Headstock Designs

[JimBeed]

Well Build#2 in planning as i said in a previous thread.

Bloodwoods been suggested strongly as a good exotic choice in place of maple.

Not avaliable on Angled Headstock as a neck shaft unfortunately,

Don't fancy going for a fender precision or tele style.

So basically i am here asking any of you that are good at drawing/designing if you have some spare time to rough up  a drawing,
For different headstock designs for cutting out of a paddle headstock, though likely will see if warmoth would cut it out or see the tech i used for my last build electrics if he does woodworking like that.

The body will once again be a Z style, 4 String for tuner placement etc.

Here's picture of Z, just so anyone that fancys a go can see it here and not have to go looking on warmoth haha.
also the small picture warmoth have on the site for the paddle headstock dimensions.

Asking here as i am currently completely out of ideas and not a good drawer/designer.
And i'm pretty sure i could end up with a great design if one of you guys has the time. 

If it's needed information will likely go with jazz bass nut so 1-1/2"

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Print out the paddle to full scale. 

Do the same with a diagram of the machine heads of choice.

Lay them out for a straight string pull, create your design around that.

 

[JimBeed]

Yeah very true, having a bit of a slow day, so this was probably silly idea haha,
Will do that. See if ican come up with something.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I find this to be the most practical, simplified way of coming up with a design.

Start with centerline, lay out the straight string pull path, lay out full sized hardware drawings, make sure that the string post center is standard distance from edge of headstock, then design around that.  That way, your hardware will fit, your edges will be the same uniform reveal, the whole thing will be functional and flow visually.

 

[TBurst Std]

Well put TFS

Curious why the W never adopted this?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I'm partial to straight string pull to avoid the need for a locking nut. 
I prefer locking tuners, even with a Floyd bridge.

Not all of Warmoth's headstocks are necessarily designed with that in mind as they build Jacksons, KL's, KWS's, etc...

Not all headstocks are supposed to have straight string pull, but if using my preferred method, it's the only functional way.

 

[AutoBat]

I farted around in photoshop for a bit and came up with this:  it's a lil rough, but you get the idea.

 

[JimBeed]

Cheers AutoBat, that gave me a bit of inspiration that i was lacking for a while.
And cheers TFS, Once my university work is where it needs to be Ill finally get started on working out a design.
Passion and Career clashing, oh well hopefully once university is over i can work my ass off trying to be some kind of musician, but fall back on programming when i need to 

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I could see a Parker-ish design complementing the lines & angles of the z body nicely, or even the EBMM Bongo style headstock.

I liked the KL/Hetfield one I had on my Z, I just can't see the Jackson working with the body at all, just me.

 

[bagman67]

The orignal Zeta headstock might be hard to replicate but it'd sure be cool:

 

[Kostas]

I'd like to see how the Z bass body with the KLHetfield guitar headstock look like when matched... :dontknow:

 

[stubhead]

Working with small drawings is a good start, because it's easier to change them. Like maybe 4 per 8.5" X 11" page, then to a full-size. Paper is really, really, really cheap. And French curves are useful it you don't "have an eye" as they say. I've got a couple of stringed-not-guitars in the works, and there are some processes that can help. Take Tony's idea - just the string paths, machine holes, and nut. Take it to a copy shop (or scan yourself) and run off 25 or 30, carry them around in a notebook & a soft 2mm pencil & a good eraser. Then play around.

And then, HANG THEM ON YOUR BEDROOM WALL. With a pencil and eraser at hand, so you can nudge the lines around for a few weeks. Honestly, I've seen some Rickenbackers (330!) so ugly I'd be ashamed to shovel out the yard with 'em - you can't do worse than those.  :laughing3: Even some Paul Reed Smiths look "off" to me, as do many of the not-quite-Fenders where people changed one line without compensating elsewhere.

 

[JimBeed]

Well i have been playing around on Paint.Net for the past hour watching some kind of monster,

This is the best idea i have so far, just the general feel of the design i like most.

Here is a link to various other ones i did, i know the tuners are too close to the edges, didn't realise till i looked at them afterwards.
http://imageshack.us/g/851/31idea3.png/

The tuner holes are probably not the right size but they looked about right to me,
Obviously this is just rough for now, and will do actual drawings of some aswell .
Unless i go with padouk and just go for the warmoth headstock.

But if i can get a headstock design i like then ill stick with bloodwood.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

might wanna add a lil meat around the outer perimeter for the gear housing of the tuners.

This is where a line drawing printed to scale of the tuner is helpful.  Not just the hole, but the whole unit.  On guitar, it's about 1/2" from the edge of the headstock face to the center of the tuner post.  I'm not sure what it is for bass, perhaps Skuttlefunk can chime in.

 

[JimBeed]

Cool yeah i guessed that after looking at the back of my 5 string z, Like i say just rough late night computer drawings, definately going to do some print outs of the properly sized headstock outline i did for these, but this is a learning experience understanding the way headstocks work more than just "Ohhh you put the strings here and tune them"  :icon_scratch:

Having fun but feel like im trying to reinvent the wheel almost.
But really don't want a fender headstock on this thing if i go with bloodwood. Picky maybe but it's not a fender clone, so neither will the headstock be. 

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I think you'll do well, just be sure to do as many full size mockups with line drawings before you make any cuts on any wood.  The more research and planning you do, and do it well, the better the outcome.

 

[stubhead]

I suspect that  automatically putting everything on a computer (because we're modern?) adds complexity, rather than reduces it. The tactile sensation of paper & pencil translates better to cutting wood for me. Are you planning on mass-producing these? There's a formal name for the manufacturing principle which entails fitting one part to another, using the real parts instead of "measurements" - the name escapes me (Dangerous6 knows?) but it's surely about the opposite of mass production. And I LIKE IT....

It's just like songwriting, of course you can buy the books and programs and write an "original" song using the right rules virtually guaranteed to provoke the correct listener's responses... bah.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I'm just referring to that it's better for him to have done as much planning and prepping before actually cutting on a paddle head.  Try it on some scrap first, but be absolutely sure before you actually cut it out on a fretted paddle head.

 

[stubhead]

Sure, but the process is also enjoyable, or it can be. Surely there's a "Fender" that one could endure. But we kepp doing this instead. And treating them as "products" which you "design"; think of them as your children, which you bend towards your will and twist & manipulat... well I'm getting ahead of myself. :headbang:

Hang the drawings on the wall for a week! (with a pencil & eraser)

 

[JimBeed]

Well for anyone that is interested i believe i have hit what i consider my favourite design and should work well with straight string pull in a 2+2 format.
Ill get a good sketch up of it when i am not up at 4 in the morning.
It incorporates the shape of the lower horn of the body hopefully well to blend it in with the over feel of the bass, with some shaping of it so it is not just a flat front to it but also involves the rounding that the bottom/lower horn on the body style itself includes.