New Acoustic Day!!

Don O said:
And for the record, isn’t this nerk actually called a volute? Asking for a friend. :unsure:
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Nerk is a nickname. A volute is closer to what it represents. @Scott Baxendale could explain this far better than I am able. Have not "seen" him recently - hope he's OK...

I recall a thread of his elsewhere that showed a guitar his son built with an actual multi-piece headstock the diamond is there to represent. His son is quite an accomplished luthier like he is.

My Lester has a volute.

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Some early Martin examples:

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TVvoodoo said:
HNGD... What's that called? A belt sander burst? It's kinda cool. A good acoustic can be second only a good hound as a man's best friend. You will have opportunity to record it for us all soon!
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If I ever find my pin puller doodad I’ll record some stuff for this thread too. I want to christen it with some snappy new strings

I’m not sure what the finish is called lol, but it is neat though. Super thin and feels great. From what I gather these tops were made from basically scrap Adirondack Spruce that weren’t big enough for the higher end dreds they usually use them for, but just right for a parlor, hence the “limited edition” moniker.

Pretty cool so far!
 
Don O said:
And for the record, isn’t this nerk actually called a volute? Asking for a friend. :unsure:
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No. The purpose is different. Way, way back, Martin would attach the headstock as a separate piece of wood to the neck using what is called a "bird's mouth joint" carved into the end of the neck. The "nerk" was part of that joint. When Martin began building the neck and headstock from one piece of wood, they still carved in the shape of that joint to preserve the appearance, even though it is no longer an actual joint and has no purpose any longer. It's a vestige of long-past construction methodology. It's not essential, but stylish, nevertheless.

Keep in mind, this goes back to when guitars still used gut strings, prior to steel strings, and guitar necks had nowhere near the same tension applied to them as they do today.

The volute, on the other hand, was an attempt to make for a stronger transition from the end of the neck to the headstock, hoping to minimize headstock breakage. It is only very mildly beneficial. You can still get a headstock break even with a volute. Now, one may suggest that the nerk on the Martin headstock may still provide some of the benefit of a volute, but that is an incidental benefit, however small that benefit may be.
 
GrumpySquatch said:
Nerk is a nickname. A volute is closer to what it represents. @Scott Baxendale could explain this far better than I am able. Have not "seen" him recently - hope he's OK...

I recall a thread of his elsewhere that showed a guitar his son built with an actual multi-piece headstock the diamond is there to represent. His son is quite an accomplished luthier like he is.

My Lester has a volute.

View attachment 103129
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The nerk on a D-28 or D-45 as well as the ones I’ve made or the guitar my son made are actually carved into the one piece neck. They aren’t made from multiple pieces glued together. It does, however, harken back to the early Martins made in the 1800’s that did have the headstock grafted onto the neck wood with a dovetail style joint that the so-called nerk was a part of. On modern guitars made post 1900 this is purely a cosmetic thing.

Now, the volutte in this above photo is kind of a dumb design that was intended to help prevent headstock fractures common to Gibson style electrics. The problem is that this design offers no resistance or protection to actually help prevent headstock breakage. So in effect all it does is make the guitar more headstock heavy which contributes to more necks being broken, not less.
 
Aynirar27 said:
It’s one of those on the end of a string winder. I’m sure it’s in one of my drawers somewhere, but I have no idea which one. It’s been a while since I changed strings on an acoustic.
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I mentioned the crank winder as there was a member at another forum who did not know what the notch was there for pin yanking.

Made for some good natured laughat.gif

I still have the winder I got in 1975. I retired it years ago.

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GrumpySquatch said:
Nerk is a nickname. A volute is closer to what it represents. @Scott Baxendale could explain this far better than I am able. Have not "seen" him recently - hope he's OK...

I recall a thread of his elsewhere that showed a guitar his son built with an actual multi-piece headstock the diamond is there to represent. His son is quite an accomplished luthier like he is.

My Lester has a volute.

View attachment 103129
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That style of volutte looks more like a tumor to me. Funny thing about this 70’s-80’s Gibson neck design is that this design offers zero protection for a potential headstock fracture which is kind of a fatal flaw of Gibson necks from this era.
 
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