Typical headstock of an electric guitar

This article is about part of a stringed instrument. A headstock is also the motorized chuck on a lathe. A lathe (ˈleɪð is a Machine tool which spins a block of material to perform various operations such as Cutting, Sanding, Knurling

Headstock or peghead is a part of guitar or similar stringed instrument. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The main function of a headstock is holding the instrument's strings. Strings go from the bridge, pass the nut and are usually fixed on machine heads on headstock. A machine head, also called a tuner, gear head, or tuning machine, is part of a string instrument ranging from guitars to double basses a geared apparatus Machine heads are used to tune the guitar by adjusting the tension of strings and, consequentially, the pitch of sound they produce.

Construction details

Bass guitar headstock

Two traditional layouts of tuners are called "3+3" (3 top tuners and 3 bottom ones) and "6 in line" tuners, though many other combinations are known, especially for bass guitars and non-6-string guitars. When there are no machine heads (i. e. tuners are not needed or located in some other place, for example, on guitar body), the guitar headstock may be missing completely, as in Steinberger guitar or some Chapman stick models. Steinberger refers to a series of distinctive Electric guitars and Bass guitars designed and originally manufactured by Ned Steinberger. The Chapman Stick is an electric Musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s

Schematic section shows both straight and angled headstocks. Note the β angle between the fingerboard surface and headstock surface

The headstock may be carved separately and glued to neck using some sort of joint (such as scarf joint). Joinery is that part of Woodworking that involves joining together pieces of wood to create furniture structures toys and other items A scarf joint (also known as a scarph joint) is a method of joining two members end to end in Woodworking or Metalworking. There are two major trends in headstock construction, based on how the string will go after passing the nut. The advantages and disadvantages of both trends are very debatable and subjective, so these two variants are used:

• Straight headstocks form a single plane with a flat surface of neck (and fingerboard). This makes neck and headstock easier to manufacture, they can be constructed from a single piece of wood. Fender usually uses non-angled, straight headstocks. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Quincy Illinois is a manufacturer of stringed instruments such as solid-body Electric guitars including the Because of the low angle of the string over the nut, string retainers (sometimes referred to as string trees for their tree shape) must be used to avoid the string coming out of the nut while playing.

• Angled headstocks form some kind of acute angle with a surface of neck. In Geometry and Trigonometry, an angle (in full plane angle) is the figure formed by two rays sharing a common Endpoint, called The value of "magic angle" (called headstock pitch) that gives the best tone and stability is also very debatable, but it is usually in a range from 3° to 25°. For example, various manufacturers and particular guitar models use:
  • Guitars
    • 4°: Guild
    • 11°: Martin[1]
    • 12°: Bigsby[2], Yamaha SGV[3]
    • 13°: Peavey[4], Warmoth
    • 14°: Gibson Firebird V[5] and VII[6], Gibson X-plorer[7], some vintage Gibson guitars[8], Washburn[9], most budget Epiphone replicas of Gibson models[10]
    • 17°: Gibson ES-335[11], Gibson Les Paul[12], Gibson SG[13], Epiphone Casino[14]
  • Basses
    • 10°: all Gibson basses[15]
    • 12°: Yamaha SBV[16]
    • 14°: most Epiphone replicas of Gibson models
    • 24°: Kinal[17]

Luthiers of both styles frequently cite better sound, longer sustain and strings staying in tune longer as advantages of each style. The CF Martin & Company is a US Guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric Guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present The Gibson Explorer (now marketed as X-plorer and Explorer Pro) is a type of Electric guitar. Washburn Guitars is an American Guitar manufacturer It was established in 1883 in Chicago Illinois. The Epiphone Company is a Musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos The Gibson ES-335 was the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody Electric guitar, released by Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1958. The Gibson Les Paul is a solidbody Electric guitar originally developed in the early 1950s The Gibson SG is a popular model of solid-bodied Electric guitar that was introduced in the early 1960s The Epiphone Company is a Musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos Sustain is a Parameter of Musical Sound in Time. As its name may imply it denotes the period of time during which the sound is sustained before Fragile construction is cited as a disadvantage of each style too: single piece necks are more likely to break on occasional hit and are harder to repair, while glued-in necks can break with time.

Apart from its main function, the headstock is an important decorative detail of a guitar. It is the place where overwhelming majority of guitar manufacturers draw their logo. A logo ( Greek el λογότυπος = el-Latn logotypos is a graphical element ( Ideogram, Symbol, Emblem, Icon, Sign) Some guitars without machine heads (for example, ones equipped with Floyd Rose SpeedLoader) have a headstock for purely decorative reasons. Floyd Rose SpeedLoader is a floating double-locking Guitar bridge based on the Floyd Rose Original.

Signature headstock outlines

Headstock from an ARTCORE series guitar by Ibanez

Ibanez JEM 555 BK headstock

All major guitar brands have signature headstocks that make their guitars or guitar series easily recognizable. Ibanez (ˈaɪbænɛz or /aɪˈbænɛz/ is a Guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki and based in Nagoya Aichi, Japan. Ibanez JEM is an Electric guitar manufactured by Ibanez and first produced in 1987 An unwritten ethic law of the guitar industry allows copying of overall guitar body designs, but no major brand copies headstock designs. As seen in a section below, even "copied" at the first glance designs retain clear visible changes in dimensions, proportions of elements, etc, so it is almost always possible to tell a major brand of a guitar by looking at headstock.

Fender-like curved 6-in-line headstocks

Fender Telecaster	Fender Stratocaster, regular version, used on modern Mexican and American-built guitars	Fender Stratocaster, "big" version, used in 1970s and nowadays used on Squier guitars	Gibson Firebird series (also used in reverse)
Washburn N-series (reverse)	Floyd Rose Guitars decorative headstock, no machine heads at all

Classical-like 3+3 headstocks

Gibson Les Paul, SG, 1960 issue	ESP EC-series	PRS asymmetric, used on most guitars	PRS symmetric, used on Santana 3 model
Gibson Flying V, 1958 issue	Rickenbacker	Dean standard Headstock

Pointed headstocks, 6-in-line

ESP "pointed" headstock, used on Horizon NT-II and M-II guitars, as well as many signature models (also used in reverse)

Ibanez "pointed" headstock, used on most rock-series solid-body electric guitars (also used in reverse)

Jackson "pointed" headstock, used on almost all solid-body electric guitar series (also used in reverse)

Washburn "pointed" headstock, used on almost all rocker-series electric guitars (also used in reverse)

See also

• Matching headstock