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I've been experimenting with different neck laminations and headstock designs, and would appreciate some feedback on which design is preferred. Please overlook the (ahem) execution issues, such as the stacked heel on the center neck. Mix and match suggestions are helpful, too.

The left neck is mahogany, with ebony laminates and Koa on the back of the headstock. This will be on a Koa 000.
Center is Peruvian Walnut with maple laminate center strips. Black Walnut back and sides on this guitar.
Right is Mahogany with maple and ebony laminates. Back of the headstock is mahogany (needed shoring up after I ended up with too narrow a headstock) - Mahogany 000 on this one.

Thanks.

I tend to like the left one... but the headstock shape not so much... no offence...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Not crazy about the headstock designs sorry. I think this is the most difficult shape to mess with so good luck.

I like the middle laminations the best.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I like the one on the right the best.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

I liked the center neck on sight...and then read later it was peruvian walnut...which further affirmed a fetish of mine.

Me too...not too fond of the headstocks...but then, for unexplainable reasons, that's the design part on the guitar that I spent an inordinate amount of time fussing over. I like the one on the right best though it seems a bit large.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thanks, all. And no offense taken. That's why I asked. I appreciate your candor. And, yeah, I find it to be a pretty tough part of the guitar to get creative with, but I really, really don't want to build guitars with the Martin - style peghead. So, I'll keep fussing with it.

I like the two on the right. The ebony strips are too far apart on the left one for my taste
I like the right head stock shape best. That dark walnut really looks nice too

I meant to say that I like the one on the right. I don't know why I said the left one earlier... I was looking at the right one when I said left...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I lovum all. If I were your customer I wouldn't care for the koa on the back of the one, and I'm not a fan of the head stocks either, but overall I think they all look fine.

I like the neck on the left with the two ebony lams and Koa backplate for it's construction and visual appeal. I like the headstock shape on the neck in the center best, but they all look a bit heavy to me. Would be best to see them from the front to decide for sure.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I like the middle lam and the right one also. Left strips are a bit far apart. The headstocks.......well not a huge fan either, but in the nicest way

My first headstock<---------as my avatar, was a bit crazy and that design is in the trash and I went with a more simple and easier to work with design. I probably spent a total of 10485380248 hours with different designs and LOTS of paper

That's 1.19 million years. I'm not buying it.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

I'm liking the middle lam. I've got a bunch of Peruvian waiting to be made into necks. Maybe with Padauk down the middle!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Shhh, I don't want the secret getting out. But it's kind of like Santa and his elves, except better

With all the pen and paper, research, and wasting of wood I've done, I've found that when dealing with headstock shapes....less is more. I know that is somewhat cliche....but it really applies here. There just isn't much that already hasn't been done. Don't let your desire to be different steer you into bad decisions.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Headstocks:
I'd have to see from the front to really judge, but I don't think I really like any of them. Right is best, but a little boring (although not as boring as Martin ). The other two are too blocky looking. I'm pretty hard to please with headstock shapes though.

Laminations:
Left is bad. That lamination style always looks "cheap" to me... gluing up 4/4 lumber with just some strips to sort of decorate it. I do like to conserve material as much as possible, so no one-piece necks either, but at least thin the center piece as much as you can while still having enough overall width. Tapering its thickness might look cool too.

Middle is great. Mahogany is so overdone, I like to see necks made of other woods.

Right is my favorite. I like the wide-skinny-medium-skinny-wide lamination style, and the heelcap's connection to the center strip is cool. It would be even better if you made a two layer heelcap (first layer maple-ebony stripe-maple, second layer all ebony) so the maple continues there too.

I can go either way on headstock backstrap versus continuous center stripe. Both look great, but I'd probably favor scarf joint+backstrap for maximum strength and material conservation.

Right one for me,
looks-wise.

I think they all look fine and you should build three guitars!

^This.

The middle one is my favorite though.

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David Morris

I do like the 2 on the right because of the laminates closer to the center, but I do like the way that the heel looks on the left one. Instead of a line in the center of the heel, the laminates look to curve around. They all look nice and definately need 3 boxes to go with. Nice finish job too.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

The contrast in wood colors is so extreme on the left and right necks that the revealed ends of the neck pieces look sort of "orphaned" to me right at the tip of the headstock. I think you could tie everything together more completely by stacking up a light/dark or dark/light lamination of veneers under your backstraps. Then the thin lamination lines would go all around the edge of your backstrap and tie the tip together with the neck back (I hope I described that in a way that made sense.) I also think the neck and body need to work together visually, so your body woods, binding scheme, etc., will play a role in how good the neck and headstock looks. I, to, prefer headstocks that are less bulky looking. You could try tapering in either direction, curves, etc.--practically any design concept to stay away from the typical Martin look. Of course, you will always need to consider your string paths from nut to tuners when designing a head. Just stay at it and keep sketching designs--I think the visual design aspect is one of the most enjoyable part of instrument making.
Patrick

I`m not a fan of racing stripes on guitar necks at all. If necessary, I like it very subtle.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I've been going through my previous posts, and realized that I hadn't thanked all of you for your very detailed and insightful comments on these. It's clear that you all took some time thinking about this, which was what I hoped, and I really appreciate it. I'll be spending some quality time on my next neck design thinking about all of this feedback. Thanks!