Tapered headstock paddle???

[onewilyfool]

Apparently, the taper INCREASED the break angle for the strings, and it was claimed....improved the tone???!!! If this is so, why abandon this great design feature???

[Red 333]

Apparently, the taper INCREASED the break angle for the strings, and it was claimed....improved the tone???!!! If this is so, why abandon this great design feature???

 

Ard you thinking of the headstock angle, instead of the thinking of the taper of the headstock (which is the degree to which the top of the headstock is thinner than the bottom. This was a feature of Gibsons until the mid-50's on some models)?

 

Gibson traditionally built with a 17 degree headstock angle. It was changed to 14 degrees around 1965, during the Norlin years. Then it changed back to 17 degrees (where it remains today) around 1982.

 

EDIT: On second thought, you probably ARE referring to the tapered headstock (Sorry I spazzed out). My Epiphone Masterbilts have taperd headsocks, and the strings do break over the nut at different angles. On my Gibson reissues with tapered headstocks, I noticed that they compensated for this by changing the height of each tuning post (the rear ones are taller), so the strings break the same way. Wierd.

 

Red 333

[jt]

I think that it's simply a matter of production cost.

 

(Red, Wily is referring to the taper in thickness of the headstock from nut to the top of the headstock.)

[Red 333]

I think that it's simply a matter of production cost.

 

(Red, Wily is referring to the taper in thickness of the headstock from nut to the top of the headstock.)

 

Yeah, I realized that. I must have been editing my first reply (see above) while you were typing yours. Thanks, though.

 

Red 333

[Red 333]

Now for ANOTHER edit. I looked more carefully at the tuners on my tapered headstock Gibsons, and the shafts are all equal height. It was an optical illusion caused by the taper that gave me the impression they were different heights. They are higher than those on the Masterbilts overall, so the effect was more pronounced. Further, I think the difference in string angle breaking over the nut (as perceived by me) was really the effect of the differing number of winds of strings on the post, so the strings left the post at different heights.

 

But to answer your question further, Wiley, Gibson does produce some guitars with tapered headstocks. The Legend series has them. So does the short-scale, maple Advanced Jumbo that I have (though my regular rosewood AJ does not--go figure). There surely must be others, but it is certainly not a standard production feature.

 

Does the taper produce any sonic difference? Honestly, no one really knows. You'd have to build a number of guitars with non-tapered hadstocks, analyze them, and then taper the headstocks and re-analyze them to reach any kind of conclusion. Personally, I do think that it does impart a little magic fairy dust that does make some slight difference.

 

Red 333