The Guitar Headstock
For those who have only just taken up the guitar it’s useful
to know the names and functions of the various parts of the instrument.
So, starting at what might be called the ‘top’ of the guitar,
you will find the headstock. This is the flat, paddle like, piece of
wood (or composite on those few guitars made from one of the new materials)
on the end of the neck. It’s sometimes also called the head or
‘Peghead’.
Like many other stringed instruments, the guitar headstock is there
purely to support the individual tuners for each string. It doesn’t
contribute directly to the sound of the instrument.
The headstock and branding
Stuck out there on the end of the neck as it is, the headstock presents
a clearly visible flat surface so luthieres often use it for the secondary
purposes of branding and decoration. Many guitar makers employ a distinctive
outline for the headstocks on their guitars, so they are easily recognised.
For example, although the flared, square ended outline was used on a
lot of early guitars, today the CF Martin guitar company is one of the
few to continue using this old design. By doing so they enhance the
image of their products as traditional hand crafted instruments. Other
companies using this style of headstock use it to build reproductions
of the old Martin guitars. Unfortunately this headstock design, particularly
in the slotted form, isn't particularly practical in terms of ease of
stringing or in minimising string binding in the nut slots.
Flamenco and classical nylon strung guitars usually all use the same
type of slotted headstock design, but with an ornate carved crest at
the top of the headstock. Although to the uninitiated these headstock
may all look very similar, each maker tries to design their own distinctive
carving pattern. Such guitars also don’t normally employ a headstock
logo or brand. Any branding on these guitars is restricted to a paper
label on the inside of the guitar that’s visible through the soundhole.

Headstock on a Cond'e flamenco guitar with characteristic carved crest.
Inlays
Although inlay work doesn’t make a guitar sound any better (often
quite the reverse) it does boost its price. The headstock is a favourite
area for decoration and many showpiece guitars have breathtaking inlay
work applied to the headstock surface. At it's most restrained the inlay
is often of the makers brand.
The design requirements for the headstock and tuners
The headstock has to provide convenient access to the tuners, both
for loading the strings and for tuning. It also has to allow a direct
path for each string through the nut. There must be sufficient down
pressure over the nut so that, at normal playing tension, each string
remains firmly seated in its nut slot. This down pressure is produced
by the angle between the headstock and neck, normally this is around
twenty degrees. This is enough to clearly establish one end of the vibrating
length of the string, without the outside of the bend over the nut going
beyond the strings elastic limit. Once this bend radius is exceeded
the string is prone to breaking.
String paths and tuning problems
Electric guitar makers are well aware of tuning problems caused by
friction in the nut slots. When strings are bent or the ‘tremolo’
bar is used, the strings stretch like a spring and need to slide through
the nut. Friction in the nut slots can cause strings to jam as they
stretch and relax, resulting in tuning instability. Electric guitar
string paths through the nut are often dead straight, to minimise the
chances of strings jamming in the nut.
Before the advent of the electric guitar, the, often quite sharply
angled, string paths on acoustic guitars, typical of the old 'vintage'
headstock designs, didn’t cause much of a problem, since playing
techniques at the time did not produce much movement of the strings
through the nut. Older headstocks aren’t great for tuning stability
because they flare away from the nut, producing a converging path for
the three strings on either side. The nut slots often aren’t straight,
but cut at various angles to allow for the convergence.
Today, acoustic techniques are much more extreme, with heavy bends,
on-the-fly tuning alterations and behind-the-nut bends, requiring the
best possible tuning stability. As a result modern acoustic guitars
often feature headstock designs that provide a straight, or at least
straighter, string path over the nut. In these designs the headstock
flare is reversed, with the widest point just above the nut, then tapering
towards the top of the headstock. This brings the three tuners on each
side more closely in to line with the string slots in the nut, so the
string paths are straighter. Players interested in the new acoustic
techniques might find a guitar with this feature a better choice, if
they want to avoid tuning problems.
Headstock
on a modern CA Guitars carbon fibre guitar with logo inlay.
The Basic Variations in Headstock design
Apart from the general outline and carving of the crest there are three
main structural variations in headstock design (dictated by the type
of tuners) that are used on acoustic guitars; the six on a side, the
three on a side slotted and the three on a side solid (these are the
authors own classifications and refer to the type and distribution of
the tuners).
Tuning Pegs
Early guitars used simple tapered wooden or bone pegs, of the type
still used today on violins, hence the older name of ‘peghead’
for the headstock. Although these friction-fit pegs work reasonably
well on gut or nylon strings, they can’t cope too well with higher
tension metal strings, so when steel strings started to be used they
were abandoned in favour of the metal, geared types of tuner. Pegs obviously
have no gearing, but directly affect the strings, so accurate tuning
is quite difficult. On the other hand they are a simple design that
is relatively easy to make with hand tools. With pegs a solid headstock,
or peghead, is normally used, with two rows of tapered holes, bored
through the thickness of the peghead. One great advantage of this type
of construction is that the peg keys are all conveniently presented
at the back of the peghead for tuning by the players left hand. They
can also help keep headstock weight to a minimum which can help with
the overall balance of an instrument, particularly with a very light
weight body, as is the case with flamenco guitars.

