Headless Guitar Kit Revisit (non PBG kit)

[DrNomis_44]

Hi everyone,


A few years ago I bought a Headless Guitar kit off eBay from an Irish online company, and when I got the kit I did a test fit of the parts to see if there were any problems, as it turned out there were some issues and in the process of doing the test fitting I managed to strip the threads in the bridge where the master-tune knob screwed into, rendering the whole bridge useless, yeah it was one of those Overlord Of Music Steinberger style bridges, I suspect that the supplied strings were too heavy a gauge of strings and they really should have been something like 42-09 gauge.


Anyway, I was so annoyed about the bridge failing that I decided to ditch the project and go do something else, so the Headless Guitar has probably been sitting around unfinished for maybe two years or so.


Today, I was doing some thinking and thought that maybe I could salvage it and see if I could finally get it finished into a playable instrument, hence why I'm re-visiting it.


I was thinking about how I could deal with the mis-alignment of the bridge-pickup body rout when it occurred to me that maybe the guitar would look good if I made a scratchplate out of Aluminium that was the same shape as the body, but smaller by about 5 mm or so, then I could cut pickup mounting holes in it and mount the pickups directly on it like a Stratocaster, furthermore, why keep to the original pickup configuration when I could change it to two Humbuckers?

I found a website for a company located in Las Vegas that lists a complete Steinberger R-Trem bridge kit, and since it looks like it will fit the bridge rout, I might see if I can order one later on this year, here's a link to the website:


http://www.edroman.com/guitars/steinberger/parts.htm


Here's a pic of the Headless Guitar as it is currently:

[DrNomis_44]

I find that Headless Guitars are really interesting from a design concept point of view, the way they are strung-up and tuned is a bit different to conventional guitars, the strings are anchored at the headstock end of the neck and the tuners are part of the bridge, on the bridge you have the usual string saddles behind that, and inline with the saddle, is where the tuner for the string is located, the tuner consists of a metal claw which the string's brass ball-end fits into, a fine-thread screw with a knurled knob on it pulls the string's brass ball-end away from the saddle when you tune the string up to pitch, the bridge pivots on a couple of knife-edges like a Floyd Rose bridge, here's another difference, the Steinberger Headless Guitar bridge system uses just one spring to balance the bridge with the string-tension, there's also a locking mechanism that locks the bridge so that it operates as a fixed bridge system.


To tune one of these Headless guitars, you first activate the bridge locking mechanism, next you tune each string up to pitch using the knurled knobs, once the strings are all tuned to pitch you unlock the bridge, after that you use the master-tune knob to balance-out the bridge-spring tension with the string tension so that when all the strings are tuned to pitch the bridge floats in it's neutral position.


So what are these guitars are like to play?, they are very similar to conventional guitars going by what I remember when I did my test fit, the fact that there's no headstock sometimes makes you think your fretting hand is in the wrong position, but it doesn't take long to get used to, the tone of the guitar is very similar to a conventional one.


You may find that the feel of the trem might be a bit stiff though.

[FrankenWashie]

I've a spirit GT branded as a steinberger, i essentially bought it as a traveller for when I go on sales trips.
It is decent, I did buy an after market string anchor conversion that allow me to use standard strings instead of double ball end ones.


I got some bits and pieces from these guys
http://http://www.headlessusa.com

[DrNomis_44]

Cheers for that FrankenWashie, I might give them a try when I go to order a new R-Trem bridge.

[FrankenWashie]

No worries mate, out of interest, a mate of mine back in NZ just restyled an old cheap Cort Flying V headless

[DrNomis_44]

Looks wicked, I like the natural wood finish on that Headless Guitar.


I had a look at the parts they had in stock and I'm interested in ordering one of their 6-String Trem bridges since it looks alot like the original bridge and should fit the body routing.


http://www.headlessusa.com/6-string-tremolo.htm



I'm also interested in ordering a set of their roller saddles too.



http://www.headlessusa.com/replacement-roller-saddles


I'll see if I can e-mail them for info on Australian pricing of their parts.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I just got an email back from headlessusa saying that they don't have any 6-string trems in stock but they do have the JCustom XS-Tremolo ll in stock which I can buy on eBay, there's a catch though, they want AU $564.04 for one which is more than what I paid for the Headless Guitar kit (Au$250.00), also it looks like I'll have to modify the bridge body route in order to get the new bridge to fit, I really don't want to go through the process of buying a new Overlord Of Music bridge only to have the master tuner strip it's threads on me like the old bridge did so it looks like I don't have much choice, I'll have to wait till I have the money to buy the new bridge.

[FrankenWashie]

Bugger. That's almost as much as buying a new (Gibson corporate) steinberger.

[wazkelly]

No worries mate, out of interest, a mate of mine back in NZ just restyled an old cheap Cort Flying V headless[/ATTACH]

In these 2 shots it almost looks like he used a butchers chopping block for the body.

[FrankenWashie]

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I shall pass that on Waz, it'll tickle his funny bone.

He basically just replicated what had been done as factory build as you can see in the clamped up shot. I shouldn't rib the guy too hard, pretty much everything I know about woodworking I learned working in his Father's home workshop.

**Edit, all that I know about woodworking being the sum total of what can be scrawled on the head of a pin, with a pick axe!!**