Which, in your opinion, is the worst looking headstock?

octatonic

No contest:

Zachary Guitars:

meltedbuzzbox

G&L as well

stonevibe

Gibson one, as its super boring.

Dean ones the split thing on Dimebag's signature, looks like an ex girlfriend of mine, pretty sure she'll need a Y -shaped coffin...

ICBM

Rocker said:

Never really cared for the Parker Fly headstock.

Agreed. It also has a massive practical design fault, which is that you can't put it on a guitar hanger without usually breaking the top E string.

Admittedly some of the others are a bit difficult to hang as well, although usually they don't snap a string if you're forgetful enough to try.

Bellycaster

That in the O.P is horrid.

Tyler agreed on that and Burns Signature Marvin is just grotesque.

WezV

octatonic;656061" said:

No contest:

Zachary Guitars:

It wins for the backward tuners,

But the Nathan shephard ones were always fairly awful to me, even though his 3 a side makes a lot of practical sense

But who am I to talk, my least favourite builds are the ones with bad headstocks, i have been guilty of making it an afterthought

RMJ

Epiphone. Why have they not changed it?!?!?!

ICBM

WezV said:

octatonic said:

Zachary Guitars:

It wins for the backward tuners

I quite like the way he's been thoughtful enough to reverse the tuners that are strung backwards so at least they turn the right way, and managed it without the spacing looking really off, even though it does a bit. I think it's quite a nice modern minimalist design actually - it reminds me of some Japanese traditional instruments too.

WezV

But the string tension will be pulling the gears apart, not together like normal tuner alignment.

Its not an issue for some solid post tuners, but its still an issue for 95% of tuners on the market.

guitarfishbay

octatonic;656061" said:

No contest:

Zachary Guitars:

That wins.

PRS is one of my favourites. It does look a bit like a chip fork but it suits the guitars IMO.

John_P

The Epiphone head just looks wrong on Les Paul's and SG's.   If they sorted it for an open book gibson style they would sell a lot more imo.

thermionic

I don't mind the Epiphone headstock on my Les Paul. Looks even better on Customs, with the binding.

The big paddle on my Dot though, was a large factor in me selling it. The Sheraton would be fine if it was a little smaller.

DiscoStu

BC Rich 'widow' headstock. I don't mind the 80s pointy one and the 70s classic 3-a-side 'R' one is lovely but the widow? Hideous.

ICBM

WezV said:

But the string tension will be pulling the gears apart, not together like normal tuner alignment.

Its not an issue for some solid post tuners, but its still an issue for 95% of tuners on the market.

There's no difference, the pinion teeth just press against the opposite faces of the worm gear thread. All that happens is that the key shaft is pushed outwards instead of inwards, but it's got a stop that way too.

I don't know of any machinehead which would be damaged or even not work properly like that, although I'm not totally sure about those planetary gear banjo ones.

ellandroadhero

Can't stand Suhr's.

WezV

ICBM;656144" said:

[quote=WezV]
But the string tension will be pulling the gears apart, not together like normal tuner alignment.

Its not an issue for some solid post tuners, but its still an issue for 95% of tuners on the market.

There's no difference, the pinion teeth just press against the opposite faces of the worm gear thread. All that happens is that the key shaft is pushed outwards instead of inwards, but it's got a stop that way too.

I don't know of any machinehead which would be damaged or even not work properly like that, although I'm not totally sure about those planetary gear banjo ones.[/quote]

Not convinced.

Seen too many guitars with play in the tuner post, even when mounted, to think this has no role to play in the gear lifespan and subsequent tuning stability

ICBM

It's probably not a good idea to *reverse* the loading after the gears have bedded in, because that will double the existing wear, but there really is no difference if you use them consistently the same way from new.

WezV

Hmm, only if you assume solid post or perfect mounting.... Solid post does exist on some modern tuners, perfect mounting rarely does on any tuners.

If you can even slightly wiggle a tuner post before stringing, and you normally can on a lot of guitars, then tuner direction is important.

Once strung that wiggle is either gears being pulled together or gears being pulled apart on the other side of the headstock.

ICBM

No, I'm not assuming a solid shaft or perfect mounting! The gears are not being pulled together or apart, it's just that the pinion pushes in the opposite direction against the worm gear. No other difference. The gear doesn't "know" which direction it's being turned in.

Look at some open frame tuners and twist the post in both directions with your fingers and watch what happens.

Philly_Q

I like the Tyler, I love big Strat headstocks (and small ones), I love the PRS (except the Santana which is hideous).  Ibanez is very elegant although I don't like the guitars.

G&L is ugly.  I'm not very keen on Heritage.

But for the worst, I have to agree with those saying Epiphone.  It's just wrong.  And it has a three-screw trussrod cover which I find particularly repellent.  It's probably the only headstock which would actually put me off buying a guitar even if everything else about it was great.