Headstock on an restored 1840 Martin guitar with ivory, friction tuning
pegs. The headstock is made from a separate piece of timber and glued
on to the neck using the old style modified bridle joint (picture by Frank
Ford).
The ‘Six-on-a-side’ headstock
This headstock design has a curious history and is worth mentioning
for its place in the progress of guitar development, even though it
is not currently in use on any production acoustic guitar. As far as
is known it was first developed by Johann Stauffer, a Viennese luthiere
active in the early 1800’s. Stauffer’s guitar designs included
a number of advanced innovations that weren’t appreciated at the
time. He obviously thought deeply about the problems of the guitar and,
although his headstock design does offer straight string pull through
the nut (well almost) he probably most wanted to provide the accuracy
and stability of geared tuners, with the tuning keys all on one side
of the head and all turning in the same direction, for convenience of
tuning.
The Stauffer headstock is a very lyrical design with a sweeping scrolled
outline. The design looks more complex than it is, since the geared
tuning machines are mounted in a cavity at the back of the headstock
and are covered by an elaborately engraved bronze plate. The tuners
themselves are worm gear types much like those use today, mounted on
a single brass strip.
Stauffer’s place in the history of the acoustic guitar is particularly
significant because he employed a certain Christian Frederic Martin
as an apprentice. C.F. Martin emigrated to the USA in 1833, set up the
Martin guitar company and for a brief time continued to make guitars
to the Stauffer design, before developing his own designs.
The six-on-a-side headstock design has found extensive use on electric
guitars, most famously and originally on those made by Fender. Although
the inspiration for the famous Fender headstock is often attributed
to Paul Bigsby’s one-off custom guitar, built for Merle Travis,
it’s entirely possible that either, Travis, Bigsby or Leo Fender
may have seen a Stauffer style Martin guitar.
In 1963 Fender introduced the Kingman flattop acoustic with a bolt-on
neck and the characteristic, Stratocaster style, six-on-a-side, headstock.
These guitars weren’t popular and the model was only produced
for a few years.

Reproduction Stauffer tuning keys and plate made by Rodgers (pics by
Rodgers)
The Slotted Headstock
The next design step from
friction pegs is the slotted headstock. This uses geared metal tuners
mounted three on-a-side, with the shaft fitting into holes drilled across
the width of the headstock. The strings are threaded into the tuner
shafts through long slots cut in the headstock. This design is complicated
to build and the finished headstock is a little more delicate than the
solid design. It does provide support at either end of the string posts
and easy access to the tuning keys. Fitting new strings can be a bit
tricky with a slotted headstock.
 
C.F. Martin 00045S slotted headstock & OM41 special solid headstock
both with the inlaid brand name (pic courtesy of C.F. Martin Co.)
Complex inlay on a Larrivee'
headstock
Around 1930 guitar makers
first began using the modern solid headstock layout, with 3-on-a-side
individual tuners mounted in round holes drilled through the thickness
of the headstock. For the manufactures this has the advantage of being
a simple design to execute, it makes for a stronger headstock and individual
tuners can be changed if they are faulty, rather than having to scrap
all three-on-a-plate if one doesn’t work. From the player’s
point of view, string loading is easier, but the tuning keys are a little
awkwardly placed and it just doesn’t look as cool as a slotted
headstock!
Jointed headstocks versus
solid necks
Guitar necks are either ‘solid’
necks carved from a single block of wood, or they may be built up from
several pieces of wood. It's a common misconception that earlier guitars
and today’s top of the range guitars, all use solid necks and
that this somehow a superior method of construction. This is not the
case, since most of the earliest guitars had headstocks made from a
separate piece of wood, glued onto the neck. Although carving an entire
neck from a solid blank may result in a neck that looks better, it leaves
an inherent weakness in the headstock area. This is because the wood
blank will be cut with the grain, so the neck itself will have the wood
fibres running in parallel along its length, resulting in the strongest
possible neck. However, because the headstock angles back from the neck,
when the headstock is carved from the same block, the grain runs at
an angle across the thickness of the headstock, so there’s a weakness
at this point. With a glued headstock cut from a separate piece of parallel
grain timber, the wood is once again being used in its strongest fashion.
Contrary to what is often thought, a properly constructed glued joint,
particularly when made with modern glues, is stronger than the wood
around it and of course it makes more economical use of the raw timber.
So a multi-part glued neck is in fact superior to a ‘solid’
neck in every respect, except possibly cosmetically.

