(like the 5 string, but with
2 more!)
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Bass 5 Fretless 7 string chambered Headless bass (like the 5 string, but
with 2 more!) --------- o ----------
After a conversation I had with Steve lawson early last year (Bassist/Guitarist scribe, awsome solo artist and general all round good guy...can I have my next lesson cheap?) we were discussing what my ultimate bass project would be. I had always felt that a six string fretless is just about as exclusive as I would go. But Steve pointed out that every one and his mate makes "sixers" these days and that they are pretty common. So I said "How about a seven?" thinking that would be it. Then Steve said "How about a seven string....headless! No one makes one of those." (Except David King at BGS). He also mentioned that he'd love to try my 5 string headless as a fretless. I wasn't about to rip the frets out of my main working bass. But I could build a 7 string version of it. Same body shape but adapted slightly to work as a seven. So it was settled, but to be frank I didn't even think it was possible. A headless bass requires very specific hardware and if Status, ABM or Steinberger don't make it then forget it, it isn't going to happen. So I sat on the project for about six months. ---------- o ---------- Then I noticed that Rob Green was fitting individual tuner/bridge blocks on his current range of headless basses. If I asked Rob nicely enough I could use 7 of these racked together to make a complete unit....Hmm just the headpiece to worry about.
I spoke to Arron Armstrong about the pickups (He thinks I'm nuts...so does my wife, they could be right. I am starting to think that "hobby" is latin for mental illness!) who said that there should be no problem. So it looks like this project is starting to happen. I have a lot of the wood, I have the concept, the bits are nearly ordered....I best get sketching! ( 10/08/00)
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The body shape will be an adapted version of my 5 string headless, with a few improvements.
If I get time, I want to fit green LED dot or fret markers to the fingerboard. ---------- o ---------- |
The woods I have selected are a sample from all my previous basses. ---------- o ---------- The wings are a 5 piece sandwich made from 3 diferant woods. Cocobolo, maple, wenge, maple and then cocobolo. ---------- o ---------- The Neck will be a 7(ish) laminated all through construction, made from Maple, Paduak and Walnut. ---------- o ---------- This Bass will be chambered (I have to get the weight down some how!) and this time it will have the fancy sound hole which I left out of my 5string headless. ---------- o ---------- The two most comon responses I get from my web site are for the 5 string headless. They are: "Why didn't you use that fancy F hole", and "did you make the body hollow".
I will be using the same 3 band Bartolini circuit I used before, but I won't bother with piezos, I'll leave that to specialised basses from now on. ---------- o ---------- I fancy a single coil pickup and a wide Music Man style humbucker pickup with matched outputs. I find the wide spacing of the humbucker helps with the Coil tap switching. I find that with a narrow humbucker (like my 5 string) a coil tap sounds like a quiet version of the same pickup. I assume this is because the two coils are effected by their close proximity to each other. Both pickups will need to be custom wound. Probably fitted with my infamous 5 way rotary switch, although I didn't fit one to my 5 string headless, maybe I'll use the same wiring option. It really depends on how the pickups are made. |
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The centre section is all through and is made up from nine laminates of quartersawn Maple, Paduak and Walnut. ---------- o ---------- The Fingerboard is Rosewood and is very straight grained. It is also very thick so I won't have to use much of a neck angle. |
After carefull planning, I shouldl be able to yield 2 seven string headless necks from this one blank. So I may build a fretless 7 and a fretted 6 or 7! ---------- o ---------- I have bought a 2 way acting truss rod and a pair of graphite strengthening rods (hey it is a 7 string!), which were kindly supplied by Rob Green of Status-Graphite. |
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Here is a shot of my 5 string headless with one of Rob Green's new individual bridge/tuner blocks along side to compare. The new unit is the same length but will have a more narrow width across the bass when using the same string spacing. Thanks Rob for 7 of these, without them this bass just wouldn't have happened. The beauty of these units are that they combine a individual bridge and tuner into a single unit. I just rack 7 together and I don't have to source a 7 string bridge and a 7 string tuner block. |
