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I'm preparing my first guitar neck - just glued on the scarfed piece. It would be easy to reduce the thickness on my band saw by cutting the bottom of the headstock. Does it matter if its reduced from the bottom rather than top?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Here's my take on it, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, please!!! My goal is to initially get the plane of the fingerboard gluing surface and the plane of the top of the peghead right. Next, I get my distance right to where the fingerboard will join the body. After I get all that stuff right, I work the peghead from the back side to the proper thickness (figuring in the thickness of the peghead veneer that will be there into the equation, etc). One of the best things that I have found to use the Safe T Planer for is this very operation. I hope this helps!

OOH edit!!! When I cut out my initial shape, I am SURE TO LEAVE EXTRA NECK LENGTH AND PEGHEAD THICKNESS IN ORDER TO WORK THE ANGLE AT THE PH/FINGERBOARD AREA!! Get that angle right first! Then you can cut close with the bandsaw, while everything is nice and square, really close to the line, followed by the safe t planer (or whatever methods you may choose) to arrive at the final thickness

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Brad Tucker

The face of the peghead should start from the edge of the nut or fingerboard, and continue away at the decided peghead angle. That, along with the face of the neck that mates to the fingerboard and the face of the heel, will be your primary reference points to be determined indifferent to shaping or thicknessing.

In other words, once the plane of the face is established, shape and thickness from the back. Try and thickness from the front and you'll move the end of the fingerboard.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

You want the headstock angle to be steep enough that you have some downward pressure on the nut when the strings break over it and head to the tuning posts - so you need to take the height of the posts into account, as well as their location, when you determine the headstock angle.

Then thickness from the back, taking care to not cut too close to the neck if you're planning for a volute.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....