Wyliee said:
It really needs to be a full sized line drawing. Photos can be rescaled depending on your specific printer and software, which can lead to mismatches in size. A full size drawing can be used for the actual template. Photos don't work quite as well for a physical template.
If you're adamant on using photos, you'll need to accept the possibility of some variation on the final headstock and it would be non-returnable except for warranty issues. Neck shop staff will need flexibility on any custom headstock to make sure it fits the nut width and tuner reams.
It's not a matter of me being "adamant", I'm just not sure where to get an authentic headstock to do a tracing with...I just want an Explorer/Ibanez Destroyer headstock that's more accurate in shape than the current catalog offering...Someone at Warmoth once (when I called asking why their Jackson headstocks were slightly "off" looking) explained to me that they have to make subtle changes to non-licensed designs to avoid trademark issues...When I mentioned "Gee, you guys are Fender-licensed and Fender now owns Charvel...technically aren't you able to do it exact now? The person (and I wish I remember his name) said "Yeah, I guess technically we could now, but it's not currently in the plans to update the design". Not sure what their licensing arrangement is with Gibson...but the guy DID say they'll do one-offs all day long with an accurate tracing. Not like I'd even worry about having to return it for structural defects, I have 3 Warmoth (Strat) necks and Loooooooove them...
I was messing around with the photos I have last night, and while I can blow them up to where the nut is the desired width, I can see what you're saying about the variations...I even went so far as to hold a neck and the body up to my screen to see if the headstock size looked correct, and it did....guess I should measure a tuner-hole and see if it is also size-accurate when the nut slot is blown up to the correct size...I could deal with
slight variations, as long as it looks closer to the original than the standard offering.
I don't have photoshop on this computer, so I was using Microsoft Photo Editor (which won't let me save the resized versions) and Irfanview (which will, but it is a pain in the *** to resize..it wants you to do it by frame size, not percentage...) and it's not exactly easy...but then there's having to go into a retailer (assuming I can even find one carrying an Explorer) and ask "I don't really want to buy
this guitar, but can I borrow it and your counter-top to make a tracing?" Seems like it'd be quite difficult to even trace (especially an angled) headstocks correctly without removing the tuners...not like my local Guitar Center is going to let me do
that even on a good day...I used to be a manager there, so I can pretty much state with near-certainty the answer would be "NO"... :sad:
I'm about to the point where I'm gonna blow it up to the correct size and make a tracing off my computer monitor...lol :icon_biggrin: