I took a look at what I have... I don't have any of the little closed tuners. All mine are 1/2" and have elephant ears. But there are some differences. My Gotoh Res-o-lites that say they are "drop in replacement" for Fenders, are the same as Fenders at about 71mm from the center of the shaft to the end of the ear. This is also the same as my stock ESB-4. The shortest ones I have are on my G&L at 54mm. These are stamped "G&L" but I think they were actually made by Schaller. The Hipshot ultralites clock in at 60mm.
The headstock also looks small because it is. There's about 5mm less wood between the peg and the edge of the headstock on the ESB-4 and a standard Fender headstock. They combine to make the elephant ears look like they stick way out...
...all that said, it does not look vastly different than the current crop of Gibson basses with this style headstock.
Guilty as (implied) charge... It didn't even occur to me to compare the aesthetics with Gibson basses of any era, so far are they off my consideration!
Here's a comparison between the ESB and my Ibanez acoustic. I maintain the small tuners look far better, but although its not a high priority personally, I need to recognise that its likely the majority of kit builders will wish to maintain the general style of the instruments that inspired each kit design. The same, I guess, applies to the 3 point bridge against a trapeze tailpiece or string through setup, now I think about it.
I think Simon may have spaced the A and D tuners a little closer to the E and G than they are on the kit too, which maybe increases the feeling of width. One thing for sure though, my enthusiasm for splashing out for a nice set of say Schaller M4s lights is minimal!
This morning I think I need to get up my courage to glue the neck in...
The Hipshot Lites I procured for it are overall smaller and have shorter ears than the kit tuners (about 3mm shorter overall), so would have looked a bit more balanced. I drilled the holes in positions primarily to get the best straight string pull over the nut, without much other consideration apart from the body of the tuner fitting on the headstock without showing and also having enough room to fit the E string Xtender tuner on and it's operating lever be clear of the headstock. I think I also moved the A and D tuners a bit closer to the nut to both reduce the headstock diving moment and to make room for my logo idea. Probably only 5mm or so though, otherwise the tuner heads would have been difficult to turn without catching the adjoining tuner with your hand.
Its amusing to think of the number of different custom options I would specify for a ESB4 kit now, were I ordering one for my rather different requirements, and then reflect that if I hadn't built this one then I wouldn't have known what custom options I would have wanted...
But you can't guarantee that custom options are actually incorporated with these kits. Don't expect a different type of binding. No binding is fine, as are no holes - as long as you specifically say which holes you don't want. Otherwise you can ask, but don't expect to receive.
Making progress, although the phone is taking lousy images tonight.
Setback today was finding a problem with my antique secondhand humbucker as I checked out the electrics. Looks as if its managed to get a damaged winding. Irritation beat my normal enthusiasm for reuse and repurposing and I ordered up a pair of Artec pickups...
It must have been putting it back together with a replacement cover, it tested OK when apart. The wrapping round the windings wasn't in the best of condition. It had to come apart to add a coil tap and because the cover was horribly dented.
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