Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all. In the past I have used headblocks that were 2 1/2" wide by 2"
thick. I use a straight m&t with barrels and bolts (cumpiano style). Because
of some mahogany that I have around I was thinking about decreasing the
thickness of my headblocks to 1 1/2" or so. What do ya think?

Sure, why not? Typically, a tenon is usually 3/4-7/8" deep, and so the slot can be within 1/8" of that. There's no reason at all why the wood behind it needs to be more than 5/8-3/4". Make the tenon 3/4", the mortice 7/8" and you're good to go. It wouldn't kill to make the M&T a little longer even.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks Don. The neck is already made with a 15/16" tenon. That would
leave about 9/16" material behind the bolt head. Should be enough, no?
I'm gonna go for it but anyone else please chime in because I would like to
know what you thoughts are anyway.

There's not much reason to have the tenon 15/16". You can shorten it an 1/8" or so and still be fine, unless the dowel holes are already drilled...
You need a good 1/16" to an 1/8" of gap behind the tenon in the mortice. You don't want the tenon bottoming out in the mortice. Even with a 1" deep mortice, you should have enough meat behind it to have the bolts be secure. Just make sure the grain is running the right direction on the block.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."