Headstock thickness!

Okay so straight to the question! Is there a specific thickness that a headstock should/should not be? Or is there any way of calculating the desired thickness?

No standard, but it helps to match the tuners. In my 4 day build class we make the pegheads a bit thick for strength and counterbore for friction tuners so they'll fit on the slightly too-thick peghead. Works just great.

Rick Turner said:

No standard, but it helps to match the tuners. In my 4 day build class we make the pegheads a bit thick for strength and counterbore for friction tuners so they'll fit on the slightly too-thick peghead. Works just great.

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Unless you go to the bathroom when he's explaining this and thus attach the "ears" incorrectly. My peghead from Rick's class ended up on the thin side because I had to sand it so much to even out my mistake. But the tuners actually fit better than those of my classmates (dumb luck) and I really like the way it looks from a profile view. So far, no issues and I've gone through a bunch of string sets experimenting with the sound. Currently strung with Southcoast's G650 (wound g, wound C).

Oh dang I wish I could go for that class! Too bad I live all the way in Singapore... We have only like... ONE luthier here and he usually only repairs guitars. Anyway, i'll be using geared tuners. (i trust that guitar tuners should be fine?) how long should the bit with the hole for the strings be?

If you are talking about the string post, then they fall into a narrow range suitable for a peg head to be a total thickness from approximately 12mm thick up to 14mm thick. I predominately use the Grover Sta-Tite open geared tuners and my peg heads are at 12mm thick. They do have another model that looks quite similar but requires a 14mm thick peg head. It's really best to get your tuners in hand before committing to final dimensions.

BTW. I put a uke building class on quite similar to Rick's here in Cairns. Much closer to Singapore. Next one is July 2-6 with some spaces still available. The Cairns Uke Festival follows immediately after.