Countersunk truss rod cover...

[man dough nollij]

I'm wondering if any of you builders and/or shade tree luthiers have tried to countersink the truss rod cover? It seems like an awkward piece of real estate, just hanging out there in the middle of the peghead. What I'm picturing is a tight-fitting (rectangular?) piece of ebony, fitting flush with the peghead. You could use black torx fasteners or countersunk screws to hold the cover down. That way, you would have no restrictions on where you could lay out the inlay. It would be a very minute and detailed task to lay out the inlay over the truss rod cover's "boundaries", but I think it would look incredibly slick.

[Ken Sager]

Like this?

http://www.archesmusic.com/Archtop%20images/F5-2/IMG_0298.jpg

[amowry]

Wow! Is that binding cut from a solid piece of wood? Not fair! That headstock is just beautiful.

[man dough nollij]

Yep, that's exactly what I was picturing, minus the inlay that could be used on the cover. Gorgeous! I've never seen MOP that color-- what is it?

[Ken Sager]

Andrew, yes. It's a single solid cutout.

MDN, The MOP is varnish color... It's normal MOP but the varnish yellowed it.

I know, it's a fantastic piece of work. It's still listed in the classifieds, by the way...

Best,
Ken

[sunburst]

I had flush fitting truss rod covers on a couple of early mandolins, with a single screw through the back of the peghead holding them in place. It just looked like an oval line...when it was new. It was a lot of trouble to do, wood moves and makes the fit less than perfect as the instrument ages, and I basically decided it wasn't worth the effort as a design element and abandoned it in favor of a more "standard" cover.

BTW, the truss rod cover can be decorated, inlayed, and generally treated like part of the "canvas" of the peghead for decorative work even though it is screwed on the surface..

[MikeEdgerton]

Yup, like this one:
http://www.mandolinarchive.com/images/100_nugget_peghead2.jpg

and this one:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/uploads/post-12-52444-F4_Headstock_small.JPG

Both are currently in another thread.

[BlueMountain]

Very nice examples! Thanks. I've often been annoyed to see otherwise gorgeous mandolins with a little cheap piece of plastic for a truss rod cover. Seems like it doesn't take much time or effort to make something nice out of a little scrap of ebony.

[JEStanek]

Another avenue to look into aside from countersinking the cover (or in addition to it) is having no screws. See page two of Bradeinhorn's thread on the Dan Voights (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=44755;st=25) instruments. Dan used a strong magnet to hold the cover in place along with a guide pin to keep it lined up. This would give more room and less distraction for inlay on the cover itself.

Clever idea. I never liked those shiny screws in the headstock so much... Black ones would be a compromise.

Jamie

[sunburst]

Black ones would be a compromise.
Yup, that's why I use them.
I view the TRC as a necessary evil if one chooses to use a truss rod in the neck. I prefer to minimise it's appearance rather than enhance it by using it as an ornament.

[austin]

as a matter of fact...
still needs to be leveled to the headstock, but you get the idea.

[jim_n_virginia]

I had an idea years ago to extend my Fern inlay on a Flatiron I had down to the nut. I took off the plastic TRC and had a new one made out of the same wood as the headstock and searched for inlay that closed matched the color of the inlay on the mandolin and had Bill Nichols of Nichols Guitar make it for me.


http://members.aol.com/ghentactor/before_after_headstock.jpg