Off with its head! 6-string headless conversion/parts build

[Reedt2000]

Im totally digging this project! I've wanted to do this with an old neck for years, but never had the guts to try it.

Also, I'm with the above posters...leave the body as is if at all possible. That looks great just like it is.

BnB

Thanks!

It used to be a much harder task converting a bass to headless. The hardware was hard to find and expensive (though if you want the better quality parts now it can still be pricey), it required massive routing. But newer stuff like this Hipshot bridge and the ABM options are easier installs. Those individual, tubular bridges can be even easier. The clamps like I'm using mean you don't have to fit the old-school cap at the end of the neck and worry about access to the truss rod.

You should go for it

(And post a link to your build thread here )

 

[bassingeorge]

Looks great! Subbed

 

[dwizum]

Score the finish with a sharp razor blade, use a spiral downcut router bit, take a very shallow first pass, and climb cut the first several passes and you should be able to make a nice clean sharp edge with zero chipping.

 

[Reedt2000]

I'm going to try scoring, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to remove the material. My plan is to lay it out in tape and see how much of the top has to go. It shouldn't be that much and I may try to carefully carve it out with the dremel tool and tiny sanding attachments. I think I'll have a better idea if that's practical or not once I can see what's gotta go. I widened the neck pocket with the dremel and it didn't blow out any finish. I'd just go deep in the center and work out, going really slow around the edges...

 

[Reedt2000]

I installed the bridge this morning. I started by screwing the neck on and taping the body up. I drew center line of body and fretboard, then pulled the tuning mechanisms out so the bridge will sit flat. I carefully measured (like 5 times ) the scale length and marked that on the body.

I used butcher's twine to see the layout of the outer strings, and marked center of the bridge. I really like butcher's twine for this cause it will stretch an inch or two so you can pull it under tension (but it's forgiving too, so it's not a huge amount of tension)

This shot is not final location, just a demonstration of the process. Some careful positioning and checking, and I've got my foot print.

Thankfully all my earlier measuring has led to exactly centered being the place the bridge wants to be. I measured off my marks a final time to be sure, then took off the saddles, located the mounting holes, drilled em out, and the bridge is on

With the bridge in its final location, I marked for tuner relief. My plan is to go through the maple and just into the alder (which equates to .3" deep). I scored and cut away the tape and here's what has to go.

I'm pretty sure I can carve it. Stay tuned

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I don't know if this has been posted but if you are using a router and make the final pass(es) with a it like this it leaves nice, rounded edges on the bottom of the cutout. It's a bowl bit.

 

[Reedt2000]

I don't know if this has been posted but if you are using a router and make the final pass(es) with a it like this it leaves nice, rounded edges on the bottom of the cutout. It's a bowl bit.

View attachment 3954492

I don't yet have a router, or more importantly any experience using one

It is certainly on my list, and when this is complete I want to build a body from scratch, at which point a router will be a necessity. I'm pretty sure I can carve this little bit pretty clean by hand, and because it's what I'm more familiar with, its what I'm gonna try. I've got two neighbors who build custom cabinetry so I'm gonna rope one of them into giving me a router lesson sometime soon

 

[Reedt2000]

Its carving day

I started by hogging material out with heavy grit drums

Then went with light grit, and by hand to get to here

The scoring kept the finish from chipping out, and at the end I moved my tape lines back and blended into the existing finish with really light wet/dry (400 & 1000). This will be where I overlap the new gloss clear (when the time comes) and the old, then (hopefully ) blend them with final wet sanding and buffing.

Bridge sits in there nice

It's just sitting there with toothpicks (love those things ) as locator pins. I might have to take a tiny bit more maple away right under where the tuners meet the bridge, won't know until I screw it down solid and check, but this will work.

This bridge exposes the body underneath, and in this case the holes from previous bridges...

...I was gonna fill em, but I think I can lay a piece of metallic gold tape on the body and totally hide em

We'll see when we get there...

 

[Beej]

Looking good @Reedt2000 !

My friend, you need a router, even just to start playing with. Everything you can already do will be widened with router action. I suspect it will quickly become an extension of your hand, and that you'll put it to great use.

 

[Reedt2000]

Looking good @Reedt2000 !

My friend, you need a router, even just to start playing with. Everything you can already do will be widened with router action. I suspect it will quickly become an extension of your hand, and that you'll put it to great use.

Yeah, I know. It really is the next step. This project came together mainly by putting a defunct fixer upper I bought up for trade, which landed me this body (and a cool 5 string neck I've been sitting on) or I would have started towards a body from scratch and learning to use a router.

