat alot while watching build diaries hahah

[FrankenWashie]

Hey Frankie you must have shares in a company that makes popcorn ? You seem to eat alot while watching build diaries hahah

Pizza gets too messy. Air popped corn doesn't leave oily residue on the guitar finishes.

[Zandit75]

sounds good Zandy. I presume you will be gluing the veneer to the bottom so you keep the same string break angle from nut to tuner posts. Have to check out how all the string angles will work once you have the neck.
Actually because the tuner posts are much lower than traditional ones I don't think it would matter if you glued about 3mm to the top and 3mm to the bottom.

Yep, I was planning on laminating top and bottom. I ordered that neck tonight that I posted from ebay earlier, so I guess I could actually do something similar to what I have shown in the sample. The only main difference I will have from the photo above will be the truss rod hole and cover. As the tuners will be slightly further away from the nut, the break angle will be reduced a little.
Hopefully with the removal of some material, it will offset the added weight of the laminates. I don't want a neck heavy guitar!

WHOA NELLY! Wow, I am DEFINITELY getting the popcorn ready for this one! That's a great challenge. Really looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

I need the Triple buttered Popcorn, nuke some for me will you!!

[Simon Barden]

Interesting design.

You might find that the Grover locking tuners aren't the best solution here, as to lock them you need access to the knob on top of the tuner. Looking at the picture of that other headstock, it looks like the next string up will hinder access to the locking knob, or even catch on the knob as the overall height will be a little greater than a standard mini-Grover, especially so when you have to undo it to fit new strings. You may find that you have to take all the strings off to do it and work from the two E strings

Can I suggest that you look at tuners that lock from the bottom to avoid this problem? I've got the Planet Waves locking tuners on a Tele and they work very well and I like the built-in string trimmer feature. For some reason there is excessive post height above the string hole which should have been addressed by now IMO (10 year old product), as they are locking so you don't need or want 3 or 4 turns of string round the post as well, and I can't find any dimension diagrams on their site. But I doubt if they are longer overall than the Grovers. The Schaller bottom locking heads are more compact, but are also reassuringly expensive to make up for it. Sperzel Trim-Loks are also good bottom locking tuners, but have a lower gear ratio (12:1) compared to the Planet Waves ones (18:1). Other makes are available, so have a look round.

But do consider the ease of changing strings when you select your tuners with that peg-head design, or at least draw it all out first and see if there will be any major clashes with the mini-grovers. Are the peg-head slots wide enough to get your thumb and finger in to tighten the locking knob, especially when there are other strings in the way?

[Zandit75]

Thanks Simon, I didn't even think about that. Might just look for standard Rotomatics instead.
To be honest, I 've never even seen how the locking tuners work. I was only thinking that the Grover upgrades were basically identical to the Chinese items in the kits.