# 7 String headless build



## foreright (Apr 28, 2014)

Ok, this is my first build thread so go gently 

This will be my sixth build although the first four were a VERY long time ago (ie. in the 90s at uni!). I got the bug back again last year when I built a neck-through superstrat for my wife for Christmas.

This is to be a bolt-on necked 7-string Strandberg shaped headless with TFM hardware and EMGs. It has a one piece Rosewood neck, a Cocobolo (I think - been a while since I bought it!) fretboard and English Ash body. It is a 25.5-27" multiscale also.

It is going to take me quite some time to complete I expect (it has so far...) due to a recent house move and the wife thinking that fixing up the house is more important than me "playing with my toys".

Anyway... on with the build...

Neck blank squared and fingerboard cut to size and slotted...







Body blank and template...






Neck cut out, truss rod routed. The neck is bolted on with machine bolts and t-nuts:














Body cut out and tidied up, neck pocket cut - this is the tightest I've ever managed to make a neck pocket which is good. You can pick this up by the neck and shake it without the body falling off 






Holes drilled for controls and pickups...










Testing out what the hardware looks like... pretty cool I think!






The dog looks suitably impressed...






3mm Luminlay dots installed - not sure what's up with this pic as the dots actually DO line up in real life!






Anyway... that's it for now - planning to radius the fretboard, finish off shaping the back of the neck (specifically transition at head end) and drill mounting holes for hardware this evening if I get time.

I'm pretty impressed with this shape incidentally - it balances pretty nicely albeit I have no hardware installed as yet. Access to the top end of the fretboard is really nice even with a non-contoured heel (still to do!). It also looks REALLY small. Putting it next to my headless Hohner G3T, it's barely any bigger at all despite the scale length being quite a bit longer - magic I tell thee.

Note - this is my version of a Strandberg Boden guitar, designed by Ola Strandberg, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license. It features Technology for Musicians headless hardware and EMG 81-7 pickups. My modifications to the original design are to the design of the control cavity and modified output jack location and these are free for you to use under the same license, please contact me if you have any questions.


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## SevenStringJones (Apr 28, 2014)

This is looking great! The only problem I see is with the truss rod adjustment being blocked by the neck pickup.

What kind of neck carve are you going to do on this?


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## foreright (Apr 28, 2014)

Thanks - yes the truss rod adjustment location is a bit of a compromise - I wasn't sure that I would have enough depth under the string locks if I put the access at the top of the neck so I decided to go with this setup. The weather is pretty stable (temperature wise!) here so I don't anticipate having to adjust the rod THAT often - I certainly don't on my other instruments.

The pickups are going to be mounted using threaded inserts so removing the pickup every now and then should not be too much of a chore. We'll see!

This is using the EndurNeck profile - my last build also used it - I find it REALLY comfortable albeit the last build was a guess as to how it worked as it was pre-the patenting and before the kit with the DXF/STL files was available.


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## foreright (Apr 28, 2014)

Got the body edge rounded and rough sanded (9.17mm radius) and the carve for the back of the neck sorted. It is REALLY tough to get the transition on the back of the neck at the head and body ends looking ok with hand tools!










Body/neck rear:






Detail of edge:






Looks really nice with the edge radius - kind of like a sucked boiled sweet according to the wife. Not sure I'm going to bother with either the forearm rest contour or the rear belly cut as it's comfortable enough already.

Rear cavity tomorrow I think!


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## DredFul (Apr 28, 2014)

That's pretty darn nice


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## 9Lives (Apr 28, 2014)

That's badass fret board dude. I love that grainy knot! Looks good can't wait to see finish pic w/ metal face.


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## Alikingravi (Apr 29, 2014)

Wow, excellent job so far. Really nice work.


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## Serratus (Apr 29, 2014)

Looks awesome!

My only comment at this stage would be that you might want to change the position of the jack socket (assuming that the little cross you've drawn on the edge is where the socket is going?). I built a similarly shaped headless guitar earlier this year, and part of the attraction of that body shape is that when you're sat down the lowest point sits between your legs, holding the guitar at a nice angle to play. And it looks like the jack plug and lead would be in the way of your leg where it is on the body?
That's why Strandbergs have the jack coming out at an angle towards the tuners, and I did the same with mine 
Just a heads up anyway - looks really good!


