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I normally do scarf joints on my headstocks, but this guitar is going to be a multi-scale (fan fret) . I don't know how to do a scarf without having the face of the headstock out of plane with the neck? Maybe I'll have to go with a one piece neck? Clinton

It'd be just as confusing with a one piece, I think.

Here's how I did it on my harp uke... cut the scarf piece extra thick so you have plenty of wiggle room. Once you get it glued on, plane the headplate gluing surface at an angle, until the transition from fingerboard glue surface to headplate glue surface matches the angle of the nut end of the fingerboard. The exact headstock tilt-back angle isn't critical, so as long as it looks about right you should be fine.

Then chisel the back of the headstock until it's consistent thickness, and voila

There's probably a more mathematical way to approach it, tilting the saw when cutting the scarf joint in the first place, but I'll have to do a few more to get a better mental image of the geometry.

No matter what style of neck blank you start with, the face of the peg head will not be on the same plane as the fret board if you want it to blend into the angled nut. I marked a line where the front of the nut would be and angled the peg head to blend in with it. I then sanded the back of the peg head to be parallel to the front surface and to the thickness needed.

Mine was a 2" differential so the nut angle was quite a bit, and everything looks proper once the overlay is on.

Fred

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Thank you Fred and Dennis for your replies. I marked out my angle for the nut, which is 1/4" out of 90 deg. to the center line, and figured I would have to plane the face of my peghead 3/32" out of plane to the neck. I guess I could make up quite a bit of that with the overlay on my face plate. I'm only using a 1/2" differential on my scales. Some multi scale guitars I've seen were twice that much and I would think that would "twist" the neck ~3/16" ! Again thank you, Clinton

Sounds like you have it but a picture may help. As Dennis said, if you can leave the headstock thick, just make it as you normally would, draw the angle of the nut on the neck, and plane the headstock to a, um, plane. I then cut the back side of the headstock on the bandsaw with face against the fence. I stop at the volute and do the rest by hand.

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