Jonathan Kreisberg's headless guitar from Thailand

[marcwhy]

I’ve looked at several headless guitars over the years. The thing that put me off the most has been the tuners. Even those on the expensive, high end models I’ve tried are crude and imprecise in action. They all feel flimsy, and precise tuning was difficult.

On every Strandberg I’ve played, loosening the tuner had no effect on the strings. I had to pull every string after backing off on the tuner to loosen and tune it. The new Ibanez headless 7 solid body is the same crappy hardware.

If Oz has found high quality hardware, he’s got my interest.

I believe my Forshage headless has Hipshot tuners, and they work wonderfully!

[lumena]

I guess my experience has been different but I have not played a Strandberg for more than 10 minutes.

I have played a kiesel guitar for about a year, off and on and it has the hipshot bridge. My experience has been that it rarely goes out of tune and even then it's a minor adjustment. It takes a moment to get used to the tuners themselves but tuning stability is one of the best features of headless.

When changing strings I have not had to add lubricant to the tuners however if I was having problems I would probably use something like Nut Sauce. It's a very narrow dispenser of a silicon which is great for any type of friction on a guitar. I still have a tube that I was using nut on a bigsby equipped Gibson. It's super efficient and very clean in application.
Link is to Sweetwater and it's for the nut sauce :-)


BTW a question for Stevus - since you have an Arch Guitar- have you tried flat wounds on it I am wondering how the top clamps work with flat wounds.



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[stevus]

I have roundwounds but could choose between flatwounds and roundwounds, so I assume that is not a problem.

[GuyBoden]

I guess my experience has been different but I have not played a Strandberg for more than 10 minutes.

I have played a kiesel guitar for about a year, off and on and it has the hipshot bridge. My experience has been that it rarely goes out of tune and even then it's a minor adjustment. It takes a moment to get used to the tuners themselves but tuning stability is one of the best features of headless.

When changing strings I have not had to add lubricant to the tuners however if I was having problems I would probably use something like Nut Sauce. It's a very narrow dispenser of a silicon which is great for any type of friction on a guitar. I still have a tube that I was using nut on a bigsby equipped Gibson. It's super efficient and very clean in application.
Link is to Sweetwater and it's for the nut sauce :-)


BTW a question for Stevus - since you have an Arch Guitar- have you tried flat wounds on it I am wondering how the top clamps work with flat wounds.

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Most players in the UK I know with headless bridges (including myself) have used thrust washers in the bridge to improve 'friction', it's an improvement.

Link to process here:
PSA: 10 minute, PS8 MASSIVE improvement to headless bridges - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I believe my Forshage headless has Hipshot tuners, and they work wonderfully!

They do look great, and I love Hipshot products. I put their bridge/TP on my Tele 7 because the original one was a crude piece of junk that broke strings. The HS is a work of art.



But the gold bridge listed for $165 and cost me $90 new on sale at Sport HiTech about 4 years ago. Today they list for $144 (B) / $184 (G). OTOH, a Hipshot 7 string headless tuner & nut set is $528 in black and $594 in gold. I’d really have to love that $1000 Ibanez to drop half again its value into it.

Chris Forshage makes wonderful guitars. My Tele 7 was designed by him (if Matt Raines told me the truth), and it’s a fantastic guitar since I put good hardware on it and had Marc Tappan remediate the manufacturing oversights and set it up right. But even used, a Forshage 7 headless would be a lot more $ than I want to spend.

My blues beater is an early ‘90s Epi LP 7 that cost a few hundred new because Sam Ash couldn’t sell it for over a year anywhere close to their asking price. But it needs work to be saved - the frets are shot, the anchor holes for the TP need to be filled and redrilled (there are already about 30 toothpicks in them), etc. And it weighs a few ounces shy of 11 pounds. So I’d replace it with a headless solid body at the right price with the right tone.

The archtop by Oz is inspiring and I really appreciate knowing there’s a cure for the horrible tuners on most headless guitars. Thanks, guys!

[GuyBoden]

If you look at the picture below you will clearly see the 'Thrust Bearing Washers' on the Headless bridge. 'Thrust Bearing Washers' are what you need on a headless bridge for improved tuning. I've had many headless guitars over the years, I am speaking with knowledgeable experience.

The Arch Guitars – Archtop Guitars & Bass ,Bangkok,Thailand.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Update on Hipshot headless tuners:

The costly single plate 7 string bridge / TP is not usable on a multiscale guitar because all of the saddles are within the same distance range from the nut - so there's only enough room for intonation correction. It cannot be mounted at an angle because the direction of pull on the strings would not be axial. So this is not usable on most current headless 7s I've seen.


They do make single tuners for headless guitars that can be staggered on the body to accommodate multiscale necks. If the width is right, it looks like they can be used in place of stock hardware on many headless 7s. At $60 each, they'e $420 a set, which is also not inconsiderable for a $1000 guitar. Even at $48 each for the black ones, it's $336 for a set.

Looking at the dimensional drawings for these, I don't think they'll accommodate strings over 0.058 - 0.060". So a heavy 7th is also out. But with thrust bearings, I'm sure they work great.

[lumena]

wow that is the little one!
Thanks for posting. I will definitely check out the thrust washers. What size did you use on the Arch Guitar?

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[jads57]

They sure are Cute Little Buggers! I also enjoy the gentleman’s playing which is demonstrating them as well.Reminds me a lot of
Howard Roberts playing style.

[lumena]

So here is my latest update from Arch Guitars,

[lumena]

So things are heating up with the build. I just got these photos today of the first color pass.

[YOGA64]

Great!!!

[lumena]

So here are the final pictures. It will be shipping to me very soon.

[marcwhy]

Fantastic!! Wow, congrats!!

[Woody Sound]

The Arch Guitar looked like the right choice. (At least until we stop in Japan and I buy an irrationally large jazz guitar). Anyway I made the plunge.

My order is a single pickup TA-HL-12. Dark Red, single pickup, European Spruce top, with the headless bridge and jumbo frets. Neck is 12” radius slightly flatter up the neck - Les Paul shape. Oz says you can also get 16” and 20”. All fret choices and neck choices are no extra charge Base model $3400 includes spruce as a choice.

Spruce neck???

[lumena]

Spruce top, mahogany neck

[Woody Sound]

I see, I was confused by this sentence. Sounded like you were referring to a spruce neck.

All fret choices and neck choices are no extra charge Base model $3400 includes spruce as a choice.

[Woody Sound]

Gorgeous deep red finish.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

That is one beautiful guitar!

[YOGA64]

Really, great instrument!

[jads57]

What are the neck specs on this guitar thin and wide,fat, etc?

Looks wonderful!

[stevus]

Does it matter? It's handmade. Oz can make any neck size according to your wishes.

[jads57]

Yes it matters, because hopefully I can buy yours secondhand,Lol!

Congrats on a very cool guitar!

[lumena]

Not sure of neck size until it arrives, we talked about like a Les Paul.
not skinny, exact is right now unknown - it will arrive soon.

[stevus]

I assume it will be the same size as mine. Indeed very comfortable!