Any sharp edge or drastic change in stiffness can result in a point of stress concentration where the object is most likely to fail structurally. I think of stress flowing through a material like water, running downhill looking for a place to puddle up. If there are any variations in the area or material then it can create a situation where the force lines can become localized and begin to build up at that point. Understanding why a headstock backstrap is so effective starts with a simple principle that I talked about in great depth in my book ( The Art Of Lutherie) called Stress Concentration.Ī material or design is always strongest when the force acting on it is evenly distributed over its entire area. So let’s talk about why adding veneers to the back of the headstock can improve the strength and the sound of the guitar. If you are a member of the Luthier’s EDGE or have been following my writings or courses you might know that one thing that is at the core of everything I do here on is to do my best to explain “why” we do what we do as luthiers, rather than just a list of steps to blindly take. This reciprocal relationship is one of the mysterious and magical things I love about handcrafting guitars. I have found all these things to be interconnected: The visual harmony that excites and inspires us is the very thing that also is propelling the functionality of the instrument to new levels. I have many other examples of this too, where my eyes, intuition, and quest for refinement and beauty also produced significant advances in the performance and tonal qualities of my guitars. The headstock backstrap was no different from the fanned frets.
I had a similar experience with fanned fret guitars, where I was following what I felt was beautiful and pleasing to my eye and my intuition little did I know that learning to incorporate fanned frets would revolutionize my understanding of the guitar itself and be a linchpin in the quantum leap my guitars took sonically as a result. I didn’t come from a guitar repair background-I started as a jazz guitar player-so I didn’t know how many guitars get the headstock broken off and what an epidemic it was and still is for many types of guitar. I just thought it looked cool and added refinement and elegance to the design.
You might be thinking, OK, great, but I thought we were talking about backstrap overlays for guitar headstocks? Well, I mention this “law of beauty,” for lack of a better term because that is the very reason why I started using a backstrap. One day, as we discussed different designs, he said something that has proven to be accurate in my experience over the years: Boaz explained that if there were two similar items, the one that looked more beautiful and visually pleasing would usually perform better.
TELECASTER VS STRATOCASTER HEADSTOCK OVERLAY HOW TO
When I was in Baja, California, in 2001 studying with luthier Boaz Elkayam, he opened my eyes to a great deal of information about the underlying physics principles related to the guitar, how it functioned, and how to apply a scientific approach to designing and refining the guitar. Following Beauty: Why I Began Using A Backstrap Before we get to the step-by-step tutorial, we need first to take a quick look at a few essential principles at work behind the scenes-remember, you can follow a recipe to build a guitar, but I want you to learn how to write your own recipe and make it too. However, applying a backstrap can be tricky and intimidating, which is why I created this in-depth tutorial to make the process easy to understand, and to lead you through every step. Just in case you haven’t heard about it yet, implementing a backstrap overlay is a technique luthiers use to fix broken headstocks or, in my case, to strengthen that critical point where the headstock meets the neck-this, to reduce the chance of them breaking in the first place, as well as to increase the power, sustain, and stability of the guitar. If you’ve been building or repairing guitars for any time, you might already know what backstrapping, also known as a backstrap overlay, is.
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