Michele,......Do items on the headstock like a tuner or capo affect the way the guitar vibrates. That's probably a silly question since we drastically change what the neck is doing with each note we fret.
The work you do sounds pretty labor intensive. I imagine that it's only worth doing (from a cost perspective) the sorts of changes you're talking about with high end, go-to guitars. It sounds like specialist luthier work.
M
I heard from multiple sources that a headstock tuner will alter your tone. Theoretically this is true to some extent, but when I looked into this, I didn't find it to be the case. The neck is so much thicker and stiffer than the soundboard that small mass changes affect the neck frequency very little. Even when the mass becomes greater, it doesn't seem to change the natural frequency as much as it just dampens the neck. The neck is another area where I part ways with many very good luthiers. I believe the neck participates in the guitar's voice more than some recognized experts believe it does, and among the guitars I have analyzed, those with laminated necks have better clarity. I realize necks of this construction appear on higher quality guitars, but I think the laminated neck is a key element of that higher quality. I digress, but no, I don't think a tuner or capo affects tone or vibration enough to worry about.
It struck me that you mentioned higher end guitars because the truth is I do more of this work on cheap guitars. Analysis happens on any guitar I can get my hands (or mic) on, but more chips fly from cheap guitars.
Hey Max, do you have any sound clips of the guitar you built?