Interlocking Scarf Joint

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  • Interlocking Scarf Joint

    Posted by Chris Schryer on January 1, 2026 at 5:58 pm

    A while back I saw a Canna Guitars video on Instagram and thought his use of the “wave” scarf joint between his neck and headstock was an interesting use of CNC. But it got me thinking about other options, and this idea percolated in my brain:

    Cut a regular scarf joint, but then using a CNC cut a tenon into the neck, and a mortise/dado into the headstock. (Obviously you could also do this by hand with a saw and chisel). The joint would interlock taking a lot of the load structurally, it would have more gluing surface, and it would be (at least a little) easier to clamp up. I know a good scarf joint with a headstock face plate is plenty strong, so is this just unnecessary overkill? I feel like if this were a good idea, people would already be doing it. Forgive my hand-draw scrawl, but rough drawing is attached.

    Chris Schryer replied 2 months, 1 week ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Ian Davlin The Looth Group

    Administrator
    January 2, 2026 at 9:50 am

    Im not sure I understand this completely. Would your peghead have an angle ? Im not sure i’m seeing it here.

  • Chris Schryer

    Member
    January 2, 2026 at 7:41 pm

    Yeah, the drawing need some extrapolation, apologies. I’ve added some more drawings. The scale gets out of wack in the last assembled image, but I hope the mechanics make sense.

    • Ian Davlin The Looth Group

      Administrator
      January 5, 2026 at 6:11 am

      Dude, that looks pretty hip. Do you mind if I add this to the council of elder show ?

      • Chris Schryer

        Member
        January 5, 2026 at 6:27 am

        Yeah, that’s cool with me.

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