The peghead presents an opportunity to show off some creative flair. There are many attractive peghead designs out there and it is easy to come up with your own. Aside from aesthetic opportunities, the peghead has a job to do: it holds the tuning machines. The peghead needs to have enough room to accommodate the chosen tuning machines without crowding. Before I get my heart set on a design, I first consider how much room the tuners will need.
There are several styles of tuners available with varying sizes of shaft diameter and peg height. I like to get tuners before I settle on a peghead design, just to check it all out and make sure of the dimensions and that everything is going to fit nicely. The diameter of a U.S. 25 cent piece (a quarter) is a reasonable approximation for the footprint of many tuning machines. When I’m designing a new peghead I use the quarter as a layout tool to find a workable spacing for my tuners. Of course, a ruler and small square are handy for any layout task. A center-finding ruler may be especially handy as may be a set of French curves. Drawing out ideas on paper or stiff card stock is a good idea.
After the shape is figured out on paper, the design can be transferred to the peghead. When I have a peghead design that I really like, I make a traceable pattern from plexi-glass or cardboard like Mac’s in process peghead template seen in the photo. Mark and drill small holes for the centers of the tuning pegs. These small holes will make it easy to mark and drill holes for mounting the tuning machines.
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