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Classic, jurassic and tragic headstock design
- Thread starter jimmyjammer
- Start date
My goofy old Kay - TRAGIC. Hockey, anyone?
I love the old Kays but I much prefer the "Kelvinator" headstock.
I'm a "form follows function" guy. For that reason, I will always prefer an angled headstock to a straight one. Aesthetics do play a secondary role, however, which is why I much prefer the Tobias headstock over the Warwick.
Criteria for a good headstock:
- Angled design (none of that string tree nonsense)
- Straight (or nearly straight) string pull through the nut
- Symmetry near the nut (for aesthetics as well as hanging straight on the wall)
- Compact (saves weight)
- No obvious vulnerabilities (pointy bits)
- No all-inline tuners (purely an aesthetic choice)
- Compact and lightweight tuners
For this reason, the Tobias headstock is a thing of beauty.
The Warmoth house-style headstock is nice too, though the 4-string is not symmetrical near the nut.
The classic Gibson EB-0/Les Paul design, while pleasingly symmetrical, fails the "straight string pull" criterion in a big way, a shortcoming it shares with many high-end manufacturers.
The classic Fender designs, whether Jazz/Pre or Tele, fail on almost every count. The original Tele design is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen this side of a Wishbass.
Good post. I concur pretty much across the board.
I think Mike Tobias and Jerzy Drozd are good examples of designers who got it right. Both headstocks have a proper tilt-back to provide the strings with a solid breaking angle over the nut without resorting to stringtree clutter. Both have a pronounced volute to strengthen the area behind the nut, which is particularly important with headstock trussrod cavities, and both are compact, elegant, ergonomic, and just massive enough to do the job without superfluous bulk.
I think the Fender headstock is absurd looking: over-sized, overweight and awkward - both the headstock itself and those childishly-huge tuners. Always reminds me of a malformed Strat headstock with a serious obesity problem. The stringtrees are a drag-inducing design shortcut, and the whole shebang is guarantied to produce neck-dive unless the body is an equally over-sized slab of excess ballast.
I love Fender headstocks personally... The bigger Fender headstock the better. CBS Strat = the best.
I hate angled headstocks. It's not the natural shape of the wood, which means it's prone to being weaker. How many times have you seen a Gibson headstock snap off? How many times have you seen a Fender headstock snap off? Yeah.
I like all my tuners on one side of the headstock. I personally love Mike Lulls as a second to Fenders. I don't like the Tele headstock as much as a Strat style.
G&L is also awesome.
I hate angled headstocks. It's not the natural shape of the wood, which means it's prone to being weaker. How many times have you seen a Gibson headstock snap off? How many times have you seen a Fender headstock snap off? Yeah.
I like all my tuners on one side of the headstock. I personally love Mike Lulls as a second to Fenders. I don't like the Tele headstock as much as a Strat style.
G&L is also awesome.
Actually, I've seen several broken Fender headstocks. Anything made of wood can break if sufficiently abused.
Gibson's overpriced vanity junk breaks because it's overweight, poorly designed, lacks a volute, and uses inappropriate materials for the job, not because they use a tilt-back.
How many broken Tobias headstocks have you seen?
post 46 made me think of two things ... people are going to see way more broken fenders and gibsons because of 1) shear volume (which may or may not affect) 2) QC. Smaller high end companies generally have consistent QC which may reduce things breaking, but I think the bigger reason is because we simply don't see as many of them as the mass produced instruments in our lives. Cheers.
I don't like the Alembic cone headstock, but I like all the other ones you posted- here is my Alembic Elan's headstock
(Epic) Fail:
I couldn't disagree more. I think that the Warwick headstock is the sexiest in the business. I am a bit of a Warwick fanboy though...
Good description of a Fender bass...
Fender, of course. Especially with that old style logo:
But I also REALLLLY dig on these Elrick headstocks:
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But I also REALLLLY dig on these Elrick headstocks:
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For me, it is about the shape (organic= Fender, skewed= Ric, wrong somehow= Warwick 
)
... but it is ALSO about the design of the logo. Again, Fender just seemed to have got it right, as did Musicman (yes, I own one of each)... Gibson's decal is pretty cool... others:
Warwick= ho-hum (although I love the sound of em)
Rickenbacker= looks like someone came up with that on an Etch-o-sketch
Steinberger= 80s... like Madonna and Tron
)... but it is ALSO about the design of the logo. Again, Fender just seemed to have got it right, as did Musicman (yes, I own one of each)... Gibson's decal is pretty cool... others:
Warwick= ho-hum (although I love the sound of em)
Rickenbacker= looks like someone came up with that on an Etch-o-sketch
Steinberger= 80s... like Madonna and Tron
Hey ctmullins, I think this headstock meets every one of your points.
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+1 with pitbull & tbrannon.
Alembics are pricey but arguably some of the finest designs around.
Example of my Dragon's Wing headstock:
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Alembics are pricey but arguably some of the finest designs around.
Example of my Dragon's Wing headstock:
Link Removed
Gibson had a Voute for many years during the 70's, and I've seen plenty that had the headstocks broken off. This occurs when the instrument falls backwards and the Headstock hits the ground first,(any instrument with a tilt back headstock is succeptable to this) putting all the stress on the neck , behind the nut, and they break. Yeah, Mahogany is definitly not a suitable wood for instruments.
Much harder for this to happen with a Fender style design, but I'm sure it happens.
How many broken Tobias' have I seen? Just as many Tobias' as I've ever seen out in the real world gigging.
I can can count them on exactly ZERO fingers.
