Slotted three-a-side headstock on a Tele

[Power_13]

I have the oddest tastes. After looking at Rick Kelly's website, the idea of grabbing a paddle-headstocked neck from Warmoth, giving it a three-a-side slotted headstock and throwing it on my old Affinity Tele body is beginning to appeal to me.

There'll be a lot of work involved I know, least of all actually getting the tools together to cut the headstock. Aside from that (and the extra fiddlyness of restringing a slotted headstock, which I'm weighing up now) are there any structural problems I'd have to take into consideration? Slotted headstocks are rare outside of nylon-string guitars for string tension related reasons, I'm guessing...

[concert410]

I have to admit, I would have never thought of this mod. Can you post a pic of something similar?

[Kap'n]

Slotted headstocks are rare outside of nylon-string guitars for string tension related reasons, I'm guessing...

Slot heads are fairly common on "short scale" Martins from the 30's and earlier. I've only seen a handful of electrics with them, mostly Rickenbacker 12-strings.

[Power_13]

I have to admit, I would have never thought of this mod. Can you post a pic of something similar?

Sure thing, here ya go.



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Taken from Rick Kelly's website. He also has a Snakehead-style paddle headstock Tele on there.

Slot heads are fairly common on "short scale" Martins from the 30's and earlier. I've only seen a handful of electrics with them, mostly Rickenbacker 12-strings.

I can't believe I forgot about the old Martins, since it was looking at their slotted headstocks that gave me the idea in the first place! I'll have a look at the Rickenbackers for reference.

I've also had the idea of using locking tuners. That way, it's easier to restring - thread the string through, tighten the lock up, wind to pitch. I've heard people don't like slotted headstocks because it's tricky restringing them (YMMV) so this seems like a decent solution.

[Kap'n]

Actually, I need to correct myself. It's not short-scale Martins, but "12-fret" Martins.

[Power_13]

WOuld that make it the same scale as a Fender electric, or do Martin acoustics have different scale lengths anyway? Either way, it'd be a toploader to take a little bit of tension from the strings. I was concerned that using normal tuners (instead of the three tuners connected by a a metal strip) would cause some stability issues, but the 12-string Ricky seems to have separate tuners.

Sizing up the measurments, Sperzel locking tuners are just about the same thickness as a Fender headstock (checked on a Strat Plus), so they'd fit on the side of a headstock ok.

Toploader + locking tuners also means very quick restringing. ;p

[Kap'n]

Martins have a couple of scale lengths; 24.9" and 25.5", IIRC.

Dreads and OM's are usually long scale, OOO is typically short.

[curtisstetka]

I have a resonator with a slotted headstock. I love that aesthetic. I'm guessing the string tension is pretty serious on that guitar and there's been no problem.

I like your mad scheme. It's off the beaten path.

[concert410]

I have to admit, it looks way better than I had pictured. That guitar rocks!!! My next question..... Is this a purely astetic mod, or does it actually change the way the guitar plays and sounds? I'm really curious....

[Power_13]

I started looking into it for aesthetic reasons, but I guess the angle the strings go over the nut will be increased, so that might be better. It might mean issues with the strings getting "caught" there, but I can't say for certain (and if you use a well-cut graphite nut, I'm sure any problems would be minor).

It'd make behind-the-nut bends difficult on the high E. The other strings, I guess you could use the space the slot makes to push the strings further down than the standard headstock would allow for. I'm not sure how it would affect bending strings - it depends whether the extra string behind the nut has an effect on how much the string can be stretched (someone who knows more about string bending than me could probably answer this).

It also gives you a nice space to clip your capo to between songs. ;)

[Billy Porter]

Slotted headstocks are rare outside of nylon-string guitars for string tension related reasons, I'm guessing...

Aren't Rickenbacker 12 strings slotted ?

[NeoFauve]

Old Wandre's used a sort of slotted headstock, 3-on-a-side, AND 6-on-a-side six-strings.
http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/wa...hon/index.html

Check the Polyphon links.

The tumers are on what looks like a single 3/16" aluminum plate, rather that each poking through a hole in the side of the headstock.

On the Soloists, the metal strip wraps around the edge of thge 3x3 headstock.
http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/wa...ist/index.html
Wild stuff.

[Power_13]

That's a pretty good idea, and would relieve some of my concern about the strain the headstock would take.

Having trouble finding somewhere to get a paddle headstock from at the moment! Warmoth does 'em, but I'm looking for a UK supplier before trying overseas...Warmoth doesn't do finishes on the paddle headstock necks either. :/

[Power_13]

Welp, the parts are ordered. Warmoth straight paddle neck (boatneck profile, compound 10-16 radius, 6105 frets IIRC) and Bare Knuckle pickups (Boss Tele bridge, Sultan Strat middle, Nantucket P90 neck). I'll be using my first Telecaster body (Squier Affinity Tele - I'll find a local woodworker to get the routing done). I'm gonna try a standard Tele pickup switch configuration with an added on/off for the middle.

Still shopping around for the hardware, I'm considering 500k pots and a modern style toploader bridge.

I'm excited. But kind of scared. What's the first thing I'll mess up?

[NeoFauve]

Welp, the parts are ordered. Warmoth straight paddle neck (boatneck profile, compound 10-16 radius, 6105 frets IIRC)

Will the headstock wind up anything like this?
It looks sort of like the Tele prototype or lap steel headstock, done in mahogany or rosewood. It's pretty cool looking.

[Power_13]

If the slotted headstock idea doesn't work (there are still factors like suitable tuners, thickness of the wood supporting the tuners) then I'm going for that sort of headstock, yeah.

Actually, I'm in two minds about it. I like both looks, so I might cut out a whole load of work and just go for the prototype style headstock straight off.

[NeoFauve]

Oh, duh!
SLOTTED.
What the hell was I thinking?

[Power_13]

:p

The plan at the moment is to use Sperzel non-staggered tuners and fix them to aluminium plates like on the ones you linked to, then fix the plates on either side of the headstock - that'll distribute the string tension better than putting the tuners on individually. Again, though, my entire plan might end in disaster and I'll just go for the snakehead style.

Talking about veneers, I'd like to see a snakehead headstock with a veneer. I was thinking about trying one with a rosewood veneer and attaching it to a rosewood body...but Warmoth doesn't do 'em on the paddle headstocks.

[Power_13]

Quick update.

While the neck is still being made, I've done some work on the body. Well, I've enlisted some people to do some work on the body. It's not what you know sometimes, it's who you know.

My uncle's line of work puts him in contact with people who have the tools I need, so he managed to get the swimming pool routing done for me.



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It's a bit big (my mistake with the measurments) so some of the hole peeps out behind the pickguard, but otherwise it's good. The P90 will be mounted on some scrap wood glued into the route (if I decide to swap the P90 out at any point I can take the scrap wood out with it and attach whatever else I want). I'll probably use the same electronics (everything except the pickups in the photo came from a '00-ish Squier Affinity Tele) but I'll replace the tone control with a concentric tone-and-volume control, then have standard Tele controls with the middle pickup on a volume blend that then goes into the master volume (found the wiring guide on Seymour Duncan's website).

I've reconsidered the slotted headstock idea. It's too complex for my first go and I can't find any locking tuners that match my requirements. Instead I'll be going for the traditional snakehead shaping. Even better is that my uncle knows someone who works with wood, so my worries about finishing the neck are gone.