Slotted headstocks - are they just for looks?

Introduction

We often view these components on guitars without giving much further thought to their role and can develop opinions and/or preferences on them without really knowing why. The trouble is, that can lead to a lot of shared information where opinions start to become fact, and we all know that can sometimes be a recipe for disaster (or ‘fake news’ depending on who you’re talking to).

I certainly don’t claim to have all the knowledge or the answers, but as a guitar maker I can certainly asses things from a professional point of view and tie that in with my own experiences.  

Either way, it may just make you think twice about things you normally don’t pay much attention to, or come to the realisation that you’re not sure where your opinions actually stemmed from in the first place! 

I think it’s also important for players to have an understanding about why some things on a guitar are they way they are, so you can make an informed decision about what might be right for you when it comes to buying that MUCH needed addition to your collection (without the spouse’s knowledge of course). 

A brief history 

I've often found that at guitar shows when one of my guitars on display has a slotted headstock, I will get the question “aren’t slotted headstocks only for Nylon string guitars?”.  

The question certainly has basis because nearly all nylon strung guitars have a slotted headstock. Although the ‘solid style’ peghead is the most frequently used design in steel string guitar making, there are plenty of steel string guitars out there with a 'slot style' headstock and horizontal profile tuning pegs.

There is lots to be found out about the history of the slotted headstock design, but I’m not going to cover too much of that here.  

Christian Fredrick Martin of Martin Guitars was the first notable maker to start implementing the slot head design on steel strung acoustic instruments. This was after he moved to the US from Germany. His really early work shows a more ornate solid headstock design similar to his mentor Stauffer. It would stand to reason when he created his own guitars that he might draw on his wider experience within the pioneering German luthier community who are believed to have invented the modern slotted head design we are familiar with today.  

Slotted headstocks for guitar players today 

To bring this into some kind of useful focus directly for guitar players today, I guess it begs the a blunt question - “should I have one?”.  

To answer this, it might be useful to have a deeper look at the physical differences of a slotted headstock and what effect it will have on the weighting and tone of an instrument. 

The string angle after the nut 

Some argue that the angled string after the initial 15 degree bend over the nut is irrelevant, as the nut has done it’s designated job of stopping the vibrating length of the string in the exact point to meet the required string scale length. I personally feel that the tension placed on the backend of the string, both at the nut end and the saddle end does have a small but still notable effect on the tone of a guitar.  

I'll try to illustrate my point using the guitar saddle as an example. It is widely understood that on a flat top steel string acoustic guitar, excessive string height and break angle at the saddle places too much downward tension on the soundboard . This is predominantly because it could buckle under the increased downward force and cause the braced top to excessively deform/implode – bad news!  

However before it buckles/implodes, it will generally produce a tone with increased brightness, clarity and volume.  

It would stand to reason that the same theory is true at the nut end, with the additional downward force on the nut with the string breaking at a much greater angle towards the tuning pegs, could result in a notably louder, crisper tone of the instrument. The good news on this end of the guitar though is that a headstock can be structurally designed to withstand the additional tension and pressure, so a slot head could certainly be of interest to certain styles of play.

The weight of the headstock 

The weighted balance of a guitar is extremely important to a player. It can often help to balance out the weight of a guitar if the neck and/or tuners feel heavy in relation to the body. It’s also of significant interest to the luthier because it will affect the transference of kinetic energy from the vibrating string around the whole guitar (most importantly into our little speaker box, that is the body). Even though the headstock is as far away from the speaker box as it can be on a guitar, removing a large amount of mass in any area of the guitar will have an effect on how the whole guitar reacts to the strings vibrational energy.  

“But is it a better result?” I hear you cry! My thoughts in relation to my own experience would suggest it will be a touch more dynamic and agile to a player that wants to hear clear, quicker, articulated notes. Theoretically it also means that the limited amount of kinetic energy we gain from an activated string is not wasted having to excite a heavier headstock.  

I’m no structural engineer but I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that as a luthier I am very interested in the weighting and set physical structure surrounding my string anchoring system. The headstock is a key player here in both weight and design. 

The weight of the tuners 

The weight of a guitar can vary widely depending on wood choices and model size. The actual feeling of ‘weighted balance’ across the guitar between the body and the neck can also be dramatically changed by the weight of the tuners. Similar to the weight of the headstock, the weight of the tuners will have a direct impact on the energy vibrations in this area of the guitar. Some slotted headstock tuners can be dramatically lighter than some closed gear tuners. We are a pedantic bunch - us luthiers and guitar players – this should matter to us!  

Other considerations not directly linked to physics:

Just for a 12 fret model? 

There is absolutely no basis of reason why a slotted headstock design should only be applied to a 12 fret, small bodied guitar. Only traditional based thoughts and feelings cause this theory to be seen as true. True, a slotted headstock may make a smaller bodied instrument sound louder, but I believe the same logic and reasoning of the above points is perfectly suited to a 14 fret model of any size. 

Aesthetics 

Guitar players are a showy bunch – they want a guitar to sound great but they also want it to look great too. A lot of people who choose a guitar with a slotted headstock do so because they like the look. This is more than a great reason to choose it!

Restringing nightmare 

Another comment I hear regularly is “I have no idea how to re-string a slotted headstock”. I would have agreed with you after referring to a popular Martin Guitars online demonstration video - going into a strange twist and wind technique that was surely developed by the devil himself.  I can't seem to find the video to link to it now and that is best for all concerned.

Taylor Guitars (and many others) have discovered the much easier technique of inserting a cut off straight string into the slot and proceeding to bend 90 degrees and wind, ensuring you have at least one full winding of string either side of the string hole – it's simples. You basically want it to look like each string is giving you the middle finger – SO EASY! 

To conclude, or maybe not....

So that about rounds up this musing and hopefully gives some metaphorical food for thought.  Perhaps I've raised more questions than I have answered - but I think that comes with the territory in this profession. I hope you found it interesting and if you have any other (or differing!) opinions on the slotted headstock - please get in touch!