DIY "Jazz Bass" Headless Conversion

[MrWolf14]

(I feel this does not belong to the Luthier's corner - cutting away a piece of wood doesn't qualify me as a luthier, no way )

I am very intrigued by the headless concept, so I decided to try it on a bass I had lying around.
The starting point was a "no name" jazz-inspired bass. Despite the lack of a pedigree, the bass played very well and IMHO it also looked good.

Since this was an experiment I decided to go the "Overlord of Music" path.
This bridge is heavy at 570gr, but I have to admit I like the concept.
I removed the springs (the strings will keep the claws in tension any how, why overcomplicate things?).
I then added some washers to avoid the tuners grinding on the bridge: I used a sandwich plastic-metal-plastic all well "greased" with WD40. It works like a charme.

To be able to operate the tuners, I had to carve some space below them.
I was very lucky to perfectly match the body color when refinishing the "hole" - it looks good now (at least IMVHO)

What I don't like is the string retainer shipped with the bridge.
I ordered a string retainer from Guyker instead: in my opinion looks and works better.
I also painted black the headstock to better visually integrate the string retainer in the overall look.

To finish things, I reworked the electronics a bit: I carefully shielded everything with copper tape and I removed the tone control to install a parallel/series selector instead.

I like the result and I like how it sounds.
The only problem is that now all my other basses are affected by head-diving ... I never had this before but after playing a 2h set with the headless any other bass is poorly balanced.
(this triggered of course the ordering a new bass from Adrian Maruszczyk but this is for a different story which I will tell in ~6 months )

If you are curious to see (and hear) what I did, I made a short video with some sound samples:


PS: sorry for the coloured strings, I wanted to "all in" with the 80s look but honestly this bass has a very "normal vibe".
It sounds "modern" (probably mainly because I removed the tone pot) but it really looks like a normal jazz-bass .... just headless

 

[Barticus]

Nice job!

 

[PizzaBall]

Everytime I see or hear of a headless bass, I think of this old vine.

 

[MrWolf14]

Everytime I see or hear of a headless bass, I think of this old vine.

I get your point

But believe me, there is nothing wrong with a headless bass: it's just different. And I dare say, very comfortable to play and even more comfortable to tune.

.... you have no idea of how many times I reach for the tuners with my left hand just to find air

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Everytime I see or hear of a headless bass, I think of this old vine.

Dig:

 

[MrWolf14]

Dig:
View attachment 7220971

JUST LOOKS GREAT!

The bass is gorgeous.

And the Trace Eliot in the background! Wow!!!!
I used to have a GP11 pre coupled with their power-amp and their 2x10 + 1x15
That thing was HEAVY but I loved the sound of it.
I dreamed about it when I was a young bass player, finally I could afford buying one ~20 years ago but now I sold everything and converted to the "yellow side" ... maybe I am getting wise/old ?

 

[/\/\3phist0]

JUST LOOKS GREAT!

The bass is gorgeous.

And the Trace Eliot in the background! Wow!!!!
I used to have a GP11 pre coupled with their power-amp and their 2x10 + 1x15
That thing was HEAVY but I loved the sound of it.
I dreamed about it when I was a young bass player, finally I could afford buying one ~20 years ago but now I sold everything and converted to the "yellow side" ... maybe I am getting wise/old ?

I’m 60
The cab weighs over 100 Lbs (Ampeg BCT 115 4L) the head TE GP7 SM 150.
Both obtained for 125usd.

Yeah I’ve Got Mesa Subway and Neo equipped cabs.

But I also have an SVT.


I’m planning on saving a Sire neck I have with a snapped headstock in a similar fashion.

 

[PizzaBall]

Oh sorry I didn’t mean I’m against headless, I just think of the line “so what, no head?”

I want a headless bass, I’ve been contemplating that new Sire M6 headless.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Oh sorry I didn’t mean I’m against headless, I just think of the line “so what, no head?”

I want a headless bass, I’ve been contemplating that new Sire M6 headless.

I got it !
Never uttered that line though…. ;-)

 

[WayneP]

Oh sorry I didn’t mean I’m against headless, I just think of the line “so what, no head?”

I want a headless bass, I’ve been contemplating that new Sire M6 headless.

I’m sure something later and greater has come along, but I had a Steinberger back in the ’80s, and you can’t beat their tuning system using double-ball strings. Just drop ’em in the slots, tune it up. Takes seconds, and it never goes out of tune.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide

 

[micguy]

I like it...right up until I consider that literally everywhere I play (and at home) I set my basses on hanging stands, which won't work with that thing. Do you bring a stand to every gig?

 

[N4860]

I like it...right up until I consider that literally everywhere I play (and at home) I set my basses on hanging stands, which won't work with that thing. Do you bring a stand to every gig?

Aren't regular stands just as compact and easy to move as a hanging stand? Or do you just rely on someone bringing a hanging stand so you don't have to worry about bringing it to a gig?

 

[micguy]

Aren't regular stands just as compact and easy to move as a hanging stand? Or do you just rely on someone bringing a hanging stand so you don't have to worry about bringing it to a gig?

