I hate to say it, but my favorite non-Fender strat headstock is.....

[Charlie Bernstein]

And here's a nice coincidence: I just found a video of my favorite headstock (post 7) in action!:

 

[John C]

What are those two little holes about?

=O.

Not the OP but I think those are stick-on "googly eyes" from an arts & crafts store - kind of look like flat versions of the ping-pong-ball "eyes" Jim Henson used on his Muppets.

 

[tubedude]

Let's not forget these fugly misteps.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Not the OP but I think those are stick-on "googly eyes" from an arts & crafts store - kind of look like flat versions of the ping-pong-ball "eyes" Jim Henson used on his Muppets.

Nice touch!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I like the Ibanez Talman headstock. Yes, it's 3-on-er-side, but they stagger the top and bottom tuners so that it's a straight-pull.

 

[Torvald]

I kind of give PRS some props for using their headstock design (flipped over) on a Strat body just to shake things up - they definitely didn't have to run their design past Fender's legal team.

I understand the comments about the Suhr headstock - it does look pretty generic, but they also offer a couple of other designs that you can get when you order a custom build.

But there are only so many ways you can do a Fender headstock so they do become kind of generic. Except the James Tyler headstock:

That is one of the worst looking headstocks ever. Always liked the Fender telecaster headstock. I like the PRS headstock but not on the Silver Sky particularly. I think Suhrs and Anderson's look fine. My vote for the best non Fender would be the Ibanez AZ's.

 

[NeverTooLate]

My favorite head stocks are either 3 on a side or 6 on one side, go figure

Sheesh, man, never knew you were such a Music Man hater

 

[Dik Ellis]

A cool headstock is certainly a factor for me when buying a guitar. I have always been fascinated with the Tele headstock.

 

[24 track]

Sheesh, man, never knew you were such a Music Man hater

I never understood the 4&2 thing
I have a kramer 5 string fret-less bass, in order to for the 5 Machine heads on the bass' hockey stick head stock and not drag the strings at a weird angle across the nut you have to wind the E-1 backwards on the machine head (too strange) , simplicity rocks

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

View attachment 1128635

That one's a special case. And I've loved that style ever since Steve Vai was playing that beat-up green Charvel with DLR.

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

Schecter definitely has a relation thing going on:

That is BADA**!!!

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

PRS is my favorite 3x3 headstock design. Music Man is my favorite Fender-ish headstock.

 

[rdjones]

Not the OP but I think those are stick-on "googly eyes" from an arts & crafts store - kind of look like flat versions of the ping-pong-ball "eyes" Jim Henson used on his Muppets.

 

[green_henry]

The truss rod covers on the PRS headstocks ruin them for me. F'ugly

 

[Recalcitrant]

Guessing Carlos didn't like the pointyness

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

The truss rod covers on the PRS headstocks ruin them for me. F'ugly

Yeah, I just noticed that.

 

[GGardner]

I find most non-Fender strat (and tele, by the way) headstocks to be cheesy or fugly. Even on the high-end guitars, like Suhr. And ironically, I'm not a fan of the usual PRS body shapes. But I like the headstocks, and I think it looks great on a strat body.

That PRS headstock kind of reminds me of my first electric guitar’s headstock in a George Jetson kind of way.

 

[GGardner]

I always liked this one.

 

[idb6]

I really like the Epiphone Masterbilt offset-open-book or parted-hair or whatever you want to call it shape.

It's the only one that's really turned my head in recent memory.

 

[Tim S]

View attachment 1128422

I find most non-Fender strat (and tele, by the way) headstocks to be cheesy or fugly. Even on the high-end guitars, like Suhr. And ironically, I'm not a fan of the usual PRS body shapes. But I like the headstocks, and I think it looks great on a strat body.

Right shape, but wrong orientation.
(but, admittedly, less likely to get dinged)