# 8-String & Headless Homemade Guitar



## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

Hi! 

For my first post in this forrm I like to show you my selfmade 8-string headless guitar:


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## Necromechanical (Aug 25, 2010)

You did an incredible job dude! Welcome to the community too! What pickups are those, EMG 808s?


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## Kruxx (Aug 25, 2010)

Well done mate that looks killer, the wood on the back of the body is very tasty.
And Welcome to the community.


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## Customisbetter (Aug 25, 2010)

WELCOME! 

WE love headless, we love natural, we love 8s.


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## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

The pickups are EMG, but 40HZ. They are passive and have ceramic bar magnets. Very usefull for individual strinspacing, in this case 11.5mm at the bridge. Each pickup is switchable H/Off/S. For tone control I made an active state variable filter.

For the body I used walnut. The top is called "Zwetschge", it's a local german plumtree. Its mostly used for fretboards because it is very hard, and has a wide colour range.


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## Waelstrum (Aug 25, 2010)

That's fairly spectacular.


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## Scarpie (Aug 25, 2010)

That's incredible. Congrats on the build, and welcome to the neighborhood.


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## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

Thanks for your compliments,
again some pics:











active tone control:





battery indicator:





the EMG 40HZ





backside





abalone inlays





colourful top with oil finish


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## Customisbetter (Aug 25, 2010)




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## gunshow86de (Aug 25, 2010)

Customisbetter said:


> WE love headless, we love natural, we love 8s.



And we love you!  

Seriously though, excellent guitar. And Welcome.


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## Kavnar (Aug 25, 2010)

This is crazy man!
Great job and welcome.
What scale length is it?


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## MF_Kitten (Aug 25, 2010)

I LOVE THAT MAKE ME ONE AND GIVE IT TO ME WAAAARGH!

seriously though, that is awesome as hell! it´s not my kind of bodyshape, but the wholeness is amazing!


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## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

Kavnar said:


> What scale length is it?



OK, it's time for some detailed information



body - walnut
top - plumtree (Zwetschge)
neck - 5-piece (plum - maple - walnut - maple - plum)
trussrod - 2-way low budged
tuner/bridge - ABM headless single tuner
locking nut headpiece - selfmade, solid brass
pickups - EMG 40HZ
tone control - active State Variable Filter
scale - 26" / 660mm
fretboard - plumtree, flat (like a classic guitar)
stringspacing - 8mm (head), 11,5mm (bridge)
frets - standard (2,2mm x 1,4mm)
strings - 0095 - 012 - 016 - 026 - 038 - 050 - 062 - 080
gadget - battery indicator with pushbutton
Some of the pics have not exactly the natural colour, but I think you get the idea... It's the first guitar I ever made. Thanks to a very good german luthier book and a very helpfull german luthier board this worked out to a success. I started in April, 2010 with ordering the wood and finished it last weekend. 

As soon as I tamed this beautyfull beast a little bit I will make some soundsamples.


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## Explorer (Aug 25, 2010)

Aargh! I can't thank and positive rep you at the same time. Does that mean I have to take away from your reputation?

I'm outraged and amazed by your guitar. What a great first post!


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## nojyeloot (Aug 25, 2010)

MOD EDIT: Keep it clean, gents.


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## Philligan (Aug 25, 2010)

This looks amazing.
Welcome to the forum


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## Sebastian (Aug 25, 2010)

Looks great ! good work


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## german7 (Aug 25, 2010)

Nice!!


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## Esp Griffyn (Aug 25, 2010)

The craftsmanship looks to be excellent quality for a first build.


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## MetalBuddah (Aug 25, 2010)

You sir have the sexiest 8 string on the planet! Good work and welcome to the forum!


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## technomancer (Aug 25, 2010)

That looks absolutely awesome, nice work


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## anthonyferguson (Aug 25, 2010)

Awesome job dude! Really digging those inlays.
What tuners were you using by the way?
Here's my 8 string headless build thread if you're interested 

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu.../106961-8-string-crazy-build.html#post1817426


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## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

tonywozere said:


> Awesome job dude! Really digging those inlays.
> What tuners were you using by the way?
> Here's my 8 string headless build thread if you're interested
> 
> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu.../106961-8-string-crazy-build.html#post1817426



Hi Tony,

the tuners are from ther german manufactor ABM, look here: ABM- High Quality Guitar Parts.

I&#7743; really interested in the Tuners you made. Is it correct that you can fix the string at the tunerbridge and use the ballend at the head of your guitar? Btw, is it finished?