Nobody has to bring anything - all the places I play have Hercules hanging stands. Hanging stands are more stable than regular stands - you can bump into the headstock on a hanging stand, and it won’t topple over. They have become the standard stand used everywhere in my world.

 

[Pep]

(I feel this does not belong to the Luthier's corner - cutting away a piece of wood doesn't qualify me as a luthier, no way )

I am very intrigued by the headless concept, so I decided to try it on a bass I had lying around.
The starting point was a "no name" jazz-inspired bass. Despite the lack of a pedigree, the bass played very well and IMHO it also looked good.

Since this was an experiment I decided to go the "Overlord of Music" path.
This bridge is heavy at 570gr, but I have to admit I like the concept.
I removed the springs (the strings will keep the claws in tension any how, why overcomplicate things?).
I then added some washers to avoid the tuners grinding on the bridge: I used a sandwich plastic-metal-plastic all well "greased" with WD40. It works like a charme.

To be able to operate the tuners, I had to carve some space below them.
I was very lucky to perfectly match the body color when refinishing the "hole" - it looks good now (at least IMVHO)

What I don't like is the string retainer shipped with the bridge.
I ordered a string retainer from Guyker instead: in my opinion looks and works better.
I also painted black the headstock to better visually integrate the string retainer in the overall look.

To finish things, I reworked the electronics a bit: I carefully shielded everything with copper tape and I removed the tone control to install a parallel/series selector instead.

I like the result and I like how it sounds.
The only problem is that now all my other basses are affected by head-diving ... I never had this before but after playing a 2h set with the headless any other bass is poorly balanced.
(this triggered of course the ordering a new bass from Adrian Maruszczyk but this is for a different story which I will tell in ~6 months )

If you are curious to see (and hear) what I did, I made a short video with some sound samples:


PS: sorry for the coloured strings, I wanted to "all in" with the 80s look but honestly this bass has a very "normal vibe".
It sounds "modern" (probably mainly because I removed the tone pot) but it really looks like a normal jazz-bass .... just headless

Love the work you did and I’m going to do one as well. Mine is going to be a 32” scale with a sling P-Bass pickup.
You mentioned that you like the Guyker string retainer better than the Overlord.

I have three questions.
1) What didn’t you like about the Overlord string retainer?

2) Why didn’t you go with the complete Guyker kit including the bridge?

3) Amazon says the Guyker string retainer is made of “basswood”. Isn’t it made of metal or alloy?

 

[andruca]

Great job, sounds cool too
I've been fantasizing with a similar idea on a 5 string. I've got an Ibanez EHB I got because I wanted a travel bass and it was a really good deal (owner thought he had screwed up a couple tuners -100% user error- and sold it reap cheap used). Now, despite being one of the most comfortable basses I've owned it has 2 main problems: the Turdtolini problem (they just don't seem to have learnt how to manufacture pickups that don't sound DEAD yet -sorry, hate the brand with a passion-) and pickups too close together (we all know that sounds NASAL). I've sorta dealt with that, I 3D printed some covers and can now put real non dead pickups, as far apart as they can go inside them to minimize nasality. But still I am not as satisfied as I'd be if it just sounded like a Jazz Bass. I don't get why most headless bass offerings in the market go for that terribly generic "modern" (WEAK) tone. Absolutely no need to.

 

[Church-Bass]

Well done!

And very tasty playing too!

 

[MrWolf14]

Love the work you did and I’m going to do one as well. Mine is going to be a 32” scale with a sling P-Bass pickup.
You mentioned that you like the Guyker string retainer better than the Overlord.

I have three questions.
1) What didn’t you like about the Overlord string retainer?

2) Why didn’t you go with the complete Guyker kit including the bridge?

3) Amazon says the Guyker string retainer is made of “basswood”. Isn’t it made of metal or alloy?

1) The Overlord string retainer requires the string to bend 90-degrees to meet the screw that it's holding it.
And it requires to go on the "cut-side" of the head. I prefer the Guyker approach.

2) The overlord was very cheap (40 Euros) and I could not resist - in the end I spent close to 60, but we know how these things work

3) It's made of metal.

 

[MrWolf14]

Nobody has to bring anything - all the places I play have Hercules hanging stands. Hanging stands are more stable than regular stands - you can bump into the headstock on a hanging stand, and it won’t topple over. They have become the standard stand used everywhere in my world.

Agree. This is the main (only?) disadvantage of a headless design.
I hang my basses at home, to do this with a headless bass I will need some additional "holders" on the bottom.
More work but it should work fine.

When I am playing out, I always carry a minimal stander which is not the most stable but it's very compact.

In my rehearsal room we have a stander for multiple guitars, so no issue there (something like this, a bit nicer indeed):

 

[UNICORN BASS]

See the headless in my avatar, i can put it on a regular stand even though it looks weird. Nice job on your project, bonus for the sound!

 

[five7]

My ibanez hangs just fine in an ultimate stand and others.