Reverse headstock - how does it change the feel?

[nbarts]

I'm looking at ESP MI. Specs are great, but I've noticed it has a reverse headstock, thus the question.

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I think the only thing effected is the looks. If anything there might be a bit looser feel, but it's a very, very small difference if any IMO.

 

[jimmypage1stfan]

I played a fender strat with a reverse headstock and really didnt like it.. While playing a open G or something on the 1st fret, the bottom little ridge of the head stock would get in the way which was very uncomfortable.

 

[mrp5150]

Makes no difference at all IMO.

 

[degenaro]

locking nut? no difference, normal nut...the tension changes on the strings. I prefer the feel of reversed head stocks.

 

[duodecim]

locking nut? no difference, normal nut...the tension changes on the strings. I prefer the feel of reversed head stocks.

Interesting... Do the high strings feel tighter than the bass strings on reverse head stocks?

 

[Digital Jams]

locking nut? no difference, normal nut...the tension changes on the strings. I prefer the feel of reversed head stocks.

I like the feel of the low E with the reversed stocks, more slinky type feel.

Yeah locking nut negates the whole thing.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

locking nut? no difference, normal nut...the tension changes on the strings.

Bingo...big difference in string tension with a regular nut

 

[nbarts]

It's not floyded. Does the low E get flabby? It can be a problem, because it has to be dropped to C.

 

[chunktone]

With a reverse headstock, you have a longer overall string length on the low E string. This results in higher string tension. On the high E string, you have a shorter overall string length, and you get...yep, you guessed it, the opposite, lower string tension. This is with or without a locking nut. The locking nut just locks it in tune at whatever tension was required to get the strings in tune.

 

[shreder75]

I got an M III w/ floyd and reverse headstock for sale

 

[degenaro]

With a reverse headstock, you have a longer overall string length on the low E string. This results in higher string tension. On the high E string, you have a shorter overall string length, and you get...yep, you guessed it, the opposite, lower string tension. This is with or without a locking nut. The locking nut just locks it in tune at whatever tension was required to get the strings in tune.

Other than the nut yes, the locking nut changes the length of the string requuired to be bent.

 

[EWSEthan]

locking nut? no difference, normal nut...the tension changes on the strings. I prefer the feel of reversed head stocks.

+1

 

[Anonymous]

I was trying to explain this earlier but I will paste it from another source:


1 - String tension is only affected by 3 factors: a) pitch (to which we tune the string), b) mass (or to simplify: string gage), and c) scale length (the length of string from bridge point to nut only.)

It is important to understand that scale length is only the vibrating segment of the string (bridge to nut). What length of string there is between the nut and the tuning post has absolutely no affect on the tension of the string.

 

[Bob Savage]

With the pointy kind, it feels much different when you're plunging it into somebody's chest at a metal show. It's hard to describe, you have to try it for yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

With the pointy kind, it feels much different when you're plunging it into somebody's chest at a metal show. It's hard to describe, you have to try it for yourself.

This does bring up a good point. I'd like to get a BC Rich with a "widow" headstock. Maybe make the neck out of a really strong metal. I could put the headstock around peoples throats in the crowd and pick them up into the air.

 

[EXPcustom]

The advantage of a reverse headstock for me is at photo ops it looks so much cooler when you point the guitar at the camera like a gun. A regular headstock just does not look as flashy when you strike that pose.

 

[nbarts]

interesting, opinions vary. some of them make sense, I guess...

 

[Lance-a-not]

With the pointy kind, it feels much different when you're plunging it into somebody's chest at a metal show. It's hard to describe, you have to try it for yourself.

Yep, I just love the uppercut with the reverse headstock

 

[RockStarNick]

I was trying to explain this earlier but I will paste it from another source:


1 - String tension is only affected by 3 factors: a) pitch (to which we tune the string), b) mass (or to simplify: string gage), and c) scale length (the length of string from bridge point to nut only.)

It is important to understand that scale length is only the vibrating segment of the string (bridge to nut). What length of string there is between the nut and the tuning post has absolutely no affect on the tension of the string.

I hate to argue, but this is not true. I've been in multiple discussions over at some other forums with a bunch of builders about this very topic.

Chunktone had it correct when he said this:

With a reverse headstock, you have a longer overall string length on the low E string. This results in higher string tension. On the high E string, you have a shorter overall string length, and you get...yep, you guessed it, the opposite, lower string tension.

But not this:

This is with or without a locking nut. The locking nut just locks it in tune at whatever tension was required to get the strings in tune.

Think about when you bend a string on a vintage strat. It could get hung up on a string tree, right? That proves that the string is moving behind the nut. That proves that string movement doesn't automatically end at the nut and bridge contact points. And if it's moving beyond those points, then it IS somehow involved in the overall tension of the string.

On a floyd, once you clamp down the nut and bridge, the string does NOT move behind the nut at all.

On a reverse headstock, the string length from bridge anchor to tuning post is longer, and has a longer distance to travel on bends. Because the string isn't just moving from the nut. It's moving OVER the nut, in the nut slot.