Those inlays: like some other parts of my guitar, I got a lot of inspiration from bassguitars. The designs seem to me more "open minded". I first saw those inlays here: rumblebird's bass page - Fucktor 4

I made them from small abalone stripes, they should look like a massive abalone piece but they don't.

For more inspiration: imagine this as a 7/8-string guitar:
LE FAY. Finest Basses made in Germany since 1985. ROB 344-66/llla, Pangton, Capone, Midas, Carlsson, Herr Schwarz, Singer, Remington Steele, Waran, Piccolo. 5-Saiter, 6-Saiter

Now I have to


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## Tirell (Aug 25, 2010)

OH
MY
GOD


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## Durero (Aug 25, 2010)

Fantastic!

How are those string locks at the headless end working out? Any problems with strings slipping?


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## helferlain (Aug 25, 2010)

Durero said:


> How are those string locks at the headless end working out? Any problems with strings slipping?



They work fine. After cutting the strings I had to change the position of both of the deepest tuners. Now the F#-string is only fixed with half of the lock until I get a new 080 string and it seems to hold. 

Some impressions from an earlier idea of a cheap locking nut for headless guitars:









Worked fine with thicker strings, but for the high thin strings there was not enough surface and force to hold it under tension.


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## ElRay (Aug 25, 2010)

helferlain said:


> fretboard - plumtree, flat (like a classic guitar)


 For the Infinite Radius Fretboard!

Ray


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## Durero (Aug 25, 2010)

Very cool, thanks for sharing your research


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## AcousticMinja (Aug 25, 2010)

Hot!


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## Necromechanical (Aug 25, 2010)

I'm seriously diggin those inlays dude! You really did a fantastic job on this guitar. Is this your first guitar you built?


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## Wierdoom (Aug 25, 2010)

I don't think you could have picked a better way to join the community. Welcome!


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## Chumple Spuzz (Aug 25, 2010)

OOOOHHH MOTHER OF PEARL. that is quite pretty, and quite interesting. when a steinberger toting elitist gets up in yo grill cuz hes got no headstock, whip that out. 8 strings ftw. plus, those are some BEAUTIFUL woods.


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## helferlain (Aug 26, 2010)

Thats all of the inlay pics I have so far:











flush-mounted connecting jack and button for the battery indicator. If you are interested I will post the scheme for the indicator. All you need are a litlle soldering skills and parts for a few cents...


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## terminus (Aug 26, 2010)

Holy shit. That's awesome!


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## astaroth (Aug 26, 2010)

Fucking wicked axe!


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## SD83 (Aug 26, 2010)

Beautiful guitar (except for the fact that it lacks a head  but that's just a personal preference). Looks like some clean & professional work. Is that a one-piece top? Because I've never seen a plumtree wide enough to make one (now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen a plumtree wide enough to make a two-piece top...). 
So the 40HZ work good on a guitar? Nice to know, I really like them on my bass.
Is the german board you mentioned the old gearbuilder.de board? Last time I've been there I had the feeling that most people were just copying their favourite guitars and every part/wood that wasn't top quality (and price) was looked down at.
EDIT: Does it just seem like that to me or do we have a lot DIY guitars/basses from Germany here? I wonder if there is any kind of reason for that...


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## ShadyDavey (Aug 26, 2010)

Wow.

My mind is blown 

(and seeing those fine ABM Products my GAS for a headless guitar just exploded!)


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## 77zark77 (Aug 26, 2010)

fantastic job ! an adventure !


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## helferlain (Aug 27, 2010)

SD83 said:


> ... Is that a one-piece top? Because I've never seen a plumtree wide enough to make one (now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen a plumtree wide enough to make a two-piece top...).
> ... So the 40HZ work good on a guitar?
> ... Is the german board you mentioned the old gearbuilder.de board? Last time I've been there I had the feeling that most people were just copying their favourite guitars and every part/wood that wasn't top quality (and price) was looked down at....



If your location is really Münster you're not far away from my beauty beast...

Its a two-piece top, but it fits very good. The 40HZ sound incredible good, I'v tried my ashdown cube ten bassamp and got a sweet clean tone (sample will follow).

The old gearbuilder.de had some technical probs and is now separated into 2 different boards. I decided for gitarrebassbau.de, the guys there are very nice and helpfull. You can find me there as helferlain and watch my building thread. And it's not only about LP-copys, free designs are also welcome...


