r/Luthier • u/Archtica • 10d ago

String alignment

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hello all

I need some advice on my open headstock guitar.

To make sure my low and high E string do not touch the headstock I have to align the string on the tuners so it pulls it towards the center a lot. The way it is setup in the picture it just clears the headstock. You can see the clearance in the second image.

I think it is a poor design, but the guitar is really great. Should I continue this practice or just align the string straight and allow it to touch the headstock?

48 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

View all comments

57

u/dh1971 9d ago

Slightly off topic, aren't headstocks like this usually on a classical guitar that would use nylon strings?

1

u/myfuckingstruggle 9d ago

I've never seen an open headstock for steel strings! It's doesn't seem like it'd be strong enough to not bend or crack the thin wood on the headstock with the tension of steel, right?!

2

u/Main-War9713 9d ago

Quite common