Friday 29 November 2013

Headstocks - work in progress





I have been making necks recently, and once I get started they seem almost to make themselves. This is satisfying and relatively simple woodwork and ending up with a nice stack of necks is most gratifying. The necks in the picture above are all from cedar although I use good mahogany too. The four headstocks on the right are all faced with some fine kingwood veneer that I picked up a few years back. Kingwood is a true rosewood, but is a rather small tree. I have seen it used for backs and sides of guitars, but it is rarely big enough for 2 piece backs. The veneer I have is saw cut at about 2mm thick, and is lovely for headfacings either  in one pieces or 2 bookmatched halves. The sapwood on 2 of these heads is particularly striking.




This headstock is from Gayle's cedar and walnut guitar, now in Florida. It is from ancient bog oak inlaid with a shard of local English yew. The tuners are Waverly leaf pattern with ebony buttons.



The head above is from a guitar finished earlier this year for a client in China. It is faced in ebony and has an 'ears of wheat' inlay that matched the rosette. I enjoy making this intricate inlay even though the time involved is considerable; it makes the guitar truly unique.The tuners are Gotoh 510's. The picture below is of the same headstock. My client requested that I veneered the back of the head as well as the front which I was very happy to do.