Gibson's tapered pegheads - - - tuner installation

[peter havriluk]

Came across a comment today in a promotional video for StewMac's Safe-T-Planer, that Gibson tapered its pegheads from roughly 3/4" at the nut end to 1/2" at the end. My guess is that the tuners are installed 90 degrees from the back of the head, not the top, and in doing so the mounting nuts and washers can't fit flush with the top unless the washer seats are relieved on the thick side so as to make that area parallel with the tuner mounting surface on the bottom. Or does Gibson let the washers lie flat on the surface and let the nut at the string side have an imperfect fit against the top of the peghead? Or do they install tuners so the string shaft is square to the top and relieve the backside so that tuners can be installed fully seated? Tapering the headstock seems like a good way to leave as much strength in the neck in a region where fractures have been known to take place, and I think that would suit necks whose truss rod adjustment is at the top.

Any suggestions as to how Gibson solved the tuner-seating question?

Thanks very much.

[Tim Benware]

My experience has been 3 fold:

1. that the tuner hole is drilled 90* to the back so the tuner can be mounted flush to the back side and NO bushings are used on the top or those thin Gibson type

2. that the tuners are friction pegs (what I have seen mostly on these older style instruments)

3. that the instrument is being fitted with modern tuners and the back side needs to be relieved to accommodate the new tuners

[peter havriluk]

Thanks, Tim. Picture's worth a thousand words... I hadn't thought of the three-on-a-plate tuners or the pressed-in bushings that went with them.

Any merit in copying the idea of a tapered-in-thickness headstock?

[ken cierp]

Maybe yes? -- if you are going to have the truss rod adjustment at the HS end, but in the end I don't think it save many guitars from having the HS snap off when a guitar crashed to the floor. I believe Gibson discontinued the practice.

[peter havriluk]

Ken, thanks for your judgment. I can see how making the HS that way causes many ripples of complications.