The headless picture pages...

[Stub Mandrel]

Anyone got a spare Riverhead banging about?

[Chopthebass]

Edited January 8, 2020 by Chopthebass
Tried to rotate image!

[Stub Mandrel]

32 minutes ago, Chopthebass said:

Drool. is that a Jupiter?

I had one of these in mind:

[Chopthebass]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Drool. is that a Jupiter?

I had one of these in mind:

Not a Jupiter. A Zentro Custom 5

What is that bass?

[Stub Mandrel]

30 minutes ago, Chopthebass said:

Not a Jupiter. A Zentro Custom 5

What is that bass?

The legendary Riverhead Unicorn, a bass so good it had a song named after it.

[scrumpymike]

Here's my s-s ACG Border Reiver:

http://

[scrumpymike]

I've just gone back through this topic and 'liked' everything!  Being one myself, I like people who dare to be different - and I think all the posters on this topic qualify 😍

[BreadBin]

Mine 👍

[Stub Mandrel]

38 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

Mine 👍

A Warlock! Don't see many people fessing up to having one of those on here 🙂

[BreadBin]

42 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

A Warlock! Don't see many people fessing up to having one of those on here 🙂

That's actually a Zombie 👍

[eude]

Here's my headless basses, both ACG 6 strings, both 31.5" scale, one fretted, one fretless..

I totally resisted headless basses for many years, thinking that they were a bit "too 80's", turns out I was very very wrong. The ergonomics and design of headless basses makes a hell of a lot of sense, and even better, these little basses even fit into regular guitar gig bags, with them being so much more compact.

I love them! 

Eude

[BCH]

ACG Finn

[Captain Bassman]

[4000]

On 09/01/2020 at 12:59, eude said:

Here's my headless basses, both ACG 6 strings, both 31.5" scale, one fretted, one fretless..

I totally resisted headless basses for many years, thinking that they were a bit "too 80's", turns out I was very very wrong. The ergonomics and design of headless basses makes a hell of a lot of sense, and even better, these little basses even fit into regular guitar gig bags, with them being so much more compact.

I love them! 

Eude

Just out of interest, how did you arrive at that scale length?

[Stub Mandrel]

It's fascinating to compare how the intonation is set on the different basses on this thread!

[eude]

44 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Just out of interest, how did you arrive at that scale length?

I think when we met in Moffat, I'd fully converted to 33" basses, and over the years I loved playing that scale compared to regular and longer scale, but when I talked to Alan about making a headless 6, I fancied going shorter to make it even more compact and playable. I'd played a few 31.5" basses that Alan had made, a scale length I believe he came across by accident, but a happy accident as it works very well. I'd also played a 32" 6 string Alan had made so I knew that scale worked just fine with a low B, so we decided 31.5" was worth a shot.

It worked even better than I expected, in conjunction with custom made Newtone strings, there really isn't any noticeable loss in sound or playability going shorter, for my needs anyway.

It's been such a success that I sold all my other basses and now have a stable of exclusively 31.5" basses, bar one which is 30.5".

I should add, the whole experience doesn't hinge on the custom strings either, going for strings brands and gauges that are a little tighter means I can use those off the shelf with similar results. I've got some La Bella steels on my headed 31.5" just now bad it's extremely playable! The Newtones are certainly my preferred string however.

Hope that helps dude, any other questions just shout.

Eude

[JapanAxe]

From 2003, yours truly rocking a Hohner Jack through an Ashdown rig. The bass now belongs to my son, amd the amp went to another member on here.

No regrets!

[bassmayhem]

My former Streamline:

My first long gone L2

I used to have this:

I also had this:

...and this:

Now I only have this beauty:

Here with a very potent mini gig rig:

[4000]

On 10/01/2020 at 19:22, eude said:

I think when we met in Moffat, I'd fully converted to 33" basses, and over the years I loved playing that scale compared to regular and longer scale, but when I talked to Alan about making a headless 6, I fancied going shorter to make it even more compact and playable. I'd played a few 31.5" basses that Alan had made, a scale length I believe he came across by accident, but a happy accident as it works very well. I'd also played a 32" 6 string Alan had made so I knew that scale worked just fine with a low B, so we decided 31.5" was worth a shot.

It worked even better than I expected, in conjunction with custom made Newtone strings, there really isn't any noticeable loss in sound or playability going shorter, for my needs anyway.

It's been such a success that I sold all my other basses and now have a stable of exclusively 31.5" basses, bar one which is 30.5".

I should add, the whole experience doesn't hinge on the custom strings either, going for strings brands and gauges that are a little tighter means I can use those off the shelf with similar results. I've got some La Bella steels on my headed 31.5" just now bad it's extremely playable! The Newtones are certainly my preferred string however.

