Stewart MacDonald 5295, Assembly Instructions Manual

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You can round the upper corners of the peghead accord-
ing to the blueprint, design your own shape, or leave them
squared in the vintage style . Shape the bottom later, when
you work on rounding the neck .
To taper holes for vintage-style tuners, use a violin reamer
from the peghead face to enlarge the 1/4" holes for press-in
bushings
(pictured) . Ream until the collar of the bushing is
about 1/32" from the face of the peghead; at this point the
bushing should press in with a snug but not too tight fit .
KIT TIP: Drilling tuner holes
As an alternate to reaming, you can drill out the
bushing hole . Place a smooth 1/4" diameter steel
pin in the chuck of your drill press . (You can use
a drill bit, but there is no drilling . This is for align-
ment only) . Lower it until the pin enters one of
the predrilled peg holes . Clamp the peghead in
that position . Raise and lower the pin and check
for accurate positioning by rotating the chuck to
see if the location is right all around . Reposition if
needed . Without moving the peghead, change to
the proper size drill bit to allow the bushing to be
pressed in gently (practice on scrap wood) . This
secondary hole should be drilled only to the depth
of the bushing . Relocate and clamp the peghead
for each of the remaining holes .
Holes for non-tapered press-in bushings may require a
countersunk hole, or careful filing to enlarge the reamed
tapered hole . After you have fit the first bushing, use the
peghole as a reference and wrap tape around the reamer
as a depth stop for the remaining holes .
Align the nut end of the fretboard with the break angle,
where the peghead begins . Pencil a mark on the peghead
face 3/16" from the nut line . Align the peghead overlay with
this mark . This will leave some extra overlay wood to be
trimmed away when the nut is fitted later .
Using Titebond, glue and clamp the rosewood overlay ve-
neer, grain running lengthwise, to the face of the peghead
aligning it with the pencil mark . Use at least four C-clamps
with protective wooden cauls, and prepare a V-shaped caul
to fit around the “diamond” contour below the nut area
(pic-
tured) . Unclamp when dry, and trim the overlay flush to the
sides of the peghead with a knife and file .
Peghead shaping and drilling
Peghead overlay
Shape the peghead
KIT TIP: Standard tuner sizes
Die-cast tuners from Schaller, Grover and Gotoh
require approximately 13/32"-diameter (10mm)
holes . Non-diecast vintage-style tuners such as
Waverlys and Klusons have 1/4"-diameter string
posts . Waverly bushings are slightly tapered, and
lend themselves to a tapered reamer .
Press in the tuner bushings and set the tuners in place .
Line up the baseplates of the tuners with the edges of the
peghead, and centerpunch the mounting screw holes . Use
a small drill bit of the appropriate size for the screws, with
masking tape as a depth-stop on the bit . Install the mounting
screws, and then remove the tuners and the bushings .
Later, during finishing, the mounting screw holes will fill
over but will open easily with a light drilling . By installing
the tuners at this stage you’ll lessen the chance of chipping
the peghead finish .
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