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Hello- Bob C. will be doing two of his 7 lam neck blanks for me here soon.They will be twelve string, 12 fret, Martin Slope dreads. The only thing we are not sure of is an appropriate raw headstock length. On my 1976 Martin D12-28 the headstock is 7 5/8 from back of the nut. However, I plan to put some kind of crest on it, instead of the squared off Martin style. Won't be anything extravagant- suggestions for us for how long to have as minimum raw headstock material when he does the blanks? Thanks, Mike T.

Mike,

The best advice I can give you is to put it on paper. Start by drawing out a full-sized copy of your D12 headstock, also marking where the top-most tuner holes will be. Even if you haven't finalized your crest design, you should be able to estimate how much extra you'll need just by doing some doodling on the paper. Seeing things full sized really helps. Just determine how long is just gonna be too long, cut it back a bit, order your neck and then work with what you've got. All will be well!

I'm sure Andy has that information Mike, he recently built one, Andy, you here bud?
YF Serge

Mike, here are my specs:
Using Gotoh minis, the hole spacing can be 1". That's about the minimum I'd want to do. I'm not sure what you are using for tuners but that would be something to plan in advance.
From nut to the first tuner hole is 1.75". From nut to the top of my headstock is 8.5". That gives me 1.75" from the center of the top hole to the top of the headstock. Not sure how much room you need for your ornimentation.
As you can see, this isn't too much bigger than many 6 string headstocks. The way I figure, you already have a bunch of extra weight in tuners at that end of the guitar so I don't want to ad more than necessary to the wood/size of the paddle itself.
Hope that helps.
As Carlton said, put it on paper. That's your safest bet.

I think my 12 pattern is about 8.5 long as well. Use minis for usre, the wieght fo full size wil be a lot. ou can also cut the weight by using ebony or pearloid buttons.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"