Official Luthiers Forum!

Just use the Martin design... they can't sue you for it because they never tried defending it, and it's not exactly original enough that they could make a case against anyone.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Like your last one, er....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I'm with Paul and many others here. Design your own.

It will most likely look like one that has already been done but that is fine.

I start with a center line on a piece of paper. Then I draw in the nut and mark the string locations on it. I draw away from there.

The things to remember are will it fit into a standard case?
How will the strings cross from the nut to the tuners? Does it look good to your eye?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Or, copy one and leave off that pointy hard to machine feature at the top.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

When designing your own headstock (without a CAD software): Fold a piece of paper in half and draw half the headstock, unless you are doing an asymmetrical design. This helps maintain symmetry. Otherwise it is impossible to maintain symmetry and I've had tilted headstock as a result...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com