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hi everyone,

I'm building my first acoustic guitar by following a book, I am nearly at the finishing stage the only thing I have to do is drill the holes for the machine heads/ tuner pegs. the book I am following came with plans and has the tuner pegs space 38m apart on the headstock so I am just wondering if this is the standard positioning for all tuner pegs? considering I am using different tuners to the ones in the book (Schaller m6 vintage) just thought I better check, the plans also say nothing about alignment but do have small lines indicating the 6th and 1st string positions on the nut which I am presuming the tuning pegs are aligned with (in a straight line) or am I about to make a fatal error? I know exactly how to drill the holes as I have worked it out on and old piece of scrap, just amazed that the tuners came with no installation guidelines, even Schallers website only tells me the measurements of the pegs themselves.

I have one other issue that I am hoping someone with experience can help me with, way back when I made the soundboard I planed it down to the desired thickness and then went about other elements of construction leaving the soundboard on what I presumed was a flat surface face down (an inexperienced guitar makers critical mistake) when I came back to the soundboard an pulled it away from the surface there must have been a nail sticking up and I scratched the soundboard across the grain, I wouldn't say that the scratch itself is deep but its noticeable from a distance, I also had a clamp accident and put a small ding in the top when I dropped the clamp. I guess what I am asking is there anything I can do to repair surface damage to an unfinished spruce soundboard?
I seen a video of someone putting a drop of water on a spruce top and on a tissue and then steaming out dings/dents with a soldering iron, is this a practised method?
the guitar is to be French polished as a finish once I work these things out so I understand that the finish can only be as good as the surface below it, I did learn from my mistake though because when I did the back and sides I borrowed a friends thickness planer and sander so the back and sides are beautifully sanded to a glass look ready for finishing with no dings or dents due to the fact that whenever I put the guitar down now I use foam or bubble wrap to protect it, I only wish I had done the same with the top, ahh hindsight is a complex thing lol.

anyways sorry for being extremely long winded, must be because I am English lol, any help here guys would be greatly appreciated, thanks for listening. cheers Jason

Standard spacing for 3-on-a-plate tuners is 35mm. For separate tuners, anything goes, but 35mm is still a good minimum spacing between holes. 38mm is fine.

For the soundboard, yes, I usually have to steam out a few dings even if I am careful. Cross-grain scratches are worse, though. You'll have to sand it out. Then wet it with alcohol/naptha/shellac to make sure it's completely gone. Scratches can look invisible until you start applying finish.

thank you ever so much Dennis your reply has really helped, do the separate tuning pegs have to be aligned in a straight line leading up from the position of where the 1st and 6th strings would be on either side or are they offset? sorry to inconvenience you once more, the plans I am following look like they are in a straight line so I'm guessing that is the way to go?!

once again thanks for your reply, always impressed with the quick and positive responses on here, cheers.

Nope, don't have to be in a straight line. As said, anything goes with individual tuners, subject to common sense. i.e. they need to be far enough apart not to bump into eachother, close enough to the edge that the keys stick out far enough to turn, and the string path from each tuner to the corresponding nut slot shouldn't bump into any other tuners.

But most people put them in straight lines anyway just because it looks nice.

Depends on the headstock but no rule. On Martin, you need to move the upper pegs in a little to keep the strings from hitting.

A few drops of water on a paper towel over the dent, then hit it with a clothes iron on high. It will usually pop right out. Wife/mom will never know!

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Pat

Jason, the scratch may be a bigger problem than the dents. Depends on how deep and whether you can sand it out, but sometimes when you think it is out, the fibers are still "bruised" and will show up in finishing. Definitely steam it first, Then sand.
Next time you build one, you might consider leaving it a bit thicker and taking the last bit off during final sand. I'd also find a soft towel and a piece of rug to lay the instrument face down.

A soldering iron works well too, along with the wet paper towel. I find it easier to manage.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

It depends on the shape of the headstock as well. Best bet is to map it out on paper.

As Ed says, a snakehead shape is more forgiving in regard to peghead interference, and a Martin style shape generally has the a and b pegheads set in a bit to prevent their strings from touching the two e pegheads. If you can find a picture of a Martin peghead you will see what I'm trying to get at. Again as Ed says draw it out with nut and strings.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!