OK, guitar no. 5 underway - headless thing. Edit: FINISHED!

axisus · November 2018

I originally started a headless guitar way back for the Q1 challenge. It became impossible in the timeframe due to a freezing cold and full of rainwater workshop/garage, and putting in lots of extra time at work. I then had to do some major rethinking. I was planning to drop Variax gubbins in, but due to the design I would have had to extend cables and that would be a major PITA. Having thunk about it I am now going for Piezo/midi pickup, no magnetic.

Obligatory Photoshop mock-up:

Image: https://i.ibb.co/9gpDsHk/Headless-midi-piezo.jpg

What no tuners? The piezo saddles I have require the strings to go down, so I am threading them through to the back, having them pass over a bar and onto an ABM headless bridge recessed into the back of the body. I'm knocking up a cheap MDF dummy body to see if my theory on this will actually work. Controls will be piezo volume, midi volume and on/off microswitches

My current thinking is that he top will be some sort of gold flake, black back and sides. The 'organic' line on the front will light up. Not everyone's cup of tea but it's a tarty guitar for my Youtube videos - not one for the local pub blues band!

Full scale plans drawn up, woodwork underway.

vasselmeyer · November 2018

Love it. That is really striking. I've been following the struggles experienced by @Roland ; with his headless build and it's really interesting to see the solutions needed for a headless build compared to just throwing a bunch of parts together for another Strat/Tele.

paulnb57 · November 2018

Best I get some Popcorn, this look interesting!......

DrBob · November 2018

Sounds interesting ! If you’re passing the strings through the body will you have to use standard guitar strings without double ball ends or will the aperture be big enough to allow the ball end through ?

carlos · November 2018

vasselmeyer said:

Love it. That is really striking. I've been following the struggles experienced by @Roland ; with his headless build and it's really interesting to see the solutions needed for a headless build compared to just throwing a bunch of parts together for another Strat/Tele.

To be fair both of them are really making their lives difficult with their choices. There are fixed headless bridges out there that require no extra effort.

Image: https://musicplayers.com/reviews/guitars/2013/images/hh2-fdoa.jpeg

axisus · November 2018

DrBob said:

Sounds interesting ! If you’re passing the strings through the body will you have to use standard guitar strings without double ball ends or will the aperture be big enough to allow the ball end through ?

I'm using standard strings.

carlos said:
To be fair both of them are really making their lives difficult with their choices. There are fixed headless bridges out there that require no extra effort.

Yes there are, however I like the idea of a minimalist top. Besides, who want an easy life? Where's the fun in that!

Roland · November 2018

@carlos There are a couple of headless tuner system. They are not cheap. Carvin offer both the Hipshot and the J-Custom. The J-Custom is an improvement on the Overlord, but not enough of an improvement to justify the price. The Hipshot would more than double the cost of the challenge build guitar, and I don’t think it fits the spirit of the challenge.

When I do a second build, with better wood and any design improvements that I identify from this one, then I might use a Hipshot, or possibly the ABM single string bridges.

carlos · November 2018

@Roland ;
I'm aware of your constraints, but I think it's unfair to characterise a headless build as harder than a regular one as @vasselmeyer was saying. My Steinberger with the fixed JCustom is my simplest guitar to use, change strings, intonate, etc. I also changed the bridge and set it up myself and believe me I'm not a luthier of any sort.

Andyjr1515 · November 2018

axisus said:

I originally started a headless guitar way back for the Q1 challenge. It became impossible in the timeframe due to a freezing cold and full of rainwater workshop/garage, and putting in lots of extra time at work. I then had to do some major rethinking. I was planning to drop Variax gubbins in, but due to the design I would have had to extend cables and that would be a major PITA. Having thunk about it I am now going for Piezo/midi pickup, no magnetic.

Obligatory Photoshop mock-up:

What no tuners? The piezo saddles I have require the strings to go down, so I am threading them through to the back, having them pass over a bar and onto an ABM headless bridge recessed into the back of the body. I'm knocking up a cheap MDF dummy body to see if my theory on this will actually work. Controls will be piezo volume, midi volume and on/off microswitches

My current thinking is that he top will be some sort of gold flake, black back and sides. The 'organic' line on the front will light up. Not everyone's cup of tea but it's a tarty guitar for my Youtube videos - not one for the local pub blues band!

Full scale plans drawn up, woodwork underway.

Love it! Looking forward to seeing how it pans out

axisus · December 2018

Basic body template designed and made with MDF

Rough body shape done with Forstner bit and band saw.

Half way through routing body shape

Basic body shape sorted

axisus · December 2018

Neck cut to shape

axisus · May 2019

A couple of design changes. The original fret markers looked interesting, but seemed like more hassle than I could be bothered with, so I'm just gone for trad dots on rosewood.

now 1 knob & switch rather than 2 of each.

Cutting fret slots