Scarf joint question

davros

Thanks everyone for your help. I've been pondering everything you've said.

I do want a 17 degree headstock angle - I know its no better (and possibly inferior) than a shallower angle but I have an entire rack of 17 degree headstock guitars and I'm happy with them. I think to get it out of a 40mm blank it would need to be too shallow.

I don't think I'll need a stacked heel, I will be doing a full width tenon and the depth would be 35mm.

Really, the only reason I'm using at scarf at all is because I couldn't get a big enough limba blank (David Dyke said the only ones they had were mega heavy). Otherwise, it would have been a 1-piece.

So, on balance, I think I'm going to go with the '40mm' option. My logic for this is that, other than a 20mm line between the A and B tuners, it will be invisible. It will have a 1mm Luthitec fiberboard face and wings.

Strength wise, the A and B tuners will only just be in the scarfed piece, and the D and G tuners will still be within the main neck piece. To @chickenbonejohn 's point, it would only be subject to the forces of 2 strings.

I'm not worried about the strength of the rest of the headstock, I've never had a problem with a headstock break and I'm happy I could fix it if it were ever to happen.

Thanks all for the advice, it is great to have such a knowledgeable bunch here.