After a bit of research on here , and a hankering for something a little different , I purchased a headless bridge and headpiece from Andre Passini ( I believe he is a member here ) . Firstly to say the man is a gent and from first contact via email , to getting bridge delivered to UK from Brazil was less than a week . If you are after a headless bridge at a more than reasonable price , The Nova guitar parts one takes some beating .
So , a parts P bass of mine was butchered into the following..
The conversion was very straightforward . I laminated the cut down headstock with 2mm carbon fibre sheet to strengthen it after filling the machine head hole with maple dowel , and screwed the bridge on as a guide for where to rout out the body to get the string height down , and also to machine the heel to clear the tuners . By one of those lucky quirks of fate , neither needed to be done ! so it was strung up and finished .(sort of ) . I did consider remaking the control plate and pickup surround out of carbon fibre but after doing the headstock with it , I realised what a messy , difficult pain in the arse it is to work with so the tort remains .
The bass itself is a white ash slab P bass body with EMG geezer pickups with a tone cap mod detailed here
EMG Geezer Butler tone cap change
. The neck was a cheapish score from ebay and after a bit of work is a great player . The body and neck are both waxed with black bison wax which I love as a finish , and is easy to refinish after such minor mods as this one .
Currently strung with roto 77 flats and it sounds a beast .
I know this is not going to be everyones cup of tea but I am open to all comments as to its existence . It fits in a guitar gig bag and takes a bit of getting used to not seeing the top 8 inches that have always been there . The bridge and headpiece are lovely pieces of engineering and get my recommendation .If anyone has any questions I will do my best to answer them .
And before anyone asks , yes its heavy
So , a parts P bass of mine was butchered into the following..
The conversion was very straightforward . I laminated the cut down headstock with 2mm carbon fibre sheet to strengthen it after filling the machine head hole with maple dowel , and screwed the bridge on as a guide for where to rout out the body to get the string height down , and also to machine the heel to clear the tuners . By one of those lucky quirks of fate , neither needed to be done ! so it was strung up and finished .(sort of ) . I did consider remaking the control plate and pickup surround out of carbon fibre but after doing the headstock with it , I realised what a messy , difficult pain in the arse it is to work with so the tort remains .
EMG Geezer Butler tone cap change
. The neck was a cheapish score from ebay and after a bit of work is a great player . The body and neck are both waxed with black bison wax which I love as a finish , and is easy to refinish after such minor mods as this one .
Currently strung with roto 77 flats and it sounds a beast .
I know this is not going to be everyones cup of tea but I am open to all comments as to its existence . It fits in a guitar gig bag and takes a bit of getting used to not seeing the top 8 inches that have always been there . The bridge and headpiece are lovely pieces of engineering and get my recommendation .If anyone has any questions I will do my best to answer them .
And before anyone asks , yes its heavy
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