Anyone surprised by the return of headless popularity?

[Herrick]

Yes, I am surprised at the relative popularity of headless basses and guitars. I always thought they were ugly and never thought I'd own one. I started with a Kiesel VB5 (which I no longer have) and now I have an Ibanez EBH1505MS...and I think it looks really good

 

[sean_on_bass]

I'm surprised but only because i personally don't care for the look of them. I think they look super cheesy for some reason. Nothing to do with their performance.

 

[DianaBass]

Apropos to nothing regarding playing these, I have a very deep-seated, irrational, aversion to headless basses. It has nothing to do with playing them, but looking at them freaks me out like someone chopped their head off. Okay... carry on...

 

[Barticus]

You'll know headless has truly arrived when a model is made by Fender.

That’s funny. No interest in a Fender headless even if they did.

 

[Barticus]

Been playing them since the 90s, not as a fashion statement… because of ergonomics, function and balance. My headless outnumber my headed basses but my guitars outnumber my headless with only 2.

They’re not for everyone, and that’s okay. I’ve owned many Ps and Js and sold every one of them as slab bodies are not for me either.

 

[Koshchei]

Anyone surprised by the return of headless popularity?

After of 20 years on TB I feel like there is a commonality between clothing fashion trends and instrument trends, things come and go in cycles. So in that regard, the return of headless popularity really isn't that surprising to me.

You're about 7 years late for the discussion...

 

[Barticus]

Two problems I have with headless:
1. I hang my instruments on the wall. How do you hang a headless?
2. You can't tune whilst plucking or picking the string. I tune for both attach and sustain.

Not that big of an issue, really… mine seem to hang on the wall nicely. And since they stay in tune better, it’s not much effort.

And they can even sit on a stand…

 

[Barticus]

They are super practical to travel with in that you can have a 32 or 33 scale headless that fits any overhead bin and you won't have to take it apart to travel stress-free with it.

One of my 34s that I built has done over 500k air miles in the last 15yrs, all traveled in the overhead or in the closet.

 

[2thAche]

Meh, another solution to a problem most bassists aren't aware of

 

[bodgiebass]

I'm am Ibanez ehb user. Was a P bass user. I like both soundwise.
If you have any issues with your current bass neckdive/ergonomics/weight and can put aside traditional aesthetics (at least temporarily) I would encourage anyone to have a try.
I don't think I will go back to old style ever again. Band and audience are perfectly ignoring me as they have done with my sunburst P, just now i am more comfy.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Anyone surprised by the return of headless popularity?

After of 20 years on TB I feel like there is a commonality between clothing fashion trends and instrument trends, things come and go in cycles. So in that regard, the return of headless popularity really isn't that surprising to me.

I guess you’re referring to talkbass sentiment specifically? Cuz I certainly don’t see an upswing in the popularity of headless basses in the wild in any respect, either locally or in the mainstream

 

[DJ Bebop]

Anyone surprised by the return of headless popularity?

After of 20 years on TB I feel like there is a commonality between clothing fashion trends and instrument trends, things come and go in cycles. So in that regard, the return of headless popularity really isn't that surprising to me.

 

[tpaul]

I'm surprised. I like head.

 

[sotua]

I have never played a headless bass. And I'm not particularly attracted to them, visually, but that may just be a matter of familiarity and history. As I think about it more these days, I think the ergonomic difference just has to be significant, particularly as one gets to 5 and especially 6 strings. I don't mind weight so much as neckdive, which really bugs me. The one thing that really keeps me away is the way the strings are terminated at the nut end. Once you get away from Steinberger's brilliant double ball end design, it really gets sketchy up there. I still can't abide an otherwise beautiful-looking instrument with an end that looks like an open wound. I'm waiting for the innovation to clean that area up.

The current NS Design (steinberger 2.0) current bridge is genius.

 

[DrDAV14]

As stated before, better ergo's, better balance, better tuning stability, saves space on stages

 

[Lesfunk]

Other than limited string choices, there’s nothing but upside to headless basses.

edit… if you don’t have an issue using those set screw thingys to clamp down the string, then there are no string choice limitations.

(I refuse those except in an emergency. I use double ball rotosounds)

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

Nope. A headless bass probably won’t have a dead spot in the usual spot, but the worst dead spot I ever encountered on a bass was the open A string on a headless. The note didn’t last long enough to even get a sense of pitch - it was just a dull thud.

A bass neck has resonances - it’s a bar; it’s resonances depend on the density and stiffness of the materials, along with the geometry - length, cross sectional geometry, etc. If you have a headstock with tuners, it’s a mass load on the end of the bar - that changes the resonances, but it doesn’t create or get rid of any.

Most basses, if you tune your A string lower, at some point, that open string will lose sustain - it’ll become a dead spot. I had a bass I kept in D standard for a while - the subsequent open G was a minor dead spot. When you remove mass from the headstock, that resonance moves up in frequency, sometimes making your open A string a dead spot.

The thing that surprises me about headless basses is that I see gobs of them for sale, yet I haven’t really seen any out in the wild. During the Steinberger era, I saw a fair number of them out and about, but this time around, I just never run into them.

I had a beautiful Steinberger XM2 with that dead open A. Prop the end of the neck against a wall so it can't vibrate, and it would go away completely. Too bad you can't play it like that for very long The only basses I ever played that had no dead spots worth mentioning were by Modulus.

 

[jamro217]

Let's not bring politics into it.

 

[Topkat13]

I’m not surprised at all with Halloween just around the corner.

 

[DJ Bebop]

As stated before, better ergo's, better balance, better tuning stability, saves space on stages

View attachment 4852524

"Mmmm, Les Paul Recording Bbbaaasss!"

I covered these when they came out. Loved the switching on these, loved the sound. Weight a lot I thought at the time, as I had just started to think about playing bass.