PURPOSE: To highly precisely and efficiently cut a control base plate forming a slit-like ion stream leading portion, without producing chippings and the like, by opposingly arranging the control base plate apart at a fixed interval from reference electrodes, thereby providing a method capable of productively manufacturing high-quality electrostatic recording heads.

CONSTITUTION: In obtaining a control base plate 2 by cutting and separating an original plate 1 for the control base plate, having a plurality of plates of control electrodes 3 formed on one face of the original plate 1, a cutting step is carried out, wherein the original plate 1 is grooved from the opposite face of the control electrode-forming face thereof up to a predetermined depth by a coarse-grained rotary grindstone 4 along a cutting reference line X. Accordingly, the cutting machining is divided into two stages of the aforementioned cutting step and a step of grooving the original plate from the control electrode- forming face thereof up to the predetermined depth by a fine-grained grindstone 6 along the cutting reference line X while applying an electric field dressing 8 to the outer peripheral face of the grindstone 6. These two cutting steps are carried out at a predetermined processing ratio though not simultaneously.