Mini Headstock Overlay...

[Leftyb]

Hey All,

My HV Mini has been in the house for about a week and I must say, she sure is fun. Light and comfortable. Originally I had planned to swap out the tuners and add a new TRC, which I will do, but one thing I really dislike is the plastic headstock overlay, I would like to replace with wood. Has anyone undertaken this project and if so how did you remove the existing overlay, does the nut need to come off?  I can fabricate the replacement with some curly maple veneer, and I really don't care about losing the logo, any advise would be appreciated.........

all the best......bill

[Earl]

Just a guess, but I would think seriously about leaving the original in place, prepping it properly for gluing, and then use your veneer to cover the plastic.  I don't have any idea how difficult it would be to remove the original overlay.

[Dulcilo]

When the plastic overlay on the headstock started to delaminate on mine only weeks after I bought it, Taylor's solution was to fashion an entire new neck, rather than just replace that piece of the overlay. So, my conclusion is I would not try to remove it. If it were easy to remove, and thus replace, it seems Taylor would have offered to do that instead of pay for an entire new neck and it's installation. Which, by the way, turned out great. The new neck matches the color of the rosewood body better than the original one did.

[Leftyb]

Just a guess, but I would think seriously about leaving the original in place, prepping it properly for gluing, and then use your veneer to cover the plastic.  I don't have any idea how difficult it would be to remove the original overlay.

Earl,

do you think the thickness of the veneer over the original would effect the strings coming off the nut? 

[BathTimeStrummer]

I actually asked Bruce Petros about doing this for me after he did my TRCs. It would not affect string angle as the post comes through the back and is affixed at the prescribed height. The locking nut would sit higher with a thicker veneer, but the string angle should be the same. Bruce wasn't interested in doing the one - off project, but I would definitely be interested in seeing an elegant solution!

[TaylorMate]

Hey All,

Originally I had planned to swap out the tuners and add a new TRC, which I will do, but one thing I really dislike is the plastic headstock overlay, I would like to replace with wood.

all the best......bill

Maybe you should not have bought a mini but a 'maxi'...?

[Earl]

Earl, do you think the thickness of the veneer over the original would effect the strings coming off the nut?

It would depend on how thick your veneer is.  If it is 1/8" or thicker then it *might* slightly affect string angle.  If it is only a few thousandths of an inch (like business card stock) then no.  Prepping the original surface for gluing would involve sanding it, and you could remove more of the original plastic material if you wanted to offset a thicker veneer.  just go carefully and slowly.

[Leftyb]

Thanks All,

Going to give it a try...will follow up

bill