The line of the scarf joint between the neck and the timber of the headstock
is just visible on this picture of a Conde' flamenco guitar.
Classical and flamenco guitars
have traditionally used a simple diagonal ‘scarf’ joint
located under the nut where the headstock joins the neck. This is perhaps
the weakest form of scarf joint, since the surface area is relatively
small, but it works well on nylon strung guitars with their lower string
tension. Many modern acoustic guitars use a longer scarf joint located
either between the first and second frets or in the lower third of the
headstock itself.
PICTURE – filenames
– BabiczHdstkFront & BabiczJumboVolut&Scarf
The Volute
A small raised section of
wood can often be found at the back of the neck in the angle formed
between the headstock and the neck. This is often called a ‘volute’
and it is supposedly included to strengthen the junction between the
head and neck, although it’s also a nice decorative feature. It
either takes the form of a simple raised lip or it may be a pyramid
or dart shape. Modern guitars with solid necks made to the old style
often have dart volutes. These mimic the design of guitars made in the
1800s, notably by the C.F. Martin Guitar company. All early Martin guitars
had jointed headstocks, with the headstock attached by a complex joint
that is a modified form of ‘bridle joint’. In this joint
the end of the neck is carved into a square point or wedge and the headstock
has a matching socket. In addition, the back of the neck has a finger
of wood, carved into the dart shape, which meets with the back surface
of the headstock. This is such a tricky piece of joinery that Martin
abandoned it in the 1920’s, but they continued to carve a dart
volute on the back of many of their necks as a sort of tribute to the
earlier necks. Since then other makers have copied the dart volute whenever
they want to add some 'vintage' style to an instrument.
Note – The term ‘volute’,
although commonly used to describe the carved fillet at the back of
the guitars neck, is degraded, since the word means ‘a flat spiral’
and when applied to musical instruments was probably originally used
to describe the scroll at the top of the pegheads used for instruments
of the violin family.


The above two pictures show
the modified bridle joint used to attach the headstock on old C.F. Martin
guitar. The 'dart' volute, that's part of the joint, can be seen where
the neck meets the back of the headstock (pics by Frank Ford).
This modern, one piece, neck
is carved to imitate the vintage bridle joint found on the older Martins.
 
Tayor's NT neck design uses
a finger joint between the neck and headstock. Shown both in the rough
pre-assembled state and as the nearly invisible joint on a finished
neck (pics courtesy of Taylor Guitars).
New Developments
The design rules for acoustic
guitars may seem fairly mature by now and in any case musical instrument
seem to develop quite slowly compared to the frantic rate of change
in other areas of modern life. It’s also fascinating to see that,
what often appear to be, new ideas, are really old ones revived, for
example the six-on-a-side layout of the Stauffer design. Another ‘new’
feature has appeared recently that, again like the Stauffer machines,
hides the gears inside the head. Although it has appeared on some very
recent instruments, this design dates back to the work of Parisian builder,
Rene Francois Lacote, active in the 1800’s. The Lacote tuner,
now beautifully reproduced by Rodgers Tuning Machines, allows for a
very clean and elegant line for the headstock.

Headstock of a reproduction
Lacote guitar with Rodgers tuners made to the Lacote design (pic by
Rodgers).
In conclusion
At first glance the acoustic
guitar may seem to be a fairly simple object. However even the simplest
things can behave in very complex ways. This article has covered only
the first 20cm (that’s around 8 inches for the old folk) or so
at the top of the guitar. Obviously there is a lot more to say about
the instrument and although it’s been around for over 200 years
there is much about it that still isn’t well understood, even
today.
By Terry Relph-Knight
Credits and Web resources
–
Thanks for their help in
writing this article to – C.F. Martin & Company Inc., Frank
Ford of Gryphon Stringed Instruments, to Rob Rodgers of Rodgers Tuning
Machines and to Taylor Guitars.
www.martinguitar.com –
C.F. Martin & Co Inc company website
www.frets.com – Frank Ford’s website
www.rodgers-tuning-machines.co.uk/ – Rodgers Tuning Machines website
http://home.houston.rr.com/verrett/erg/erg/builders.htm - For info on
early guitar designs and builders.
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