Hope that helps dude, any other questions just shout.

Eude

Cool, thanks for the answer. I’d love to know how Alan arrived at 31.5”! I have to say, maybe because I learned to play on a slightly shorter scale length than the typical 34”, I’ve never really found any benefit from 34”, and less still from anything longer.
The only disadvantage of the various 30”s I’ve played have typically been a bit of a dead E, but I’m sure that’s just a feature of the individual basses. I guess the most interesting for me have been the medium and short scale Alembics, which I’ve generally preferred to the longer scales. 
I’d really like to try a 31.5”, I’d be really interested to see how it felt and sounded.

[zomnius]

 Clover slapper beelzebub 6

[eude]

11 hours ago, 4000 said:

Cool, thanks for the answer. I’d love to know how Alan arrived at 31.5”! I have to say, maybe because I learned to play on a slightly shorter scale length than the typical 34”, I’ve never really found any benefit from 34”, and less still from anything longer.
The only disadvantage of the various 30”s I’ve played have typically been a bit of a dead E, but I’m sure that’s just a feature of the individual basses. I guess the most interesting for me have been the medium and short scale Alembics, which I’ve generally preferred to the longer scales. 
I’d really like to try a 31.5”, I’d be really interested to see how it felt and sounded.

I believe the guy who made Alan's original fretting templates sent him 31.5" instead of 32" and 30.5" instead of 30", literally, what turned out to be a happy accident.

My experience with the custom made shorties I've played has always been good, especially compared to off the shelf ones. I also think that string technology has come a long way in recent years too which will certainly help. Did you think the E on even a short scale Alembic was a bit dead?

I can send you to some noodles recorded on some of my 31.5" basses on Soundcloud if you want, and if you're even in the South Croydon area, your more than welcome to come try my basses out in person. They're all 5 or 6 strings though, but I do have a 4 string 30.5" which is phenomenal too.

Eude

[Chris2112]

On 13/01/2020 at 21:53, zomnius said:

 Clover slapper beelzebub 6

This is amazing. How long have you owned it for and where did you find it?

[4000]

On 14/01/2020 at 08:19, eude said:

I believe the guy who made Alan's original fretting templates sent him 31.5" instead of 32" and 30.5" instead of 30", literally, what turned out to be a happy accident.

My experience with the custom made shorties I've played has always been good, especially compared to off the shelf ones. I also think that string technology has come a long way in recent years too which will certainly help. Did you think the E on even a short scale Alembic was a bit dead?

I can send you to some noodles recorded on some of my 31.5" basses on Soundcloud if you want, and if you're even in the South Croydon area, your more than welcome to come try my basses out in person. They're all 5 or 6 strings though, but I do have a 4 string 30.5" which is phenomenal too.

Eude

I think the E on my Stanley wasn’t so much dead as different in response to what I was used to. Strangely, given the Stanley connection, it was however the best dub bass Ive ever played.

Cheers for the offer, I might take you up on that sometime. I’m not getting to a London much currently - still belatedly paying for driving lessons - but I do get down from time to time. I can play 5s and 6s, although my damping will be rubbish these days having not played one for yonks, and I would probably be pretty rusty (to put it mildly) generally.

[Bassassin]

Couple of oldies but goodies. First edition Hohner B2A, 1984, owned from new:

Cort Space B2 - bought from a BCer about 8 years ago, original black finish was badly worn so I removed it using a heat gun & was pleasantly surprised to find a satin poly sealing coat underneath. Want to pop some different pickups in at some point.

And this one's a no-brand Crack Converters special I picked up because I liked the sort of Marleaux/Laurus-y styling, and it was dirt cheap. Unfortunately quite cheaply-made too, despite appearances it's not through-neck, it took a lot of work to make it play nicely and unfortunately the tuning system is over-engineered, poorly thought out and barely fit for pupose.

Looks smashin' though, but sadly no use as a wall-hanger because paradoxically, it lacks a head to hang it by. So off it went.

Future headless ambitions include a Riverhead Unicorn (had GAS since the 80s when I couldn't afford one), Hohner Jack (the J/J version) Westone Super Headless (when one turns up at the car boot for £30) Status S2/S2000 (see previous entry) - and probably more realistically, a conversion of a sort-of Rickenfaker I've had kicking around for years, which has one of the ugliest & most incongruous headstocks I've seen.

[zomnius]

On 15/01/2020 at 21:58, Chris2112 said:

This is amazing. How long have you owned it for and where did you find it?

Hi. Actually, I got it for only 1,5 month now. I bought it in Germany. It's a lovely bass with hughe sound.