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YoshiBass #2: A Headless Xmas Tree

yoshi

yoshi

Jul 12, 2002
1,665
185
England, London
#1
In fear of cursing my new hobby, I'm starting the plans for build #2 before having finished build #1. That's how we do it, right guys?

I'm keen to make something a bit different, but not too frightening. I want to make a headless (never had or played one). I'm very keen to make this as a fretless 5, tuned EADGC (now low b). However, I'm also keen to have fret leds which may be useless and indeed harmful to playing a fretless so it may become a fretted 6er (BEADG). Either way, this design will be used for a 6er fretted and a 5string fretless E-C, just not sure what order I'll do it!

Scale length is normal, no fancy fanned frets etc.
There will be 26 frets.
The neck will be 3 piece: iroko wenge iroko. 1 double way truss rod (no supports).
Fretboard will be ebony for fretless, or wenge for fretted.
The body will be ash (2 or 3 pieces) if I'm painting it, or bubinga/ovangkol (2 piece) if going for a natural finish (see attached designs). It will be fully rounded on the edges (not just bevels).
Cavity cover will be transparent perspex to show off my junior-school-kid-quality-soldering skills.
Don't know about hardware or pickups yet. Tuner/bridge will certainly be headless design!
Any tips for pickups for 6er or 5 fretless?
LEDS will be extremely flamboyant and obnoxious.

So, 6er fretted with the garish lightshow, or fretless 5 without (or even with, would that be a bad idea on fretless?).

Here's 2 main designs in natural wood and a garish paint job.

Bubinga/ovangkol finish:

bass-headless-bubinga.png


A painted one in 80s green; you may want to look away right now:
bass-headless-green.png


And here's a bunch more painted ideas... (thumbnails to save you scrolling, click for bigger one)
bass-headless-black.png bass-headless-blue.png bass-headless-red.png
 
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#2
Looks like I may do the wood finish on v1: I just scored a 1 piece African walnut board for £45 off ebay inc p&p! (about $75usd). Walnut mockup (not much diff to the ovangkol, but has white LEDS!)

bass-headless-walnut.png


Still undecided on fretted 6 or fretless 5. Watch this space!
 
#3
I play almost exclusively fretless at this point, a fretted bass feels really weird in my hands, but I really feel like I should have a good quality fretted bass, so that's what I'm planning for my next bass. I just hope I'll actually play it. Not sure that this is relevant to your decision at all :)
 
#5
The neck came out of the glueup looking awesome! After 20 mins of hand planing we're good to go. Photos coming soon.

I just ordered a truss rod (dual action, 24"). I also purchased the fretboard: a piece of ebony off ebay (full details: Indian ebony, Diospyros ebenum). Looking forward to receiving this and having a look over it.... I have never owned a bass with an ebony fretboard come to think of it!

The body's going to be a big hunk of African walnut, single piece board scored from someone's garage clear out on ebay (thanks if you happen to be reading this!). Finish will be natural/oiled. Fretboard will be unlined, but possibly have some cheeky little lines on the top 12 fret (lines) for the C and G strings as stylish-looking guides.

I'm almost certain that this build will be a 5 string EADGC fretless. Anyone recommend some great pickups for this project? And how will 5 string pickups work if tuned to EADGC? Would 6 string pickups be better perhaps?
 
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#6
yoshi said:
In fear of cursing my new hobby, I'm starting the plans for build #2 before having finished build #1. That's how we do it, right guys?
Click to expand...

Yep. :)

yoshi said:
I'm almost certain that this build will be a 5 string EADGC fretless. Anyone recommend some great pickups for this project? And how will 5 string pickups work if tuned to EADGC? Would 6 string pickups be better perhaps?
Click to expand...

The pickups don't care what you're tuned to. As long as the strings are within the sensing area, that's all that matters. What's your pickup budget? And what form factor? If you're looking at soapbars, Delano SBC are delicious, but Duncan SSB are good too, and cheaper. Just, you know, not as good as the Delanos.... :)
 
#7
yoshi said:
And how will 5 string pickups work if tuned to EADGC? Would 6 string pickups be better perhaps?
Click to expand...

If you choose dual-coil (rails inside) you just need to have enough width for the strings- 5 or 6.
If you choose split-coil or quad-coil pickups the pickups have to be either for 5 OR for 6 strings, as the gap between the coils is centered for 6 strings, and not centered for 5 strings.
Tuning choice doesn't matter, tho.
 
