Headless Club???

[Greywoulf]

the new Gen2 Bootlegger headless basses have a block end at the head of the neck so they feel just like a bass with a headstock..
The short scale has a pretty darn skinny neck. It feels tiny.
The nut width on mine is a hair under 1.5”
My description of the neck in my own words…

It definitely tapers down to a very narrow nut width.
I’m including a diagram to illustrate my explanation of the back profile.

Up by the nut, in the first couple of frets, it feels like a medium V
As you go down towards the middle of the neck, it kind of turns into what I suppose to be a C shape and seems to flatten out a bit more past the 12th fret into almost a U or D shape.View attachment 4727610
It kind of changes depending on the position you’re playing in.
I’m not an expert on neck shapes, but I suppose a C shape is an ok general description?
View attachment 4727601View attachment 4727602

Thanks for all this info Les, it's very much appreciated! ~It looks like the Bootlegger has a nice compound radius style neck.. However I'm still not entirely ready to get into headless as I still see some complications? For instance; it looks real easy to snip off those round wounds that stick out up past the nut clamp. But I use only flats (or tapes), and when you snip them off they can often unravel! (~Which I've discovered under unfortunate circumstances.. )
So I'm wondering whether this possible unraveling might cause them to not hold so well under the clamp?
Anyway, you can be assured that when I do get into headless it'll definitely be with a short scale Ace Bootlegger. It looks to be the best fit for me of any headless bass I've ever seen..

 

[MovinTarget]

Thanks for all this info Les, it's very much appreciated! ~It looks like the Bootlegger has a nice compound radius style neck.. However I'm still not entirely ready to get into headless as I still see some complications? For instance; it looks real easy to snip off those round wounds that stick out up past the nut clamp. But I use only flats (or tapes), and when you snip them off they can often unravel! (~Which I've discovered under unfortunate circumstances.. )
So I'm wondering whether this possible unraveling might cause them to not hold so well under the clamp?
Anyway, you can be assured that when I do get into headless it'll definitely be with a short scale Ace Bootlegger. It looks to be the best fit for me of any headless bass I've ever seen..

Even if you bend first, they'll unravel?

 

[Lesfunk]

No problem
Glad to help
There’s not a lot of info On these new basses, so I’m more than willing to help. As far as the flat wound strings, I can’t help you with that. I do know that one person that I was in contact with ,

Thanks for all this info Les, it's very much appreciated! ~It looks like the Bootlegger has a nice compound radius style neck.. However I'm still not entirely ready to get into headless as I still see some complications? For instance; it looks real easy to snip off those round wounds that stick out up past the nut clamp. But I use only flats (or tapes), and when you snip them off they can often unravel! (~Which I've discovered under unfortunate circumstances.. )
So I'm wondering whether this possible unraveling might cause them to not hold so well under the clamp?
Anyway, you can be assured that when I do get into headless it'll definitely be with a short scale Ace Bootlegger. It looks to be the best fit for me of any headless bass I've ever seen..

said that he ran flats on his bootlegger but I didn’t get into details

 

[Greywoulf]

Even if you bend first, they'll unravel?

Sometimes. ~It can be tricky... I put a replacement flat wound cut off E string on my Cat bass and I did bend it too. ~But as I wound the metal part around the tuner shaft I could hear the string cracking and clicking as I watched it expand and unravel. Surprisingly, it held (and still is), but this makes me feel a bit wary about snipping four rather expensive flats or tapes off at the end of a headless bass neck. ~And I will not use round wounds anymore!

 

[Greywoulf]

Was about to comment exactly that!
He needs to try them out.

Re the short scale EHB1000 necks; Sweetwater's specs say they've got P-bass style nut widths, and the necks have a 19" (nineteen!!) radius. I prefer a 1.5" (or less) J-style nut width, and a 9.5" or 12" (max) radius neck. Here's a diagram that shows how much different the EBH neck is from what I call a "fast, skinny neck..."

 

[Barticus]

Re the short scale EHB1000 necks; Sweetwater's specs say they've got P-bass style nut widths, and the necks have a 19" (nineteen!!) radius. I prefer a 1.5" (or less) J-style nut width, and a 9.5" or 12" (max) radius neck. Here's a diagram that shows how much different the EBH neck is from what I call a "fast, skinny neck..."
View attachment 4728482

Agree with the nut width but without actual dimensions it’s hard to say.

