Osthoff Guitars, shop stuff '17

[Poppa]

What a beautiful instrument. If it sounds half as good as it looks, WOW! What a beautiful instrument. The tuner buttons are outstanding!

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wong

Is there any actual benefit arising from this feature? For what it's worth, I really like the aesthetics

Originally Posted by Stevien

..... Yes. When tuning or de-tuning, the string tends to bind in the nut slot if pulled through at an angle. Then when plucking the string it slips, then you're out of tune. Doesn't happen often, but it does. Some players take pencil lead, & put some graphite in the slot to prevent it. Also you have the tension of 3 strings pulling the nut one way, & 3 pulling the nut the other. Not that big of a deal, I guess, but why not avoid the extra stress?
Steve

Steve summed it quite well,

Here is something (in part) I wrote up back in 2012, when I first introduced the SSP headstock. It is a little bit "wordy."

Straight-String-Pull (SSP) Headstock

Intuitively this idea of lining up the tuning post with the strings in arrangement such that the strings remain completely straight with only a downward angle over the nut and saddle has been something I have been thinking of for years. This layout just seems to make sense. I have never been one to do something just to be different and much of my designs are steeped in tradition. When moving away from a conventional approach, there must be a significant advantage to the change before I will commit to it. The SSP headstock does have a non-traditional look for an acoustic guitar but the advantage of this design especially relating to intonation has convinced me to buck tradition and redesign my headstock.

Laying out the tuners to that the outside diameters of the tuner posts line up (straight) in-line with the nut slots has advantages over the traditional angular layout seen on most steel string guitars. The friction of the string on the nut is reduced which helps in tuning as the line caused by the tangent string is theoretically the only contact made by the string “riding” on the top of the nut. Theoretically the nut would not need to be slotted per se as the spacing could almost be determined by the tuner posts much like the pins determine the spacing on the saddle end. The lack of (the angular) side pull of the string on the nut slot is eliminated thus reducing the friction to only the “bottom” (tangent line) of the string. Changes in tension caused when tuning or bending will less likely to be “pinched” that often occurs when using the conventional (angular) string alignment. Even in a properly prepared angular slot a “pinch” can occur as string gets held in the slot causing the string to suddenly move all at once (making the screeching ping sound) resulting in a big change in pitch. While this is an annoyance in attempting accurate tuning, it can also cause problems with string bending. The biggest advantage of the SSP is the reduction of intonation issues especially when the use of a fully compensated nut which is now standard on Osthoff guitars.

Straight string pull has been around quite a while even seen on the Martin Stauffer style guitars of 1830’s. These guitars had an the tuners lined up similar to a Stratocaster with “Vienna screws” gear type tuners with all 6 tuning knobs protruding to the left. Creating a headstock for a modern steel string guitar with a straight-string-pull and three tuners on each side has its challenges as modern tuners will not fit into a symmetrical design. It is my preference to use Gotoh 510 Tuners on my guitars. This leaves for some challenging positioning of the tuners on the headstock while being still being able to create an aesthetically pleasing design. After a year of working with these different designs I came up with one that suits the needs from an engineering and ascetic standpoint. While this design certainly has a more “modern” look I still wanted to give a nod to some of the headstock tradition that came before.

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by srick

Beautiful work John. and I love the straight line design - simplicity!

And sooner or later, you get by the "distractions" in life. It's never easy or convenient as your plate can only hold so much stuff at a time. Glad that you are back to the shop.

Be well.


Rick

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

That guitar looks fantastic. I love the hefty bird's beak joint and the body shape especially.

Originally Posted by Diamondave

I dig... I dig...

Thanks guys

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by Poppa

What a beautiful instrument. If it sounds half as good as it looks, WOW! What a beautiful instrument. The tuner buttons are outstanding!

Thanks, and an extra thanks on the tuner buttons. They are certainly a labor of love, and took a lot more time than I thought they would. I hope to post a picture of some of the others that I made when developing the process.

The guitar is a Baritone, with a 27.8" scale. To me it was a bit of a handful but the owner loves it. I was promised a recording (at some point.) If the owner doesn't mind me sharing it with the public, I will post it when it comes.

[lightfoote]

Hi John.
I have become a big fan of your guitars just lately. There is an African Blackwood/Moonspruce SJ about, that has me crazy at the moment. I was ready to trade my "lifetime" guitar to acquire it, but hasn't happened just yet. I may be odd (I know I am) but to me the headstock design is one of the most important design features any builder can identify himself with. I think yours are THE best looking and designed headstocks out there today. I wish you well with all of life's other challenges and hope to talk to you about my own Osthoff very soon.

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by lightfoote

Hi John.
I have become a big fan of your guitars just lately. There is an African Blackwood/Moonspruce SJ about, that has me crazy at the moment. I was ready to trade my "lifetime" guitar to acquire it, but hasn't happened just yet. I may be odd (I know I am) but to me the headstock design is one of the most important design features any builder can identify himself with. I think yours are THE best looking and designed headstocks out there today. I wish you well with all of life's other challenges and hope to talk to you about my own Osthoff very soon.

Thanks for the comments. I really struggled with the headstock design. I like the asymmetry. I had one customer who owns one of my pre-SSP headstock guitars tell me he did not like the SSP. It was OK, I appreciated his honesty. A year later, he told me it was growing on him. I think the last time I saw him, he actually decided he liked it. I still do other style headstocks from time to time, and I do have an OM on the bench that will get an "old-style" headstock since the order included some inlay on it and there really isn't room for much inlay on the SSP so we will go old school.

Look forward to catching up at some point.

[John Osthoff]

While I am sort of on the tuner button thing, here are couple of others I was playing around with during the prototype/design process. While most of the time I will use wood, I had some material hanging around I decided to try out.

On the right (if I remember) is Molten Metal, and on the left, Gold Rush.

[John Osthoff]

It been a while since I have done an all koa guitar, so I started a Koa OM. It got set aside like many other things this summer, but I got going on it a little again. Hopefully I will have it ready soon. Here is a shot of the rosette.



And again, on the tuner button thing ->

[Stevien]

Turquoise?
Steve

[srick]

Ummmm.... All the little black lines on the rosette connect! Holy cow - how did you do that?

[ericcsong]

Originally Posted by lightfoote

Hi John.
I have become a big fan of your guitars just lately. There is an African Blackwood/Moonspruce SJ about, that has me crazy at the moment. I was ready to trade my "lifetime" guitar to acquire it, but hasn't happened just yet.

An Ostohoff SJ just followed me home and I can't be more pleased! Hopefully you'll give us good news about that Blackwood Osthoff coming home with you!

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by Stevien

Turquoise?
Steve

Yes, well sort of. It is reconstituted stone, that is 85% turquoise. The rest of the 15% is some sort of binder material.

Originally Posted by srick

Ummmm.... All the little black lines on the rosette connect! Holy cow - how did you do that?

Isn’t there something about a magician should never reveal their secrets. Oh well, as mentioned above it is recon stone, and I made with four pieces. I did my best to hide my lines where the four piece mate.

[John Osthoff]

While I am on the rosette thing, here is a shot of a rosette I did before stepping out of the shop during the summer. It is on a rosewood OM that expect to be working on again next week. I did count the amount of pieces at one point, but I forget how many is in there. It is made up of maple, mahogany, rosewood and blue paua abalone. the rosewoods "spacer" at the 3 o'clock position will be under the fretboard.

[TomB'sox]

Holy Cow, that rosette is stunning John!!!!

[Stevien]

Wow! Nuff said.
Steve