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Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck?
http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=51632		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Dolmetscher007 [ Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck?
I have seen a dozen or so YouTube videos that show people making guitar necks that have a scarf joint. It appears that roughly about half the people take the off-cut "headstock" piece, flip it around, and glue it on TOP of the neck that it was just cut from... and the other half of the people glue it underneath the neck. I cannot find a general consensus that says one method is "better/stronger/more-soild/sustain's better" than the other. It appears to just be arbitrary.

With guitar building, almost nothing seems arbitrary, so I was hoping someone here might be able to help.

If you glue it on top of the neck, (No 1. in the pic below) a good 3 inches of the headstock now "lives" under the fingerboard, and the nut is seated in the smaller headstock piece.
If you glue it under the neck (No.2 below) 4 out of the 6 tuning pegs will actually be going through both the headstock and the neck. The nutt is seated in the neck wood, and not the headstock wood.

Image

I simply cannot tell which one would be better. Anyone have any input?
Author:  rlrhett [ Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
I generally hate to be “that guy”, but this exact question with almost the exact graphic you posted was asked not more than a couple of months ago. Check out the search function, you can’t miss the thread.


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Author:  Freeman [ Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
I've done it both ways. I don't think it makes a big difference, both are much better than cutting from a single piece of wood. There is the issue of where the glue line ends up, that bothers some people. I generally do No 1.
Author:  dzsmith [ Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
Freeman wrote:
I've done it both ways. I don't think it makes a big difference, both are much better than cutting from a single piece of wood. There is the issue of where the glue line ends up, that bothers some people. I generally do No 1.

Yep, I do number 2, but we are all still friends.
Author:  Pmaj7 [ Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
Number two, because I don't want it to look like an Ibanez. Number one you can hide the joint with a backstrap. I think number two looks bad without a back strap and if I was going back strapless I might try number one. Some classical Builders doing number 2 and somehow get the joint right under the lip and that's pretty slick.

New username, same Pat Mac
Author:  Dolmetscher007 [ Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
rlrhett wrote:
I generally hate to be “that guy”, but this exact question with almost the exact graphic you posted was asked not more than a couple of months ago. Check out the search function, you can’t miss the thread.


I work in software technology, trust me when I say, I know what you mean about sometimes having to be "that guy" that tells someone to do a little work and not just ask for help. Unfortunately, in this particular situation, I am not able to find the post you reference about scarf joints. I don't mean to sound critical of this website, because you guys and the content on it is great, but the search feature is not amazing.

Could you point me to that thread?
Author:  sdsollod [ Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=50334&hilit=scarf
Author:  Lillian F-W [ Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headstock scarf joint: Off-cut on top, or under the neck
No 1. I want the largest/longest gluing surface after the headstock is thinned.
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