Tighter radius = slower neck

Think about a shredder neck (Ibanez guitars), the neck is almost flat, my headless builds are 26” so nice and flat and fast.

 

[MovinTarget]

Agree with the nut width but without actual dimensions it’s hard to say.

Tighter radius = slower neck

Think about a shredder neck (Ibanez guitars), the neck is almost flat, my headless builds are 26” so nice and flat and fast.

While I'm with you Bart on liking a flatter radius personally, though I think to each their own...

 

[Barticus]

Yep

While I'm with you Bart on liking a flatter radius personally, though I think to each their own...

Completely agree with you, play what works for you

 

[sonojono]

If anyone is willing to sell me their white Spirit XZ-2 bass to me, would be awesome and greatly appreciated!

 

[Barticus]

If anyone is willing to sell me their white Spirit XZ-2 bass to me, would be awesome and greatly appreciated!

View attachment 4731159

There’s a 5 string for sale right now in the classifieds, it’s new old stock so it doesn’t get any better than that.

 

[sonojono]

There’s a 5 string for sale right now in the classifieds, it’s new old stock so it doesn’t get any better than that.

I should’ve clarified that I’m not looking for the 5 string that’s currently up..

 

[Barticus]

I should’ve clarified that I’m not looking for the 5 string that’s currently up..

Man it’s just a 4 with and extra string, nothing but goodness!!

 

[sonojono]

Man it’s just a 4 with and extra string, nothing but goodness!!

5 string spirits make it difficult to mod because of the different pickup sizes compared to the 4 string. That’s mainly the only reason I pass on the 5 strings

 

[Barticus]

5 string spirits make it difficult to mod because of the different pickup sizes compared to the 4 string. That’s mainly the only reason I pass on the 5 strings

Yeah I originally rerouted my body for DC40s before replacing the body all together and shaving the neck down

 

[Snert]

Yeah I originally rerouted my body for DC40s

Is it much of a rout and, I'm guessing without the trim rings, does it look OK? I've been wondering about doing this but never looked more closely at it after having read here it was an option.

 

[Barticus]

Is it much of a rout and, I'm guessing without the trim rings, does it look OK? I've been wondering about doing this but never looked more closely at it after having read here it was an option.

I created the plastic trim rings too so it looked original (laser cut them ). Here’s a picture of the first replacement body, I can add a picture of the original body too if interested.

 

[Snert]

Thanks Bart. I'm not fussed if it looks original, just once the rings are removed at it's taken out to fit the EMG40s does it look right or are there gaps?

 

[Barticus]

Thanks Bart. I'm not fussed if it looks original, just once the rings are removed at it's taken out to fit the EMG40s does it look right or are there gaps?

The DC40s are a different size altogether and couldn’t find pickups the same size as the originals. So my approach was to find some as a close match, at the time the DC40s were pretty close. Then I rerouted the cavities and used the new rings to fill the gaps, at the time in 2010 I thought they were cool, now not so much

Here’s a picture of the original body, I used the laser to etch the recess for the plastic bezels as well

 

[Snert]

^^ Thanks. Looks like I'll either keep the stock PUs or use the EMGs and make rings similar to yours. It's (XT25) black so more than a metre away no one will see them anyway. I was hoping the EMG40s were the same width and just the ends would need to get routed to fit. Oh, well.

 

[Barticus]

There’s some kind of mojo with this headpiece, after playing with it on this bass for a couple of days I’m getting crazy sustain… like play a chord and it sustains forever and harmonics ring easily all over the neck including 3rd n 4th frets.

I’m pretty sure this is due to the end mounted headpiece along with the downward pressure from strings to the zero fret vs just laying on the zero fret like others. I think that additional downward pressure is amplifying the sustain. I had a brass block with the other headpiece but no downward pressure like this.

Solid Brass on both ends makes a huge difference. Here’s a comparison with the original that doesn’t have the grub screws.

View attachment 4715521
View attachment 4715520

Just received v2 and it’s awesome. Thicker and little heavier (which I like) the screws are moved out further and the string flutes are a bit wider - all in all great updates.

I haven’t installed on my existing neck yet, but definitely installing on both of my new custom builds. V2 on the right below.