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## foreright (Apr 29, 2014)

Yes you're right, the cross was originally for the jack socket but I've been vacillating between putting a Neutrik there or just going with the "normal" barrel jack in the usual place that you referred to. I think you're probably correct BTW and will almost certainly end up doing just that.


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## jarnozz (Apr 29, 2014)

where do all you guys get those bolts and posts.. All I can find are the posts but with a bolt with a screw head.. Great looking build man!


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## Riley (Apr 29, 2014)

jarnozz said:


> where do all you guys get those bolts and posts.. All I can find are the posts but with a bolt with a screw head.. Great looking build man!



https://www.fastenal.com/web/produc...ts"|~ ~|categoryl3:"600007 Connector Bolts"|~


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## foreright (Apr 29, 2014)

^ yup! the bolts with the big flat low-profile heads are called "furniture connector bolts". These are stainless M6 and have a 15mm diameter head IIRC. They came from an eBay vendor in my case. They mate to M6x12mm T-nuts.


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## Mr_Metal_575 (Apr 29, 2014)

Amazing build mate!! The timbers and the truss rod are tits
Would you mind to share the template? It's perfect. I have 
MDF ready to do the template. You would do me a great favour. You can PM me if you want.


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## bloodstaindewok (Apr 29, 2014)

Looking sweet! If I might ask what exactly is the EndurNeck profile and why particularly do you like it over a more traditional neck profile? Keep it up good sir!


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## foreright (Apr 29, 2014)

The EndurNeck profile is Ola's parent pending design - there's a pretty good illustration of what it looks like on his website here: EndurNeck(tm) Information Kit | Strandberg Guitarworks. Basically it's a kind of trapezoidal cross-sectional neck with the back being completely flat. The idea is that your thumb follows the flat bit and it helps keep your wrist straight.

I play with my thumb on the back of the neck in a kind of classical style so I find it extremely comfortable and natural. Others don't find the same so YMMV!


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## bloodstaindewok (Apr 29, 2014)

Cheers mate. So you had to buy a license to DL the file or did you just mess with the idea until you got the profile right? Thanks for the response sir.


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## foreright (Apr 29, 2014)

Yes it is licensed - you get cad plans and a full description of how it all works as a download.


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## iamnoah262 (Apr 30, 2014)

This looks awesome! What kind of finish do you have in mind for this beauty?


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## Coreysaur (Apr 30, 2014)

Please don't stain it, give it some oil finish and leave it natural. That swamp ash looks beautiful.


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## foreright (Apr 30, 2014)

Well I was torn between a Ceruse (black with purple highlights) finish or leaving it natural / oiled. I think that natural wins so far - as you say, this is quite a nicely grained piece of wood. It is Northern/European Ash incidentally rather than Swamp Ash and certainly feels like it weightwise!


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## dan0151 (Apr 30, 2014)

looking great...I always wanted one of these but dont have the money to buy a strandberg, nor the skill to build one of my own.
Looking forward to see the finished fiddle.


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## foreright (May 1, 2014)

Quick update - managed to get the neck contouring finished last night and the back sanded to 240 grit, also routed the control cavity.











It feels so nice - no idea why anyone would use anything other than Rosewood for necks..!


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## Sonofthe7thSign (May 1, 2014)

I want to do this did you have to pay for the information kit or licensing? I want to build one of these sooo bad. ....8....


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## CircuitalPlacidity (May 1, 2014)

yes you have to pay for the licensing, but it's not much at all.


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## Lorcan Ward (May 1, 2014)

Looks good!!


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## SkyIllusion (May 2, 2014)

I love the rounded edges on the body of this. Makes it look so smooth and comfy


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## jimwratt (May 2, 2014)

I wish I were capable of doing something like this.


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## foreright (May 12, 2014)

Back from a week's holiday and a little more progress made... I have the frets installed now - just received a file for bevelling the edges through the post today so that's the next job.
















