The headstock is the one of the most defining aspects of any guitar.  Most manufacturers have been using the same headstock profile for almost a century.  You can tell a Gibson from a Martin from a Epiphone simply by looking at the headstock.  Sticking with tradition, I used the standard Gibson shape for this guitar.

I started by getting the thickness correct through careful use of my bench-top belt sander.  There is not much room for mistakes.

Next came the actual profile.  I created a template so that I could cut the profile using a template bit on the router.  The biggest challenge here was making sure that I did not mess up with the climbing cuts.  Climbing cuts with a router are where the rotation of the bit goes against the grain of the wood.  With something like a headstock, a standard router cut on one side turns into a climbing cut on the other.  Even working along the curved edge of the headstock can transition from a standard to climbing cut.    Even with a sharp bit, it is sometimes difficult to avoid tearing out bits of wood.  In the future, I will use a Robo-Sander for this, as well as for shaping the body.  I ended up doing a bit of hand sanding to avoid the chance of tear out.

The final shaping, along with the transition to the neck will come in the next steps.

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