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How you terminate headstock binding at
The nut? I have a Yamaha that does it real weird (or maybe not)...
just wondered how y’all do it


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You probably are looking for a side view? Seems I didn't take any of the guitars I bound, but just in case here is a front view.

I can draw a sketch of what that would look like if it would be helpful.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Yes side views


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I run mine right into the fretboard binding. Its the most complex joint I do. Sorry, can't post the image.

https://www.theukulelesite.com/aaron-oya-custom-spruce-maple-tenor.html

Edit: 2nd try to upload the pics.

Nut slot cut after fingerboard and peghead veneer and binding glued up.

I also didn’t have specific shots of this detail, so I took out a couple of my personal guitars that think illustrate what you’re trying to imagine.

The guitar with the maple binding is a 12-string built 10 years ago. It was the first I ever did with a bound headstock. I don’t like the « look » and never repeated it.

The second is a 6 string with Queensland maple neck and jarrah binding. This is the way I do them now — it looks like a thick head plate — it’s not. I think found the « trick » in a Benedetto book.



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The common approach - and a visually lighter one - seems to be to thickness the headplate to the desired binding depth and bind the board prior to installation in the neck...this keeps a common trim line between headstock binding, bottom of nut, and fretboard binding.

Going deeper on headstock binding forces the neck-to-headstock transition to a design solution without anything in the way of carved transitions (e.g., the distinctive Martin/Collings/Santa Cruz Style 28 and Style 40-45 carved transition)...think D-18 or 'smilie' volute versus the crisp change in line and shape seen on a Style 45 or a Collins D3. That crease at the neck/headstock join - as well as the curved transition from the sides of the headstock into that join - makes deeper headstock binding problematic because the binding itself must be carved across the transition line. This carving may be done neatly, but the trim lines and shapes will not be as simple or as clean with this neck-to-headstock shape as binding which terminates at the front, back, and bottom surfaces of the nut.

The photos show the headstock transition on a Collings D3 for context, as well as a side view of a 40-style binding scheme. The shallower binding on the headstock means that the headplate - or headplate and filler piece laminate - needs to be 0.080"-0.125" thick for adequate visual thickness...we like about 0.100", which generally finishes to about 3/32".

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan