I see no other disadvantage than the look if it's something you don't like, which doesn't seem to be the case. And it's back to fashion, look what Strandberg is doing right now.
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Disadvantages to headless basses?
- Thread starter foothilla
- Start date
I have a headless bass that I’ve been playing almost exclusively for over 30 years. It’s a great custom-made instrument. There are no dead spots. The only thing is it really does balance more like a guitar. Going back to a jazz bass, for instance, Feels strange because the body of the bass is a little bit more toward your right side. On my headless bass the body is more centered on my body, in a way.
Regarding tuning stability/being in the case for months as if that actually matters: my G&L with it's double acting truss rod is always at or near in-tune every time I pull it out of the gig bag. I've not been able to try the 'months' test because I need to use it every week. : D
Those ABM headless tuner/bridges can be somewhat painful to use. I have them on my latest bass, and had them on a Status last year - I can say I'm not especially thrilled with them. Awkward to string, and with flats (or tapes) the risk of damaging the wraps at the head clamp on string changes. The Status I only ever used with double-ball-end strings, and it was only a medium scale by virtue of its "Bend-well". (The strings were actually regulation long-scale "Steinberger" strings). That said, they friggin' stay in tune FOREVER. Which is very nice! I also have a Duke, which escapes the string clamp issues by virtue of its normal machine heads. Never a dead spot on ANY of these basses (and I have had several other headless over the years...). That said, I am a headless devotee now, my current 'main squeeze' headless is very ergonomic and only weighs 4.40 pounds! And I'm looking forward to adding a headless Basslab next year (if all goes well...) 
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From a pure 'function' point of view these are very appealing to me. But I'm having trouble with the look. It seems to me they cut away too much of the body for no good reason. Ok maybe SOMEBODY wants to have the option stand it up on their leg but...... I mean, I'LL never do that.
- The tunning machines are harder than the regular ones.
- Most of them need double ball strings
- You cant tune and play the open strings at the same time...
- Most of them need double ball strings
- You cant tune and play the open strings at the same time...
I understand what you say. And yet it seems to me to be a very smart design from this point of view.
Why not just pluck with the left hand and tune? Or pluck with the right hand and then quickly tune? All of these instruments should have plenty of sustain.
Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but having owned Steinbergers and a Washburn Bantam (sorta like a Steiny, and I loved its particular sound) the one thing I missed was being able to bend open notes and harmonics like you can with a headstocked bass ( the old Fender trick).
This led me to purchase a Status med scale with the "bendwell" extension. Problem solved.
I'm sure there are others with a similar feature in the market now.
This led me to purchase a Status med scale with the "bendwell" extension. Problem solved.
I'm sure there are others with a similar feature in the market now.
Worst dead spot I've ever encountered? 12th fret G on a headless Status S2. And boutique companies send out basses with dead spots all the time. Most luthiers are not going to check for dead spots and they will generally take the chance that, if there is a dead spot, the customer either won't notice it or will decide to live with it (or sell it). A company that doesn't send out basses with dead spots is a company that is going to end up junking a lot of necks/basses (and will likely quickly go out of business).
Headless tuners (at least the ones on Status basses) make for really fast string changes.
I have been playing headless basses since 1985. Have had at least two on hand since then. Only dead note problem I have ever experienced was due to the string(s) and not the basses. I use Smith doubleball end stainless strings at present, but hey have the BG Stainless string adapters mounted. Before that it was LaBella or D'addario strings. The Smiths feel better to me and I can get them in 30-90 gauge sets. I am fortunate to own a very rare factory Steinberger XP2 Trans Trem bass that I use for vibrato mainly. It and my other XP2 have 90's era necks because they are thinner front to back than the 80's era necks. They are a boon for my aging body as far as ergonomics go. The snide remarks I get are often stifled once they hear the basses in action, after that is curiosity and question time. I am way beyond appearance of an instrument, my only requirement is for it to perform the task it was designed for. I'm also a player of those so called hideous pointy Charvel/Jackson basses as well as can be seen in the attached picture of my two XP2 basses.
Peace and Blessings,
Mike
Peace and Blessings,
Mike
I like the look of the VB5's quite a bit. Are you pretty happy with it?
Kiesel seems to be doing some really nice work for a very reasonable price. But, the VB's are the only ones that have a look that appeals to me.
