Riverhead (Headway) headless basses....any information?

[Craig Williams]

I had a Hohner Steiny knock off headless a few years ago and always regretted selling it. Nice fun bass to play and good thump to it. Pretty hard to come accross these days but I seen a Riverhead advertised locally. Doesn't seem to have any model markings on it but very similar shape to Stein / Hohner.....2 x soapbar PU and 3 control knobs. Has anyone had any experience with these? I have seen some advertised as made in Japan but this one doesn't seem to have any markings on it.

Were they all made in Japan and where they well regarded?

Do they need double ball strings or just normal strings?
Looks like they clamp both ends. Looks like no need for ball ends

Any help / advice appreciated

Best photo I have avilable sorry.

 

[crazycloud]

I know almost nothing about the Riverheads, but a lot about Steinbergers and the Hohner and Spirit clones.
Single ball adapters are available, strap pin extenders (easy and cheap DIY, look in the Spirit thread) make the reach to first position easy and thrust bearings ($5 from Amazon) make tuning easier.

Have fun with it, theses little basses (and guitars) are great.

 

[dbflats]

@crazycloud, could you please direct me to the Spirit discussion? No amount of searching is bringing it up for me.

I've tried to find it in the past as well, to no avail.

I've got two 2004 xz25s that I'm very fond of. My only mod has been a long-ago switch to flatwounds. Stock electros and pups were never a limiting factor with my setup. I did find the sound a bit thin initially but this is so easily remedied by an inexpensive pedal on the floor, about which I've spoken in other contexts. Let me just call it " the dub bass secret", though it's application is not limited by musical style.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I have a Unicorn which is different from the one in your picture but it has a clamping system at the headstock end so it only needs single ball end strings. Like crazycloud said, if the head end is like Steinberger it’s easy enough to but or make a string adapter. The bridge pickup on mine is wider so they’re probably different but mine sound good. If you look closer you’ll notice the pickups are tapered on the ends which will somewhat limit replacements should that ever be necessary. The other option there would be to get pickups that fit the rectangular part of the route and leave the ends open.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

The Riverhead in my avatar is the RB1100 model, from the early eighties. This bass was very expensive when new, set neck, active electronics, plays like a dream. I don't remember the details but the factory in Japan burned down shortly after my bass was made and production never resumed. The parent company, Headway, now make Bacchus basses in factories in Japan, the Philippine's, and i think Indonesia. If you like headless basses you can't go wrong.