Looking for advice on the headstock angle of my next project, which is a 1958 Flying V. I would say clone, but for the headstock angle, I am willing to compromise in favor of practicallity and strength.
The original headstock angle is 17 degrees, the plan I have from electric herald is 15 degrees. If I recall correctly from one of Mark's live sessions, he said maximum angle 13 degrees.
I have a piece of 50mm Sipo with a length of 730mm. This length is just enough to fit the neck and headstock.
Now I do have a few options concerning the headstock angle.
- I can get a 10 degrees angle headstock without a scarf joint.
- resaw the current neck blank and make 2 20mm neck blanks from it
Since Mark also said in that same video, you need to take into account an inch or so extra length for the scarf joint, I would need the 2nd blank for the headstock piece. - Buy a new 20mm, slightly longer neck blank
Then the next question in case of scarf joint is, should I stick to max 13 degrees or stick to original design?
What would you do?
I would say no matter which construction method that you choose, go with something around 10-12 degrees. I think those Gibson 15-17 degree headstocks look cool but they are just too much. For example Texas Toast use a 7 degree angle, PRS is 10. Caparison uses 16 degrees (I think) stating that it’s the perfect angle for a locking nut and not having to use the dreaded string retainer bar.
Practice on scrap...
@Mattbeels and @clinton
Great, I ll stick with 10 to 12 then.
Scarf Joint/No Scarf Joint I'll leave that decision until I m able to at least test this with some scrap wood and my miter saw.
Either way, I will need to make some jigs . I keep slacking 🙂
12 degrees is just right. Not too much not too less.
Here is a link of a vid. In the begining you will see a jig I made for the tablesaw to cut scarves. Not recomended for the beginner. It is an angled cut in a tablesaw. Not to be taken lightly but I am fully aware if safety, where to stand and how to slice.
@clinton oooh so sweet! That looks really good.
I don't have a table saw nor a band saw. But I do have a miter saw.
Today I worked a bit on some sheds in the garden, in order to move everything out of the main shed, so I can turn it into a small workshop. So I did use the miter saw today and took the opportunity to find out if it was suitable to cut scarf joints.
I can only cut about 90 ~ 95mm width neck blanks with it, since the back of the saw that moves forward blocks me at that height.
And while I was at it, I also made a simple jig , 2 pieces of wood screwed together at a 90 degree angle, to fix a neck blank on and fix it to the miter saw with clamps.
I had to chisel away some of the top of the jig , since it was 100mm high and obstructed the saw blade to pass because of the issue mentioned above.
Either tomorrow or next week, I ll be testing if I can make a cut at the spot I need, because I think I lack clearance to feed the neck blank through far enough. If that is the case, I would need to reconsider my options.
One option could be to buy an extra blank, or one longer neck blank, cut a part of the blank square ( just large enough to cut the headstock + scarf joint ), then cut the angle on both pieces. As long as I keep my jig and the angle of the miter saw the same for both cuts, I should end up with a fairly identical cut.
For this build however, I am going to go for a 10 degrees angle and no scarf joint. Unless you guys and girls tell me that is incredibly dumb.
Today I discovered I can also angle the miter saw blade vertically. So I actually don't need a jig at all.
I'm gonna try that tomorrow!
Well that was a bummer.. of course the angle is 15 degrees of a vertical axis. lol
Played a bit with my miter saw and scarf joints on cheap wood.
This is what I have learned so far:
- Since I cannot cut from anywhere in the neck blank, I would need cut the angles for the headstock and the neck in two steps, possibly even from different blanks if they are not long enough for the extra few inches you need.
- My first attempt , I first cut off the part for the headstock, but that was not the best idea, because I had issues clamping that smaller piece down on the miter saw ( well , to the jig that is attached to the miter saw ). The clamp will be in the way for the blade. I could fix that by using double sided tape to fix the neck blank to the jig I made. But that sounds like a terrible idea since it might come loose during cutting.
I think, a better approach is to first make the headstock 12 degrees cut, then use another saw to cut the headstock portion off from the rest of the blank, then attach the rest of the neck blank and cut the 12degrees angle in the neck part. - You really need straight pieces of wood and they really need to be 90 degrees square to the saw blade, cause my cheap test wood was not straight at all and resulted in cuts that are all over the place.
- The cuts themselves are very clean. So with some practice and a few pieces of cheap neck blanks, or at least, straight pieces 700x20x100mm of wood, it should be doable to get good results.
I think I am going to order a few neck blanks just to practice this.
Anyone have other suggestions, or improvements on cutting scarf joints?
