thinking about getting a headless bass

[yellofury]

+1 to the Washburn, great bass.
yellofury, glad to see your still digging the Status.

Brian

oh man its my go to bass right now
its so fun to play and easy to transport
and i play direct to the soundboard at church and so far I have gotten more compliments about how it sounds than how unique ( at least to the average person) it looks

makes me want to add another active bass to the arsenal!!!

 

[Hilton Marsh]

I'm thinking of a new Status to replace my old Stealth 6, but I can't decide if I wanted a headed Hellborg model of a graphite Kingbass in 34" scale!

I bought a 2007 model KingBass (19.5 mm spacing) and it is by far the best bass I have ever owned. It plays, sounds and feels so good that I have put my genuine 63 L-Series Fender Precision into a luther to be completely restored and may never play it again.

The on board 18 volt active electronics and EQ controls are superb. I am forever using the cut boost switch and have twice gotten work because of the sound quality.

It's well balanced and the wooven grahite neck with the flattened profile slides thru your hands like butter. And the scale length is 99cm, that's more frets than you know what to do with. I can see why the likes of Mark King and Rhino Edwards play these basses.

No amount of dollars would have me parting with it and that's a fact. Okay, it's a modern design, but so was the P-Bass in 1957.

Buy a Status and I assure you the smile on your face will be well worth the hole in your bank balance.

Nodster

 

[Signature67Alex]

i bought my Hohner J Jack Custom 6 years ago from a little shop in Cleethorpes and never looked back. i evan use it in my nu/thrash metal band Signature67 for a few of our songs.

it does lack in depth of sound but for precision work and studio work it cant be beat. just turn the bass up on the amp a little more than normal and it has an amazing sound evan slaps pretty good

 

[FL Knifemaker]

I love my Ibanez Axstar. It's plays and sounds great. It's also easy to sit on the sofa with it and play through headphones during TV commercials

 

[pallino]

I have a Steinberger XP-2 from 1984, the "cheap" brother of the XL2, with graphite neck and wodden arrow shaped body and passive EMG electronics - is a great bass, very solid and with a great sound, beats up any precision or jazz bass around,tons of growl and bottom.
And with all the advantages of the graphite neck - big sustain, no dead spots, no warping etc.
The downside with these kind of headless instruments is the neck position, it takes a while to get used to it. Also the fingerboard width at the heel is very different than the classic Fender, much narrower, more similar to Alembic - all this maybe an issue if you are (like myself) used to the Fender neck setup.
But a little adaptation effort is well worth with this bass, as I said tonally wise is fantastic.
You can still find these XP2s around,and they are much better than any Spirit or Honher copy around for sure. They usually go around 7-800$ -

 

[MX21]

I love my Ibanez Axstar. It's plays and sounds great. It's also easy to sit on the sofa with it and play through headphones during TV commercials

They are hard to find though. I wanted a 5-string, so built my own:

 

[OutToPlayJazz]

i bought my Hohner J Jack Custom 6 years ago from a little shop in Cleethorpes and never looked back. i evan use it in my nu/thrash metal band Signature67 for a few of our songs.

it does lack in depth of sound but for precision work and studio work it cant be beat. just turn the bass up on the amp a little more than normal and it has an amazing sound evan slaps pretty good

Hello close neighbour (from South Ferriby!) and nice choice of bass. I had a Jack Professional before I got into Status-Graphite many years ago

 

[FL Knifemaker]

They are hard to find though. I wanted a 5-string, so built my own:

WOW!! That's very cool!! Please.......share the specs, details, more pics

The 5 string Axstars have VERY narrow string spacing, using the standard 4 string neck. Yours looks wider??

 

[MX21]

WOW!! That's very cool!! Please.......share the specs, details, more pics

The 5 string Axstars have VERY narrow string spacing, using the standard 4 string neck. Yours looks wider??

Yes, more normal 5-string spacing. You can see more here, including a link to the build thread here on TB.

MX

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Yes, more normal 5-string spacing. You can see more here, including a link to the build thread here on TB.

MX

That's just too cool!! I'll take a better look at everything tomorrow, I've had a long day. I want to build a headless P bass. It's been done before, should be pretty easy.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Oh, man...I've been through:

Kubicki Ex Factor
Steinberger XM
Bunker / PBC (2)
David King
Status Stealth (2)....

...and finally settled on a Zon Vinny 5.

Riis

 

[Tele295]

I have a fretless Hohner B2A that I bought new in 1987. This bass really came to life when I put La Bella Deep Talkin' nylon flats on it. I think I got them from juststrings.com. Love that bass, but with the black strings, how much more black can it be? None, none more black.

 

[Kees]

Hmm...in addition to my Steinberger I've also played several Hohner Jack basses and that Yamaha headless thing from the mid-80's, and I've never felt that any of them were more balanced than a stock Fender Jazz Bass. Sure, the 'berger with its boomerang mount is perfectly balanced on its center of gravity, and will stay wherever you put it (horizontal, vertical, or anywhere in between), but there's something about the way a standard body with a tummy-cut fits around my torso that makes them lie better and feel more comfortable than any headless bass I've ever played.

You are the first to complain about the less comfortable rectangular body of the Steinberger etc. Do you also miss the rigth arm rest?

 

[MNAirHead]

I've owned a traditional Steinberger and found the body uncomfortable.

I now own a german botique.. the body makes a differnce..

I wou9ld not buy another headless that had double ball strings a requirement. Some headstock pieces will allow you to clamp down on a standard string.

 

[moonshinegtrs]

I am a big fan of "headless" basses. Here's a couple that I have built:

I've played several Steinberger models (& variations of) and I really like them. I prefer those some type of body.
I now pretty much play Fender style basses, but I did use the single neck bass that I have recently and was impressed with it all over again.

Moonshine

 

[Kees]

Hmm...in addition to my Steinberger I've also played several Hohner Jack basses and that Yamaha headless thing from the mid-80's, and I've never felt that any of them were more balanced than a stock Fender Jazz Bass. Sure, the 'berger with its boomerang mount is perfectly balanced on its center of gravity, and will stay wherever you put it (horizontal, vertical, or anywhere in between), but there's something about the way a standard body with a tummy-cut fits around my torso that makes them lie better and feel more comfortable than any headless bass I've ever played.

Don't you miss the right armrest on a classic Steinberger? I want to buy one, but people say it's uncomfortable for your right as opposed to a Fender Jazz Bass