Custom Flying V-12
How to Build Your Own 12-String
Bass at Home
The Headstock
I was originally looking for a 5-string bass neck but decided to use a 6-string bass neck because I got it cheap ($70 US). The width at the nut is just right but I will have about 5mm of empty neck on each side at the heel. However, it will be stronger and it has two truss rods.
I started by hand cutting maple pegs to fill the existing holes.
The maple turned out to be a different color that stood out too much...
... so I got some maple veneer and glued it onto the front and back of the headstock. It cleaned up well and I sanded it to blend it into the wood of the neck in the angle behind the nut. I then re-drilled the holes to take eight tuning keys. The other four will be located at the end of the body, with those strings anchoring in ferrules in the headstock. Despite my best efforts there was a small amount of break-out around the tuner holes on the reverse, but that will be hidden by the tuner mechanisms once they are fit into the holes.
By the way, the nut is Tusq, and I obtained it from www.graphtech.com.
After veneering the front and back of the headstock in maple, I had the idea of taking slices off an off-cut from the spalted beech. I managed to get these two slices which are perpendicular to the front pieces, hence the different patterning. I'll remove the maple veneer from the front of the headstock, glue these pieces on, then sand it smooth and finish with Danish Oil.
Using clamps to apply the spalted beech veneer to the headstock.
The spalted beech veneer has been glued on and shaped to the headstock. This is shown with one coat of Danish Oil.
The headstock after a few more coats of Danish Oil, and the holes have been drilled for the tuners.
