look a little “too much”. Maybe too much of a “sandwich” look from the sides

What’s the situation on the back of the headstock? Is there a volute of any type?

If there is no volute and not joint to hide I would skip it on these first few, but I’m lazy so…


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No volute. Headstock will be thicknessed from the back before adding veneer, if any, maybe w/ a combo of band saw and oscillating sander with a buttress jig. Or maybe a Safe T Planer.

Colin's point about strength is a good one. My first thought was that it's the first few builds and putting a veneer on a neck with a volute can be tricky, so to reduce complexity I would skip it. If the transition is a plain transition with no volute a veneer would make sense for the reasons Colin mentioned and shouldn't add any real complexity when it comes to glue up. Also, if you have an easy way to thickness from the back then taking the veneer back off if it goes poorly shouldn't be an issue.

I'm firmly in the camp of - first few builds should be simple. That being said my first build had a back veneer so.. .

Edit from first post. There is a scarf joint, but it only shows on the front face, which will be covered by front veneers.

There’s no scarf joint

First post -
Make your mind up why don't you

A back strap of that sort is not necessary if you have a face veneer, but it does add a bit of security if the back of the head gets hit for any reason. I usually use one a couple of mm thick, and run it up onto the back of the neck. This can be a nice look if the neck is a sandwich with different colored veneers in the center. Some old banjos would have the back strap run up as far as the 5th fret, and with the 'V' neck profile it tapers down and more or less flows into the center stripe.