Jeez bert, I didn't realize that studying engineering could so screw up ones sense of aesthetics ! *G*

A headstock does not look beautiful or grotesque per se of course but only in relation to the rest of the instrument. That is why, as Bruce says above, the Stratocaster headstock looks so graceful on a Stratocaster body, and so out of place on an acoustic. Also, what looks superb on a F5 mandolin or a Mastertone banjo would look plain silly on a guitar.

I am actually not so sure that it all subjective. In the field of furniture, ten (or a hundred) pairs of trained eyes confronted with, say, two different cabriole legs will be unanimous in their assessment of the relative merits of each leg. An untrained eye might well disagree. Similarly no architect would ever contend that a column with parallel sides is as attractive as a column with the traditional Greek "stasis", tapering towards the top. A novice might never perceive the ddifference.

To carry on with the furniture analogy, I suppose it all comes down to whether one prefers the understated timeless elegance of Shaker furniture or the florid excesses of the rococo style. I know which I prefer.

Murray