headstock reshaping

[ashgeezer]

hi people.
I have a johnson stingray copy and i hate ( and i mean hate ) the shape of the headstock, its the ugliest thing i"ve ever seen, i was wondering if i could have it reshaped to the more tradditional shape without weakening the headstock itself, my uncle is a joiner with 40 years experience behind him so could do the job no problem, if it can be done successfully then i would keep hold of the guitar and have it upgraded with better pickups etc. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I"ve added a photo of the headstock to show you the shape.

[bremen]

[quote name='ashgeezer' post='200159' date='May 16 2008, 09:13 AM']hi people.
I have a johnson stingray copy and i hate ( and i mean hate ) the shape of the headstock, its the ugliest thing i"ve ever seen, i was wondering if i could have it reshaped to the more tradditional shape without weakening the headstock itself, my uncle is a joiner with 40 years experience behind him so could do the job no problem, if it can be done successfully then i would keep hold of the guitar and have it upgraded with better pickups etc. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I"ve added a photo of the headstock to show you the shape.

[/quote]

I think that looks ok!

You mean put one of the tuners on the lower edge?

[ashgeezer]

yeah i was thinking about that as well, i"ll see what a few more people say then get it done next week sometime.

[neepheid]

It's not an angled back neck, so unless you do something extremely radical you're unlikely to weaken it. I don't know if you'll achieve that more "traditional" (I presume you mean "Fender") look - it's easy to take wood away, not so easy to put it back. If you're moving the tuners then you'll need to plug the holes - see my [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=15272"]Zebrano Wideboy 5 build diary[/url] for some insight into that.

You might be able to squeeze a telebass type shape out of it, but as I mentioned above, it'll be kinda truncated as the existing headstock is rather tapered at the end.



P.S. - this ought to be in the Repairs and Technical Issues forum

Edited May 16, 2008 by neepheid

[ashgeezer]

cheers for the info, would it be possible put a tuner on the bottonm edge like the actual stingrays.

[neepheid]

[quote name='ashgeezer' post='200216' date='May 16 2008, 10:18 AM']cheers for the info, would it be possible put a tuner on the bottonm edge like the actual stingrays.[/quote]

Don't see any reason why not, except you'll have to buy a left handed tuning machine to do it "properly" (might be an opportunity to upgrade the tuners? Buy a 3+1 set of Schallers, Hipshots or Gotohs?). Plug up the end hole as I outlined (but unless you do something sneaky like finish the headstock face in a solid colour or layer a veneer over the top you'll see the plug). Position the tuner shaft so that there's no undue lateral pressure on the G string after it passes through the nut. Then you might have a bit more material to work with.

[Mr. Foxen]

I've got a couple of Johnson basses and considered that mod. There is nothing to work with past the last tuner, so a reshape will require moving the tuner to other side, on the plus side you can take the tuner apart and put it back together left handed. If you do destroy it, I've got a spare rosewood board Johnson neck (I like their chunkyness, just need fret dressin). I found the notch in the end an ideal locator when I put my headstock on my cab to give horrible low end feedback.

[johnnylager]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='200243' date='May 16 2008, 10:43 AM']I found the notch in the end an ideal locator when I put my headstock on my cab to give horrible low end feedback.[/quote]
Must try next gig

[ashgeezer]

cheers mate nice one, i"ll try and get it up to my uncles over the weekend, i"ll let you know how i get on.
Thanks again.
I love this site more than my wife.

[yorks5stringer]

I had a 5 String version of one of these:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Bass-Guitar-STB-Series_W0QQitemZ270235147692QQihZ017QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Bass-Guitar-STB...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

and successfully made a Fenderesque headstock out of it, but there was a bit more wood to play with than you've got. As others have said it should not weaken the headstock if all you are doing is reshaping it a little.
I must agree that I don't like Fender type basses with odd looking headstocks!

PS I just traced an outline (having removed the Tuners) and used a power sander initally , then hand sanded it.

Edited May 16, 2008 by yorks5stringer

[tauzero]

[quote name='neepheid' post='200231' date='May 16 2008, 10:29 AM']Plug up the end hole as I outlined (but unless you do something sneaky like finish the headstock face in a solid colour or layer a veneer over the top you'll see the plug).[/quote]
Or chop the headstock end off between the G and D strings.

[neepheid]

[quote name='tauzero' post='202248' date='May 19 2008, 04:29 PM']Or chop the headstock end off between the G and D strings.[/quote]

Some quality cat skinning going on here

[Dubs]

[quote name='ashgeezer' post='200159' date='May 16 2008, 09:13 AM']hi people.
I have a johnson stingray copy and i hate ( and i mean hate ) the shape of the headstock, its the ugliest thing i"ve ever seen, i was wondering if i could have it reshaped to the more tradditional shape without weakening the headstock itself, my uncle is a joiner with 40 years experience behind him so could do the job no problem, if it can be done successfully then i would keep hold of the guitar and have it upgraded with better pickups etc. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I"ve added a photo of the headstock to show you the shape.[/quote]

hi mate, did you reshape it in the end? I've got an AXL Jazz copy with the same shape headstock and I'm thinking about doing something about that as well - what kind of shape did you go for and how successful was it?