On a different subject, any recommendations for trying to match this red? It looks like the original is translucent and shot over the amber. There are enamel aerosol trans red paints out there, I thought about using a little wipe-on poly to amber the bare spot, then trans red over top, and clear gloss poly over that. I've been reading up on it and I think that should work as long as I let the product cure before laying on the next one. If it matters the body manufacturer says the original finish is polyester.

I'm not totally sold on this approach so suggestions are welcome.

 

[Reedt2000]

Well, I just ordered some unicorn spit

No...

Really



You can thin it to adjust saturation, gonna practice on some plain maple scrap 1st. It also says use any non water-based clear top coat so I can use the minwax poly I'm familiar with. I got a good result wet sanding and buffing it out, though it has a long cure time.

The plan is color match and blend in the bare spot, try to get the heel extension the same color as the center of the burst (and glossy), and red on the head, maybe even with a slight burst (and also glossy). The fretboard will get taped off to preserve the original finish, and the rest of the neck sanded (about 1/4 is sanded already) and done in wipe-on satin poly.

 

[herndonbassist]

I love where this is going!!!

 

[CatchaCuda]

I'm in a similar boat, though I'm taking on water. See, I have a router, but I've hardly used it. Rounding board edges is cake, but making a precise cut- I like all of my fingers, and don't like ruining projects.

You did some good looking work there! And attempting to match the cutout and heel extension?! You're a madman! Very respectable.

 

[Reedt2000]

The Spit showed up

So it's stain testing time. I mixed it up mostly 2-parts spit to 1-part water and laid down some test patches. I also tried 3-to-1 with the red cause the 2-to-1 was looking a little pink-ish.

Perhaps its not such a shocker that red over orange is the best match (at this stage anyway) to the red I need to cover my tuner cutaway, cause I'm pretty sure that's how the burst was done originally.

This Unicorn Spit stuff is pretty cool. You don't need very much at all (I'm working with 1/4 teaspoons). You can also blend it like oil paint on a pallet. I did this bringing a little red into the straight orange. I think this will be the trick for the neck heel extension as the orange is a bit too Home Depot on its own

That means I will have to wing it on final color mixup cause it's too little red to measure.

Ive got some wipe-on gloss poly so I'm letting this dry, then it'll get a coat or two of gloss so I can compare apples to apples with the body (or as close as that will get me).

I feel pretty good about being able to achieve what I'm after

 

[Reedt2000]

I threw 2 sloppy coats of poly on the test piece and here are the winners.

Red over orange

And orange with a tiny hint of red mixed in

 

[Reedt2000]

With a plan formulated for the color, I sat down today with the goal of getting the body and neck prep complete so I can stain both in the same session.

I taped off the fretboard cause I'm keeping its original finish (NO WAY do I wanna try and sand between frets, or worse, remove and replace them ).

Then its the same ole chestnut. Start with heavy grit (100) to lightly remove any old poly, get progressively light removing the heavier scratches as you go. I did steam out some dents, which I had never done before. Big thanks to @Beej & @dwizum for sharing their techniques with me. Beej, yours worked great (dwizum, his was the easier of the 2 methods so it's what I tried 1st ).

Here's the before pic of the dents

There gone now and the full neck is prepared for color and gloss on the head and heel extension, and satin poly everywhere else.

I did have to adjust the tuner relief, basically making it a steeper drop-off under the back edge of the bridge so the tuners clear. I may look into thrust bearings after @FretsAreFor described the difficulty of turning the Hipshot tuners.

It was the same deal, heavy grit to move material, light to take out scratches.

The quilted maple is tricky, so many lines and directions I kept seeing scratches that weren't actually there, just artifacts in the grain.

Still moving forward pretty well. Gotta go buy some poly

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Looking good! I think the only thing to do is do a full, matching burst on the tuner recess...

 

[Reedt2000]

Looking good! I think the only thing to do is do a full, matching burst on the tuner recess...

I might, I've got to lay orange in first and I'll have some ability to control where the red on top goes, and how heavy...

 

[Matt Liebenau]

That would be a cool detail probably only you would know about. I recall reading about a hot rod guy paying Von Dutch what was a good sum of money for the day to pinstripe his ride. When he came back to pick it up it looked the same until he noticed a musical note coming up out of the ashtray. When he opened it, Von Dutch had painted an entire orchestra in the ash tray.

 

[Reedt2000]

Here we go, masked it all up and mixed up colors.

Took a deep breath and did a couple more small test spots on the plain maple. Then laid it on.

Red over orange on the head and body. Orange with a little red on the heel. I also covered the bare wood on the sides of the neck pocket very lightly, just so no plain wood peeks out at any point (plus I had a tiny bit of color left).

It looks pretty good, gotta let it dry...