Slotted Head Stock?

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Big Band Guitar

I like slotted peg heads.

When I built a banjo I used a slotted peg head. I wanted to use guitar tuners and didn't like the looks of guitar tuners sticking out of the side of a banjo peg head. I also didn't like the 5th string sticking out of the side of the neck so it runs through a brass tube to the peghead. I got lucky the string hits the hole in the tuner just right when I restring. I tell people it was planned that way.

I've done dozens of slotted peghead banjos. Much of the same thing that makes them great for banjos also makes them great for guitars. They take no longer to change strings if you get used to doing it.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by DrJamie

I have an electric nylon string, and a resonator with slotted head stocks. They are more difficult to change strings on. What is the purpose of this style? I know they are common on 12 fretted guitars as well.

Hi Dr. Jamie,

Slotted headstocks were standard fittings on many European guitars because they had friction pegs like violins before mechanical tuners. The European, or classical guitar has pretty much stayed the same for hundred years or so, and a certain Mr Martin went from Germany to New York in 1833 and set up a small shop making guitars. Initially he was building his versions of classical guitars, mostly with slotted headstocks, 12 frets to body and with gut strings. He thought it would be a good idea to make guitars of different sizes for different purposes from the "parlour" or in an auditorium, but he needed to find a way to make the bodies and the tops stronger, and developed a new way of strutting them.

These guitars proved very popular and it wasn't until the guitar changed it's purpose from , essentially a fingerstyle guitar to a rhythm guitar, replacing banjos in dance bands in about 1929, that the necks were made skinny and longer (for banjo players, an the headstock was changed into a slab style , like their competitors , Gibson.

I play 12 fret guitars, pre 1934 styles and so most of my guitars have slotted headstocks and I made a video to show my methodology. Please watch this :

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

Slotted headstocks look great ... on 12 fret guitars.

When I see them on 14 fret guitars (which is fortunately rarely) I just shake my head and think "what were they thinking about ?"

It's an aesthetic thing ... can't be explained ... either you get it or you don't.

Of course, what looks even more out of place than a 14 fret slothead is a solid headstock on a 12 fret guitar.

As always, it depends on what you like.

[Wade Hampton]

I’ll be the contrarian here: I have a strong dislike for slotted headstocks. I don’t hate them, and have a couple of guitars that have them, so it’s not as though I loathe them so utterly that I won’t buy a guitar just because it’s got a slotted headstock.

But given the choice I’ll take a solid headstock every time. The first custom 12 fret guitar I ever ordered was a 12 fret Triple O from Wayne Henderson, and I approached this issue with some apprehension, because I assumed he was a staunch traditionalist. “I really prefer a solid headstock rather than a slotted one,” I said. “Would you be willing to build a 12 fret Triple O with a paddle headstock?”

“Oh, sure,” he told me. “At least half the orders for 12 fret guitars that I get the customers feel the same way you do, and don’t want slotheads.”

I no longer own that Henderson guitar, but the custom Clark 12 fret Triple O I received a couple of years ago was built with a solid headstock, at my request, and the Martin Custom Shop 12 fret 00-21 I ordered that I’ve been told is in the finish department right now has a solid headstock, as well.

Lots of guitarists love slotted headstocks, but - alas - I cannot count myself among that gallant band.


Wade Hampton Miller

[The Bard Rocks]

I slightly prefer slot heads, only not enough to pay extra for them l that's the disadvantage to me.


Advantages;
1) the guitar balances a bit better with less weight to the end of the fulcrum.
2) with both sets of tuner knobs pointing down, I think it is easier to wind than reaching may hand across to get the to the opposite size.
3) I like the look.

[Fresh1985]

I have slot heads on my 12 fret 00 and my 14 fret OM. I dont think it looks out of place on the OM at all. In fact I like it even more because they are somewhat of a rarer sight on OM's.

String changes are a doddle as long as you.
1. Trim strings down first.
2. Use a string winder.

[Blind Dog]

+1 prefer changing strings on slot head (used video on Taylor site first time)

+1 the break angle is supposed to be an advantage -- but I've read testing doesn't support this -- for me it's aesthetics.

+1 I don't think they look bad on 14 fret -- I like them on both 12 and 14

+1 I do tend to bleed more changing strings on slotted.

Jmo.

