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Any tips about making custom headless bass?

Y

YSJ

Sep 4, 2018
11
0
#1
Hi, Recently I fall in love with headless bass. Personally I consider the light weight and playability as best virtue of bass guitar. Since I'm not the professional bassist, convenience is the best option for me. That's why I admire the beauty of headless bass. But I have trouble getting one. I don't like the bass I can afford and I can't afford the bass I like.
So I'm planning to make one. I ordered a body wood and neck from Warmoth. I got a headless tuner and bridge from Hipshot. And everything is set. All I need is to make some space for bridge and cut off the head for tuner installation. But there're 2 things that concern me.
1. Will there be enough space for tuner? Since Warmoth can't afford a bass neck for headless bass, So I have to cut off the head by myself. But what if there is not enough space for installing tuner after I cut off the head?
2. Since the Head of neck is gone, Do i have to change the location of pickups or bridge? The length of string is shorten as head so I'm worried about it.

I want some advice about changing normal bass body and neck into headless bass. By the way sorry for the poor grammar. English is not my mother tongue but I did my best.
 

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#2
I've not built a headless myself, but I think you are going to be very disappointed with this approach. You can't just cut off the head of a bass neck because the headless hardware must have specific dimensions for mounting. I would recommend selling the perfectly good Warmoth neck before chopping it up and rendering it useless.

You need decent wood working skills to properly mount the bridge as well. Otherwise you will not be able to adjust the tuners correctly or you won't have the proper string break angle.

You might be better off getting a headless bass kit and modifying it to your liking, or find a local luthier who will make you a headless neck to match your hardware. I strongly recommend that you do more research and planning before diving into this.

Oh, and your English is just fine!
 
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#4
YSJ said:
Hi, Recently I fall in love with headless bass. Personally I consider the light weight and playability as best virtue of bass guitar. Since I'm not the professional bassist, convenience is the best option for me. That's why I admire the beauty of headless bass. But I have trouble getting one. I don't like the bass I can afford and I can't afford the bass I like.
So I'm planning to make one. I ordered a body wood and neck from Warmoth. I got a headless tuner and bridge from Hipshot. And everything is set. All I need is to make some space for bridge and cut off the head for tuner installation. But there're 2 things that concern me.
1. Will there be enough space for tuner? Since Warmoth can't afford a bass neck for headless bass, So I have to cut off the head by myself. But what if there is not enough space for installing tuner after I cut off the head?
2. Since the Head of neck is gone, Do i have to change the location of pickups or bridge? The length of string is shorten as head so I'm worried about it.

I want some advice about changing normal bass body and neck into headless bass. By the way sorry for the poor grammar. English is not my mother tongue but I did my best.
Click to expand...
WHAT??????? Why would the scale length change?????? Moving the bridge implies you are going to cut off the head somewhere south of the nut, you CAN'T do that.
 
#7
You can modify a normal neck to use headless hardware. Basically, you don't take the entire head off - you leave enough to mount the string retainer.

The body can be modified for the bridge/tuner as well, but it's a bit more difficult. You have to get the bridge mounted in the correct spot for proper intonation, but when you do that you almost certainly won't have any room to get your fingers around the tuning knobs. So you'll have to carve out the back end of the body to allow the tuning knobs to hang over an empty space so you can get your fingers on them.

Takes a bit of work, but it can certainly be done. I modified a Warmoth neck many years ago for a headless bass, but I built the body from scratch. The neck I used has the truss rod adjustment at the heel.
 
#8
It's possible and do know someone who has done it - but it pretty much requires a luthier's understanding and woodworking expertise to get it done right. It's quite a project with no guarantees. Probably best to buy a kit, buy a cheap made in china headless clone and mod it extensively, or even better, save up for the headless that you do like.
 
#9
Maxdusty said:
It's possible and do know someone who has done it - but it pretty much requires a luthier's understanding and woodworking expertise to get it done right. It's quite a project with no guarantees. Probably best to buy a kit, buy a cheap made in china headless clone and mod it extensively, or even better, save up for the headless that you do like.
Click to expand...
Well, I think you are right. I have to save up some more money for the bass. Thanks for the reply
 
#10
abarson said:
These:
Solo SB Style DIY Headless Bass Guitar Kit, Maple Neck, Ash Body | Solo Music Gear
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Affordable, customizable, and pretty certain a playable instrument will be the result. It is also a good introduction to working on instruments.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your kind advice. The reason I ordered a wood from Warmoth is that I was not sure about the wood quality used in the kit. But Hearing your advices, It's better to leave the job to professional luthier rather doing by my own. Thanks again
 
#12
YSJ said:
Thank you for your kind advice. The reason I ordered a wood from Warmoth is that I was not sure about the wood quality used in the kit. But Hearing your advices, It's better to leave the job to professional luthier rather doing by my own. Thanks again
Click to expand...

I trust the neck adjusts at the heel? The fact you're working with an intact headstock lends all sort of possibilities. Any way you can post pics of or links to the neck and hardware?

Riis
 
#13
Zooberwerx said:
I trust the neck adjusts at the heel? The fact you're working with an intact headstock lends all sort of possibilities. Any way you can post pics of or links to the neck and hardware?

Riis
Click to expand...
Well, I ordered the body and neck from Warmoth. Price is reasonable and wood quality is assured in certain level.
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Body is Dinky Jazz shape since I like the smaller and thinner body. I used standard jazz body but it's little bit big for me. Neck is.. well since I don't need the head parts I just choose straight paddle bass neck so that I can have some more space for tuning machine.
I got Bridge and tuner from Hipshot. It's a little bit pricey but I think it's worth it.
4 String Headless Bass System
I didn't get pickups yet. I'm having difficulty choosing pickups. Passive or Active, Single, Humbucker, Soapbar, Which Brands... I like modern, clean sounds so if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
I ordered pick guard from Sadowsky guitars since there MV and UV use Dinky shape body, but I'm not sure that will it fit perfectly. Headless bass and guitars rarely have pick guards. But I love the bass with pick guards.
And there are other several parts like nobs or fret wire and so on. I got them all from local shop.
By hearing all your kind advices, I should have some more time and be careful about doing it. Thanks
 
#15
Paulabass said:
WHAT??????? Why would the scale length change?????? Moving the bridge implies you are going to cut off the head somewhere south of the nut, you CAN'T do that.
Click to expand...
Hi. Sorry but I gotta correct your previous statement. I quote "implies you are going to cut off the head somewhere south of the nut" end quote. I'm very new to bass, but I have learned this, everything is backwards. For instance, to move to a higher string you go down. To move to a lower note you go up. So shouldn't your statement be "somewhere north of the nut" ?
 
#19
One thing to know is that headless basses, while they don't tend to have the dead spot we all know and love on the G string of a Fender-esque bass, they can have dead spots. Worst dead spot I ever ran into was a headless bass in GC - the open A string was ridiculously dead. Some thought might be given to how you would add or subtract mass from the headstock end, should you run into this issue, and need to change the mass loading to retune that neck resonance.
 
#20
arbiterusa said:
Yep, you're that guy! Really nice work. The Hipshot's not cheap but I'm gonna do this to one of my Cort fretlesses. I need a cheap headless, I don't take my Steinberger out to bar gigs any more.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words. The hipshot is expensive, but i would definitely recommend it. There was definitely "that" moment as i was holding the saw in my hand right before decapitating the bass
 

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