Question about Headstocks on guitars?

Question:I have a B.C. Bronze series Warlock (One of the original ones with the duel humbuckers) that has that standard headstock (all strings tune on top). I like the Widow Headstock which is where there are the EAD strings on top and GBE on the bottom. Is there a difference in the tone or quality of the type of headstock your guitar has?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have a B.C. Bronze series Warlock (One of the original ones with the duel humbuckers) that has that standard headstock (all strings tune on top). I like the Widow Headstock which is where there are the EAD strings on top and GBE on the bottom. Is there a difference in the tone or quality of the type of headstock your guitar has?

There is a slight difference. On a guitar with what you call a 'standard' headstock, with the machine heads all along the top edge, the tension in the high E string is relatively greater than the tension in the low E string because there is a longer scale length. This affects the tone slightly, making the high E and B strings brighter-sounding than the low E and B strings. On a guitar with the other kind, this effect is not so noticeable because the strings don't get longer and longer in series but in groups of two.

I also find that the Strat-style headstock guitar is easier to tune; I didn't get a guitar with the other kind of headstock until a few years ago, and when I change the strings on it I still tend to turn the tuners on the G B and E strings in the wrong direction at first.

Jimi Hendrix exploited the string tension thing in his upside-down Strats, which sounded different to other Strats because he strung them upside-down as well as playing them like that. This means that his lower-tuned strings tend to be brighter than normal and his higher-tuned strings a bit more mellow. For a while in the 80s, guitar makers turned out right-handed guitars with the tuners along the bottom of the headstock in an attempt to emulate this effect. It looked pretentious.

You would think the mass of the headstock would add to the sustain of the tone.

But the biggest factor I've found is when I play bass and I grab the wrong tuning key when changing between say my P bass and my 5-string or Stingray.