Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey all

I am in the middle of a Stauffer headed guitar. It will not be historically accurate, but influenced by the style. I went with an 00 body like Martin did in their tributes from the late 90's and again in the mid 00's. Mine is Redwood on Maple with a black stained mahogany neck. I have come to the plate that covers the morticed-in and hidden tuning machines and since this is a critical part of the design, I was wondering if I could get some opinions (I had to ask?). My "plate" will be a sheet of ivoroid like the binding and rosette.

1) Here is the guitar as it it now

2) Most of these have the plate on the back of the head, and the front is either just black, or has some small inlaid border or binding. The plate is mostly this shape with a squarish bottom and not covering the very top. This one happens to be an 1840 Martin

3) A few have the plate on the front

4) This is the only one I have seen that did not have a big plate on it. I flipped this shot so it looks like it is on the front, but it is really on the back. I really like this. Was it a lefty"

5) And after a few tries, this is what I came up with. The sides of the main part of it are not parallel, and the bottom has a tighter curve. Since it is on the front, it cannot blend into the neck/head transition. The sample is cut from cream colored card stock, and the actual ivoroid is next to it.

So let me have it - any critiques out there?

Ed

Not sure why the pictures turned out big - followed the formula that has been successful up to now

I agree, I like the S-shaped one best of the three. I know this is a mock up, but the one thing I would change is the curve at the top of the "S" so that the the width of the revealed wood between the plate edge and the edge of the headstock increases more smoothly and at a uniform rate as you go out to the scroll end like in the photo immediately above with the metal s-shaped plate.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

If you are doing the nautical theme on this one incorporating a "fish" form scrimshawed on the plate might be fun.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/347621664 ... FJnZmztcDT

Another:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/297659856 ... dsLxzhs7dE

J - not sure what you mean. Is it to make my piece a little less tall at the top? extend the tip?

Clay - unfortunately my computer won't open either of those linx in Pinterest. Dying to see what you cam up with - my brother does scrimshaw. Is there another way to get to them?

Ed

I'm suggesting extending the curve of the top end of the plate upwards just a bit and flattening the curve of the headstock edge just a bit to make the way the radius of the end of the plate and the radius of the end of the headstock increase in a smoother way such that they complement each other. It's the sort of thing you can use a French curve for to draw it out. I put bars in the photo below to try to highlight what I'm referring to. See how the lengths of the bars increase in a smooth regular way as you move along the edge of the plate? If I drew those same bars on the your mock up, the lengths would not increase in a smooth regular way. The specific area where I think the relationship between the curves could be improved is circled in the lower photo.I hope what I'm saying makes sense.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Hi Ed,
If you google "Roman dolphin statuary" and check out the images you should see some of the "creatures" that might be adaptable to scrimshaw. The fish like "dolphins" with the large heads and sinuous bodies.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -309882472

scroll down to dolphin lamp posts:
https://baldwinhamey.wordpress.com/tag/dolphin/

I have a note into my brother who does some scrimshaw. Since my logo is an early Greek anchor, how about this one

http://www.soniahalliday.com/category-view3.php?pri=GR1-16MW.jpg

I compressed it a little and had it tatooed on my arm after visiting Delos in Greece 10 years ago, I'll keep thinking

Ed

I saw some of the tile images in the brief search I did, but thought the Roman, almost gargoyle like dolphin images would lend themselves to a scrimshaw interpretation. Googling "sea monsters on old maps" brought up some interesting line art.

Refined the shape a little. J, what do you think?

Got n offer to explore making it out of metal and having it engraved, so we'll see

I can't tell exactly what the changes you made were, but the upper end of the plate seems to have a nicer, smoother curve and the relationship with the curve of the headstock edge seems better. What were the refinements you made?

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

J

I opened the mouth on the bottom making it line up with the long curve of the left side, I trimmed the curve at the very top-left of the plate . I trimmed the curve at the ouside of the point. I am not trying yo duplicate the original

Thanks

Ed

Hi Ed,
A change you might consider would be to extend the (spiral?) curve at the top so it intersected the lower line at or near the center of the "circle".
I made a drawing to better explain what I mean. I traced the existing design off the computer screen and added to the existing cap. The broken line is as you have it in the photo and the solid line is what I propose.
We all have our own vision of what something should look like - what looks right is so much in the eye of the beholder.