[varmonter]

If you dunk the headstock in soapy water you
can blow bubbles with it..

My main gigging guitar is a slothead 12 fret
dread. it takes a bit longer to string but it's
not that bad after you do it a few times.
The break angle is more acute. Not sure
what advantage that gives. I find i like
the tone of 12 frets more than 14.
Most 12 frets have slotted headstock.
Maybe a luthier can chime in with more
reasons why..

[Guitarplayer_PR]

Originally Posted by DrJamie

I have an electric nylon string, and a resonator with slotted head stocks. They are more difficult to change strings on. What is the purpose of this style? I know they are common on 12 fretted guitars as well.

Looking "vintage."

[Mr. Jelly]

It depends on how you change strings I think. It's easier to change strings of a slotted head stock if you take all the strings off the guitar to change strings. If you don't like to take all the strings when changing strings and change one string at a time it is more difficult

[devellis]

Saying "slotted heads look better than solid heads" is like saying "apple pie is better than blueberry pie." Saying "slotted heads are just as easy to string up as solid heads" is like saying "baseball is easier to play than basketball." In each case, the person making the claim is generalizing from personal experience. A given individual might prefer either one of the pies or find either one of the sports to be easier than the other to play. That doesn't mean that the rest of the world will share that view.

Personally, I like the look of slot heads but find them considerably more difficult for changing strings. I've done a bunch of string changes on slot heads, have watched all of the videos, and still find the process just to be more clumsy and fussy. In fact, pretty much every time I restring a slot head, I find myself puzzling over why I fell for the good looks again and have to go through such grief for what would otherwise be such a straightforward process.

The difficulty for me arises from the fact that you have less access to the string post. The place where all the action is, is stuck in that dumb slot where you can't put your fingers. On a solid headstock, I wind the string around the post a time or two and then put the string end through the hole in the post. This is a very fast and easy approach and also yields the neatest appearance, with minimal coils all neatly snug against one another. I can then trim the string end right up against the coils, so there's no spear protruding to rip my fingers. I believe that there is no comparable method for stringing slot heads and I virtually never see the string coils as neatly stacked against each other on any slot head guitars in the wild, although they do occasionally look nicely sidled up together in photos from manufacturers. And then there's the whole issue of which side of the first wrap to wind toward. Get it wrong and the string rubs the other strings or the inside of the headstock. And it's different on different guitars and it will vary by the number of coils. So, you need a lot of experience on each individual guitar to really do a good job. If you've got multiple guitars with slightly different configurations, there isn't necessarily a transfer of knowledge from one to the other. With solid heads, the method I use works the same in all cases (well, except for my Guild 12-string that has those tuners with the hole on the end of the tuner post instead of through the side -- a whole other story).

But I will acknowledge, based on the frequent reports, that some people apparently find restringing just as easy or easier on slot heads. I have to admit that these reports cause me to wonder what method they're using for solid headstocks. But in any case, I have to acknowledge that for some people, for whatever reasons, slot heads are the easier style to restring. I just wonder how that can be.

[ripdotcom]

I have at least 3 slotted headstock guitars and they are excellent and the strings are simply not that difficult once you have a nice system and string winder it takes only a couple more minutes than i would spend on a paddle headstock. This pitch is the key factor and the slotted headstock keeps it greater than a 15% angle, many guitarists with paddle headstocks wind strings to the bottom of the post to acieve a similar pitch. The open/slotted headstock will more often than not be a heavier neck and of course a heavy neck vs. lighter neck will equal more mass and that alone will surely change the tone of a guitar. I dont know if there are any other factors other than the fact that most slotted headstock guitars are 12 fret (well most are classical) and it is difficult to compare apples to oranges. Would love to hear a Huss and Dalton 00 paddle vs slotted.

[guitar george]

How to install strings on a slothead guitar using the advanced method:

1) Cut string to length
2) Insert end through hole
3) Turn the tuning knob

Finished!

[ripdotcom]

Originally Posted by guitar george

How to install strings on a slothead guitar using the advanced method:

1) Cut string to length
2) Insert end through hole
3) Turn the tuning knob

Finished!

Nice, too bad you left out all the important stuff.

[ruby50]

How to install strings on a slothead guitar using the advanced method:

1) Cut string to length
2) Insert end through hole
3) Turn the tuning knob

Finished!

You forgot

4) Apply Bandaid