#8
ctmullins said:
Yep. :)
The pickups don't care what you're tuned to. As long as the strings are within the sensing area, that's all that matters. What's your pickup budget? And what form factor? If you're looking at soapbars, Delano SBC are delicious, but Duncan SSB are good too, and cheaper. Just, you know, not as good as the Delanos.... :)
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate enough to not really have a budget for pickups (as they don't go into super crazy prices like the headless hardware does). From another post, I was recommended to use a single MM pickup. Therefore I'm considering giving Aguilar or Nordstrand a go after reading/seeing/hearing a lot of good stuff about them. In specific:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] M5 Aguilar AG M5
mm5.4 | Nordstrand Pickups Nordstrand mm5.4

Or do you think the Delano soapbars would smoke 'em? What position would this be best in out of interest, the MM sweetspot?
 
#9
Many excellent pickup choices out there right now. Generally, Aguilar and Nordstrand are on par with Delano, so you'll get a quality product whichever way you go. Pickup choice is a very personal and empirical thing. When it comes down to it, your ears are the only true judge of whether or not a particular pickup gives you the sound you want. The nice thing about soapbars is that there are many choices available in that form factor, so trial and error is relatively straightforward. But that's also true of the MM form factor, and the J, and the P...

As far as placement, I like the MM sweet spot for single-pickup instruments. It is a "best of both worlds" approach that works especially well with a two-band preamp - that spot brings lots of mids, letting you dial in lows and highs to taste. For dual-pickup instruments I like something approximating the Rickenbacker positions. I absolutely do not like bridge pickups placed right up close to the bridge - not enough low end.
 
#11
yoshi said:
Right, I've had a dig around, including "what's available in the UK that matches my 16 or 17m spacing" and the safe bet seems to be a Nordstrand MM5.4 .

Something a bit more ballsy... The BigMan – 2 Big Singles in a MM Cover | Nordstrand Pickups Whatcha reckon? Seems like it has some right oomph to say the least.
Click to expand...

Aguilar DCB uses bar magnets that will work well with your spacing. Not sure if they're available in the UK I would assume so. I have been very impressed with the pickups I've gotten from them so far.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#12
Ok, lots has happened on this project lately.

Let's get started with the full-scale printout next to a real bass:

IMG_0114.jpeg


Looks quite toy like, but should be super light and comfy...a real groove machine!

The massive one piece slab of walnut arrived! The dark lines that look like glue lines are grain...it's going to be a sweet looking body! It is thick, just over 2"! So thick that I'm considering trying to carve in a slight arc (concave back, convex front, like Warwick Thumb). Here's the wood with a body outline, and the neck propped on it (note that the neck will lose about 7" at the top!). The silver bridge is a mockup for the silver headless tuners I'll have (I really want black but think I'll give silver a shot - what do you guys think?)

IMG_0111.jpeg


I've routed the truss rod channel. This is almost perfect; I am quite smugly proud with how much better this went than build one!
IMG_20150813_194606281.jpg
 

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#13
Update: back to black hardware. I have purchase 5 of the single headless ABM bridges ( Invalid Link Removed ). Irritatingly they're about $10 more per unit for black than chrome, but I think it'll be a lot sleeker so there you have it.

The headpiece, where the strings attach at the top, may be homemade... I've started an experiment with an aluminium billet (thanks, ebay), a clamp, a hacksaw, and a drill. I'll post progress and outcome - good or bad - and if it all goes belly up I'll shell out for the end piece.

Regarding pickups, I am leaning heavily towards a Nordstrand MM5.4 and hope to rev it up with an Aguilar OBP3 preamp.

...expensive bass this!
 
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#14
Expensive, yes, but good quality hardware and electronics are worth it, IMHO. The lingering dissatisfaction with second- (or third-) tier components is just not worth the cost savings to me. Bit of a soapbox, that, but I approve of your choices! :)
 
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#15
Here's an update on the homemade headpiece. It's very rough. I really should get a drillpress...

but! It works, apparently. I'm going to sort out the other 3 holes, and attempt to get the screw holes in the same spot as for the ABM one so i can eventually swap it out, same holes, if needs be. I think this could work! Double ball only design mind you.

IMG_0130.jpeg

A few more views (click to enlarge):
IMG_0128.jpeg IMG_0129.jpeg

I built it by sawing this chunk of an aluminium billet, then hacksawing the string groove, and drilling a channel. The high string (C) slides in as desired, but the thicker ones will need a wider top opening (that E string there is single-balled and was fed all the way through for a demo).
 
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#20
I would strongly recommend drilling a larger hole for the ball end. That ball end could very easily jump out of the groove and come shooting at you.

You don't need to sink the entire ball, a simple countersink will help a lot. You could even make a V-groove along the with of the headpiece. That will keep the balls orientated better. (Helps if you have OCD. ;) )
 
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