Planning my neck through 7 string V build

[thedonutman]

Specs:

Maple/Mahogany neck (3 piece)
27" scale (If I can get a ebony fretboard slotted in this scale, if not, then 25.5")
Sapele (Mahogany) wings
Blank Ebony board (hopefully with board+headstock binding)
Jackson King V shape
String through body bridge
Currently undecided on whether to do a reverse headstock
Undecided on finish also

I did a quick mockup in the JCF site, so imagine this but with another string:

I was messing around with the headstock design today, I'm having serious trouble coming up with a headstock design that is pointy (corresponding with the body shape) and not a direct ESP/Jackson copy.

They are both ESP/Jackson influenced but with less extreme string to tuner angles. They look very like the originals if your not paying attention, the only wa to tell the difference is to overlay them and compare the angles (which are actually very different). I think I still need to refine them a little so they look more original

I'd really prefer a 7-in-line headstock, I find 3+4 configurations slightly confusing sometimes, and also tuners will be a pain to buy.

Comments/suggestions for the headstock?

 

[st2012]

Thats gonna be a sweet axe, 7 in-line reverse headstock would get my vote.

 

[budda]

4x3 pointy headstock? less of the esp/jackson issue

 

[Ruins]

my vote for the left one.
you can also add that right curve of the headstock to the bottom to the lower horn. it could make it look abit more RRish with this new line and that would be much more to my licking.

 

[thedonutman]

I bought some maple today, can't get it thicknessed and sawed into the neck laminates until Tuesday though (Easter Sunday/Bank Holiday monday)

Lots of Maple, lots of Sapele (I had it from a previous project which is why its wrapped up), and my bass rig in the corner.

 

[Randy]

Holy shit! That's a LOTTA wood. I'm guessing you've got more than one build planned?

 

[thedonutman]

Holy shit! That's a LOTTA wood. I'm guessing you've got more than one build planned?

Haha, not really got anything major planned. I might build a bass later this year, but thats it.

Reason #1 I need more neck wood in case I screw up.
Reason #2 The wood is all rough sawn, so once its all planed and trimmed it'll be less. The maple has some inperfections in it, so there will be a lot that can't be used as neck wood, especially in the 2nd plank

More importantly, the place I got it from doesn't sell wood in smaller planks than 2m, I only got them to chop it in half so it could fit in the car.

But Its not too bad, the cheapest I've seen neck through splices here is around £20 for maple. And I can get at least 7-8 out of that maple, which only cost me £20

 

[Apophis]

nice

 

[sepherus]

How about coming to a straight point at the tip? it would eliminate the issue of the jackson/esp look alike, and be extra pointy! For example extend a jackson stock out to a point from the tuners, and then come back to the neck from there. It will increase the total length wich may make it a pain to find a case for it though, especially since it is in the headstock.

Another option would be to cut off the lower point on the ESP design either close or distant.

I took the liberty to drag them into paint and edit. Well the bigger one is from an actual jackson headstock edited.

Looking at the one on the right now, I don't see it working out too well. But the other 2 are bad ass. Sorry for my poor paint skills, I had 4 hours of sleep last night, and I got up about an hour before dawn.

 

[thedonutman]

How about coming to a straight point at the tip? it would eliminate the issue of the jackson/esp look alike, and be extra pointy! For example extend a jackson stock out to a point from the tuners, and then come back to the neck from there. It will increase the total length wich may make it a pain to find a case for it though, especially since it is in the headstock.

Another option would be to cut off the lower point on the ESP design either close or distant.

I took the liberty to drag them into paint and edit. Well the bigger one is from an actual jackson headstock edited.

Looking at the one on the right now, I don't see it working out too well. But the other 2 are bad ass. Sorry for my poor paint skills, I had 4 hours of sleep last night, and I got up about an hour before dawn.

I have a feeling it would be hard to fit tuners on that extra pointy one, and the pieces of maple I have aren't thick enough for a extra long headstock, unless I reduce the headstock angle.

I had actually considered removing the curve from the ESP style one, but never did a mockup of it. I like your idea in the top left one though Thanks! I will definitely have a play around with it later.

 

[MerlinTKD]

Hmm, just as a thought... what if you did a slightly rounded reverse pointy headstock? Something between an ESP and a Gibson Explorer? To match, you could round off the fins of the V slightly, keeping the same curve on the inside, just rounding the tips slightly.

Just a thought; with a reverse headstock, it's not going to look immediately like a Jackson or ESP regardless, so I'm sure you'll come with the exact right look!



Did a couple horrible edit... thank god I don't need art skills to eat!

Here's some really crappy edits of your original, too, hope you don't mind:

Reverse Headstock

Reverse rounded headstock/fins

 

[sepherus]

Yeah, my really pointy one on the right is horrible now that I have had a good nights sleep. the 2 on the left I still like a lot though. I like Merlins rounded ESP type also. Kinda reminds me of a cleaver.

 

[skinhead]

I like a lot Jackson headstock, and more if it's reversed.

 

[CaptainD00M]

I dig the rounded Kramer styled headstock.

Just outof curriosity what site or whatever did you use to do the mockup?

 

[thedonutman]

I dig the rounded Kramer styled headstock.

Just outof curriosity what site or whatever did you use to do the mockup?

I used the one on the JCF site (Jackson Charvel forums),I believe it is called JCF Custom shop or something. It has a variety of Jackson shapes on it.

There is also VRG builder on Jemsite, and Kisekae (its the first result on google)

 

[NeVeR]

That round headstock/fins one looks badass.

 

[Kagami]

I moved the neck up a bit...it looked kinda short the other way (ok I moved it up too much, whatever lol)

 

[sakeido]

Do a pointy version of the Ibanez headstock.

 

[TemjinStrife]

My recommendation would be to scarf joint your headstock. It's stronger than a straight carve and will let you do as long of a headstock as you want.

 

[thedonutman]

Update!

Finally, this is getting somewhere.

Got all the maple ripped into neck laminates, I'm going to glue them once I acquire some more clamps off a neighbor/friend (tonight hopefully)