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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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Decision 1. It’s going to be a Headless Guitar
Right. It’s going to be a headless guitar. Two reasons. First, I’ve been wanting to make a headless for a while. My guitar making journey has seen lighter bodies through the use of lighter timber (cedar), and heavy chamfering. I’ve also reduced the hardware weight, with a short bridge, no scratchguard, and no metal control cover. As a result my latest Telecaster verges on neck heavy. I don’t want to extend the top horn to move the strap button because then it wouldn’t hang like a Tele.
Secondly, as a band we’ve changed out stage positions, and I’m now standing stage right. I’m happy with this because it’s where I used to stand with previous bands. Happy as Larry, until Friday’s rehearsal where I twice clouted our singer with my headstock. A headless will give him, and his shiny guitars, an extra six inches.
Decision 2. Which Kit?
A quick search show four types of headless kit:
I’ve tried cricket bats before. The minimalist approach appeals to me. In practice the lack of a body screws my playing. When I lift my fingers the fretboard follows them, and the notes don’t come out cleanly. So it’s either Klein or GM, and I think the GM will be closer to my normal playing position than the Klein, particularly if I have the one with horns.
The GM kits all come from China. Some of the Chinese stuff is good, but then I’ve had Chinese necks where the frets are badly out of place. If the kit neck is really bad, and not worth rectifying, then I’ve got a replacement ready. Looking at the kit pictures on Amazon I can see uneven body routing, and grain tear out. So this could be interesting.
I’ve been thinking of getting around to a headless build for over a year. One of necks I acquired through the forum, but not from Graham, has had its head chopped off for a headless prototype. It’s the tuners which have been holding me back. All of the kits come with the Overlord style tuner bridge. It’s best described as clunky. At least you don’t need to find an Allen key in the middle of a gig to adjust the tuning.
Anyway, decision made, kit ordered. Now the long wait for delivery from China.
All of the Chinese kits come with the Overlord style tuner bridge. It’s a clunky piece of metal, and nowhere near as nice as the Steinberger. At least you don’t need to find an Allen key in the middle of a gig to adjust the tuning. I’m torn between tightening it down, so it doesn’t float, and replacing it completely. It’s one of those decisions which I can’t make until the kit arrives.
It’s fair to expect a bit of work on a cheap kit, but that is too much, and likely beyond the spirit of the challenge. The theme is not “polish a turd”.
still plenty of time to organise a plan B
Instagram
So, I’ve thought about it, particularly the challenge objectives: This accords with my personal objective: to build a headless guitar which I can gig with.
Mmm. The basic work with any kit is assembly, wiring, and finishing.
We’re looking at a few modifications. The inevitable ones are:
- Replace the pickups
- Replace the pots, selector switch, and jack socket
My desirable modifications are to:
- Fit strap locks. I won’t gig without them
- Fit a spare strap button below the tuners so that the guitar can stand on its tail
- Fill the Tremolo cavity and fit a fixed tuner/bridge
- Round the bottom corner of the heel, and fit a curve edged neck plate
- Fit plates that I can screw the pickups into
Then there’s the remedial work:
- Re-fret the neck
- Tidy the neck joint
- Tidy the neck cavity
- Re-route the pickup cavities and tidy up the control cavity
- Make a control cavity cover which fits
- Mend the damaged tuner claw
- Fill the router tear out, particularly around the binding.
The basswood body is very soft. It feels more like balsa. It might need a non-traditional finish to harden the wood so that it doesn’t dent too easily. I could veneer the top to make it look more interesting. A harder wood for the veneer would provide protection, but would mean replacing the binding.
You can see that I’m leaning towards keeping the kit, despite its deficiencies, simply because of the challenges it presents.
There’s also the question of replacing the tuners with something else. Low sales volumes mean that quality headless tuners are expensive, with a lot of them being made to order. The Hipshot tuner/bridge is nice, but costs more than twice as much as the kit. I could disassemble the Overlord bridge, and just use the tuners. The crux of of that decision is whether I can make the tuners work. That’s not about whether I can make a new claw, but whether the tuner will actually be useable in a gig situation. At home it’s not difficult to use a screwdriver, Allen key, or pliers to turn a stiff tuner. I feel the need to build a test rig.
You can see that the thread on the A tuner screw is damaged, presumably by turning against the incorrectly cut thread in the claw. I can make a new claw, but I don’t have the tools to make another tuning screw.
you could win this challenge without even building the kit, or even still owning the kit - we're judging based only on entertainment!