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## Stealthdjentstic (Aug 27, 2010)

Fuckin awesome! Nice work!

And


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## Michael Dragus (Aug 27, 2010)

That has to be the Best guitar iv seen in my life


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## BrainArt (Aug 27, 2010)

That's amazing, man!  Glad to have you in our wonderful community!


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## SD83 (Aug 27, 2010)

helferlain said:


> If your location is really Münster you're not far away from my beauty beast...
> 
> The old gearbuilder.de had some technical probs and is now separated into 2 different boards. I decided for gitarrebassbau.de, the guys there are very nice and helpfull. You can find me there as helferlain and watch my building thread. And it's not only about LP-copys, free designs are also welcome...



Nicht direkt Münster, aber direkt um die Ecke. Wo sitzt du denn?

It's been a while since I've been on there, I totally missed the problems and the split forums. I should maybe check that new one out.
Now go and record some soundsamples


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## Variant (Aug 28, 2010)

That's a whole awesomesauce right there!


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## Aris_T (Aug 29, 2010)

Stunning! Love the headless design! Enjoy it!

Congrats and welcome!


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## MetalMike04 (Aug 29, 2010)

god damn, thats absolutely professional looking!


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## Justin Bailey (Aug 29, 2010)

now thats what Im talking about! Great job, dude!


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## helferlain (Aug 30, 2010)

There are really people who can appreciate an 8-string headless beauty . Thank you all!

For the last wekk I spend my time tuning and tuning again. I even thought I made a mistake with the space of the fretboard. Finaly yesterday I stumbled upon the topic of "saddle compensation". It seems more importend for the lower strings. 

My question for the other guys fingering 8 strings: Have you any problems to get the (lower) strings in tune open AND at the frets in the same setting? Is there any saddle compensation at professional 8-string guitars like Ibanez or Agile?


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## Hollowway (Aug 30, 2010)

helferlain said:


> My question for the other guys fingering 8 strings: Have you any problems to get the (lower) strings in tune open AND at the frets in the same setting? Agile?



This sounds like you're asking about intonation. My guess is that if you're having trouble getting it to tune at the frets you need to move the saddle back some. Most of us with 8 strings run into that problem on the lowest string (sometimes even needing to modify the saddle).


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## fuzzboy (Aug 30, 2010)




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## Durero (Aug 30, 2010)

helferlain said:


> There are really people who can appreciate an 8-string headless beauty . Thank you all!
> 
> For the last wekk I spend my time tuning and tuning again. I even thought I made a mistake with the space of the fretboard. Finaly yesterday I stumbled upon the topic of "saddle compensation". It seems more importend for the lower strings.
> 
> My question for the other guys fingering 8 strings: Have you any problems to get the (lower) strings in tune open AND at the frets in the same setting? Is there any saddle compensation at professional 8-string guitars like Ibanez or Agile?



If you've backed the saddle all the way and your fretted notes are still sharp when the open string is in tune than you may have to re-position that tuner/bridge saddle unit further back. At least you've got separate units for each string


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## flo (Sep 2, 2010)

1. Amazing guitar. It looks really beautiful, thought-out and build by a professional. Are you a carpenter at least?

2. Wo wohnst du? 

3. I've had serious intonation problems on my eightstring, I ended up removing the spring from the vintage style tuners to be able to move it backwards far enough. Now it's working


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## helferlain (Sep 2, 2010)

1. Thank you! But I'm not a pro, it's just a hobby. I'v done some other woodworking but this ist thoe most complex thing so far. 

2. Bielefeld 

3. I know. I had to set back the single tuner of the 2 lowes strings.

I checked your gelleries, you have done a great job with your guitars! I'm afraid this is not the last one I made, hope my wife doesn't read this...


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## flo (Sep 5, 2010)

helferlain said:


> I checked your gelleries, you have done a great job with your guitars! I'm afraid this is not the last one I made, hope my wife doesn't read this...



Thx!
Your wife, egh? I know this problem...
I solved it by making my girlfriend part of the project, let her participate... I've taken pics of her for example to get an inspiration for the curves of my bass, she liked that. And sometimes she follows me into the workshop and wants to do some woodwork. We'll soon be making a guitar for her together.


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## MF_Kitten (Sep 5, 2010)

i think maybe doing like caparison, and placing the bridge 3 mm further back than "needed" might be a good idea. that way you know you have the range to intonate everything


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## eventhetrees (Sep 5, 2010)

Beautiful guitar!!! Great job dude!


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