Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm using Cumpiano's book and I have a question about steel string scarf jointed necks. I've noticed that some folks thin the fronts and some thin the backs of their headstocks for the tuners. Does it make any difference, and is one or the other more suitable for scarf jointed and one piece necks? W.C. describes how to thin the face of a headstock in his book using a scarf joint.
Also I've noticed some headstocks have some type of volute or thumbstop and some are rather flat where the headstock transitions into the neck. Is this limited by the scarf/one piece method chosen? Thanks in advance.

Rene

Doesn't matter. I tend to use the scarf under the neck shaft so I can 'hide' it with a backstrap veneer. I've done necks both ways, thinned from whatever side was most appropriate.

Rene-
As you point out, it's easier to do a volute with a one-piece (or side by side laminated) neck.
I think the volute is sometimes used to try to 'beef up' a traditionally weak short-grain area in one-piece necks.
If you are adding a 'backstrap' (veneering the back of the headstock), a volute makes the transition area much cleaner, IMO. Otherwise you have the veneer 'feathering out' into the neck.
Besides that, I think it looks kinda cool.

Cheers
John