A blank (or paddle) headstock ships oversized, unshaped, and undrilled so you can design the outline yourself and drill the tuner holes to fit your own machines. This guide takes you from a cardboard template through cutting, drilling, and finishing the fresh edges. Take your time, because the headstock is the first thing anyone looks at, and it is easy to get right when you go slowly.
Applies to: any GKW electric or bass kit whose neck ships with a blank or paddle headstock (unshaped and undrilled).
What you need
- Your blank-headstock neck
- Cardboard or stiff paper, a pencil, and a ruler for the template
- A coping saw, fret saw, fine handsaw, or band saw for the outline
- Rasps or files to refine the curves
- Sandpaper in a few grits (around 120 up to 220 or finer) and a sanding block
- Your tuning machines, so you can measure the bushing diameter
- A drill or drill press with a sharp brad-point bit that matches your tuner bushings
- Masking tape to guard against splintering
- A flat scrap board to back up the drill holes
- Clamps and safety glasses
- Your neck finishing product
Step 1: Design the shape
Blank headstocks are made to give you the freedom to create a shape that is yours. The most common designs are symmetrical, and symmetry is also the easiest to cut and sand cleanly, so it is a friendly place to start.
Work out your design on cardboard first, not on the wood. Draw the outline, cut it out, and hold it against the actual headstock. Fold the cardboard in half down the middle to check that both sides match. When you like it, you have a reusable template and you have risked nothing but a piece of cardboard.
Three things have to be right before the shape is final:
- A straight string pull. Lay out where each string leaves its nut slot and where its tuner post will sit, then make sure each string can run in a straight line to its post. Strings that have to bend sideways through the nut tend to bind and cause tuning trouble. A straight pull is the single biggest favor you can do your tuning.
- A 15 mm margin. Keep at least 15 mm (about 5/8 inch) of wood between the center of the last tuner hole and the edge of the headstock. That margin is what keeps the wood strong around the tuners. Design the outline around the holes, not the other way around.
- Keep it simple. Thin points and tight inside curves are hard to cut, hard to sand, and easy to chip. A clean, simple outline looks balanced and is far more forgiving to build.
One more piece of friendly advice: resist the urge to trace a famous brand’s headstock. Those outlines are protected, and copying one is the quick way to a guitar that just looks like someone else’s. Half the point of a blank is that the shape gets to be yours, so sketch your own. Make it a little different and you will be proud of it every time you pick the guitar up.
This short GKW video walks through designing a blank headstock from scratch:
Step 2: Transfer the design to the wood
Set your template on the headstock and line up its centerline with the centerline of the neck. Trace the outline with a sharp pencil. While the template is held down, mark the center of each tuner hole through it, or measure and mark the holes from your centerline so the spacing stays even. Double-check every mark before a single tool touches the wood. This is a measure twice, cut once job.
Step 3: Cut and sand to the line
Cut on the waste side, just outside your pencil line, and leave the line visible. It is always easier to sand a little more wood away than to put wood back, so give yourself that cushion. A coping saw, fret saw, fine handsaw, or band saw all work. Go slow around the curves.
Once the rough shape is cut, bring the edge down to the line with rasps, files, and a sanding block. Sand square to the face so the edge stays perpendicular. Stop exactly at the line, check your symmetry against the template one more time, and smooth the whole outline.
Step 4: Drill the tuner holes
This is the nerve-wracking part, so slow down and set it up well.
Match the bit to your tuners. There is no single correct bit size. Measure the bushing or press-fit ferrule on your own tuning machines and pick a bit that matches it, then test the fit on a scrap of the same thickness first. A hole that is a touch too small can be eased open. One that is too big cannot be fixed.
Back up the wood and tape the face. Lay a strip of masking tape over the drill spots to reduce splintering, then clamp the headstock flat onto a scrap backing board so the bit drills down into the scrap, not into thin air. That backing is what stops the back face from blowing out as the bit breaks through.
Drill clean. Mark each center with a punch or a brad-point tip so the bit cannot wander. Drill a pilot hole first. Keep the drill speed on the slower side, apply steady even pressure, and let the bit do the work instead of forcing it. If you can, drill partway from the front, then finish from the back so both faces exit cleanly.
Drill press versus hand drill, honestly. A drill press is the surest way to get holes that are perfectly perpendicular and the same depth, so if you have access to one, use it. Plenty of builders drill by hand and get great results, but a hand drill makes it easy to lean off vertical, and an angled tuner hole is a common and very visible mistake. If you are going by hand, use a drill guide or sight against a square from two directions, go slow, and stop to check often.
Step 5: Reverse-headstock considerations
A reverse headstock simply flips the layout so the long side of the headstock, and the tuners, sit on the opposite edge. On a 6-in-line neck that moves all six tuners across. On a split layout it mirrors the two sides. It is mostly a styling choice, and a good-looking one, but a few build notes apply.
Because the tuners move, the length of string behind the nut changes for each string. Some builders like how that feels and find it can help stability on the treble strings. Whatever your reason for choosing it, the build rules do not change. Mirror your template, keep the same 15 mm margin from the last hole to the edge, and re-check the straight string pull, because reversing the layout changes every string’s angle into the nut. Confirm the pull on cardboard before you cut.
Step 6: Finish the fresh edges
Cutting and drilling exposes raw wood along the new edge and around every hole. Bare end grain soaks up moisture and looks unfinished, so seal it.
Work the edge up through progressively finer grits, finishing around 220 or finer, and gently soften the sharp corners so the finish will hold and the headstock feels good in the hand. Blow or wipe off all the dust, including inside the tuner holes, then apply the same finish you used on the rest of the neck so the headstock matches. For the full process, follow the finishing module linked below.
When to stop and ask
If the shape looks wrong, a hole ends up oversized, or the wood chips near an edge, stop before you make it worse. Post a photo in Builder Q&A and the community will help you recover it. If a part is missing or arrived damaged,
Questions, or is something not going to plan? Comment below this tutorial with clear photos and we will help you right here. Your question and the answer then help the next builder too.
If you have a Guitar Kit World kit and the issue is with the kit itself, such as a missing or damaged part, email our support team at [email protected]. Include the email address you used for your purchase, your order number, and a couple of photos, and the team will get you sorted out quickly.
Start Here: Find Your Build Manual
Finishing the neck and headstock: Painting, Finishing and Bridge Installation module
Setting up and tuning once your tuners are in: Final Setup module