Quick question about that last image if I may... the second from last dot is not in line with the others (which are all perfectly aligned) and it's driving me nuts... it's actually nowhere near as bad as it looks in this pic - maybe 0.5mm out - but is there any "fix" for this?

I can drill it out, fill with Cocobolo dust mixed with glue/epoxy and redrill, but is this the best approach and can it be relatively invisible?


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## ElysianGuitars (May 12, 2014)

foreright said:


> Back from a week's holiday and a little more progress made... I have the frets installed now - just received a file for bevelling the edges through the post today so that's the next job.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That should work fine. The cocobolo in that area is a little streaky and chaotic, so a little fill would probably not look bad at all.


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## UnderTheSign (May 12, 2014)

I'm not a fan of redrilling and filling but it should work out alright.

Did you do the endurneck carve by hand?


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## foreright (May 12, 2014)

Yup - spokeshaves, small chisel and rasp  there's a very slight curve but I prefer it to be a straighter line than is normal.


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## UnderTheSign (May 12, 2014)

Did you angle the middle plane like Ola does, to mimick Torzal Twist? I've got the design package too, was thinking it'd be pretty doable with chisels and a rasp.


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## foreright (May 29, 2014)

Hey, another update - finally got the finish applied and have it assembled, frets levelled and strung up. These are some quick phone pics this morning before I left for work:














Just the electronics and strap locks to install and the slots in the nut need to be cut deeper as there's some rattling on a couple of the open strings...

Some comments:

* The neck profile feels extremely comfortable and natural in 7-string guise - much more so than for my last 6 string build. I'm guessing this is because the flat on the back is that little bit wider.

* This shape balances sooo nicely and feels so comfortable it's ridiculous - I was REALLY worried that the heavy neck would unbalance everything but the headless hardware is heavy enough to offset that.

* The Rosewood neck feels really nice, smooth and fast.

* EVO Gold fret wire is really nice to work with and looks great - there was a lot less swearing than the last time when I tried the stainless wire.

* I ran into a last minute issue in that I'd designed this guitar based on the stated minimum height of the TFM tuners. However... with the tuners set near the bottom of their height range, there is insufficient break angle to secure the strings at the bridge end. They really need to be towards the top end of the adjustment range to work properly.

To get around this, I had to recess the bridges by approx 2mm which would have been a lot easier if I'd planned for this in the first place - something to remember for next time 

* Speaking of which, the TFM hardware is very nice - it feels heavy and solid and the tuners turn smoothly and easily, even under tension. Setting intonation is a pain, but I guess that's a problem with any hardware of this type of design.

* The 1.5" (approx... just under in reality...) fan looks a lot more extreme than it feels. Admittedly I've played multi scale instruments before but even so, it feels very natural - chords at the nut end are no problem, I missed a couple of times tapping at the very top but that's probably just me being crap.

Overall I'm really pleased with this attempt. There are of course things I could have done better (the pickup routes being the main thing) but there's always next time.

I do wonder if you could get away without the nut, ie. just having the zero fret and then the string locks almost immediately behind as that would look better IMO - maybe I'll try it on my next build.

Lastly, I attempted to create a set of "progressive tension" strings by ordering single strings separately. I'm not 100% sure of what to make of them yet. The feel is pretty "odd" but I think I like it. The lower strings (ie. thicker ones...) are nice and tight but the balance of the higher strings feels quite different to normal. I went with the following in the end (# == lbs):


```
len 648mm    E     .009" dapl == 13.15#
len 654.33mm B,    .012" dapl == 13.38#
len 660.66mm G,    .016" dapl == 15.27#
len 667mm    D,    .024" danw == 16.72#
len 673.33mm A,,   .032" danw == 17.05#
len 679.66mm E,,   .044" danw == 17.72#
len 686mm    B,,,  .059" danw == 18.49#

total == 111.78#
```

I wonder if using the same kind of arrangement but starting with a .010" would feel better but then this is pretty subjective and I'm going to give these a chance first.

Has anyone here tried this gradual increase in tension across the neck and liked / hated it?

EDIT: It's been pointed out (thanks!) that I have the string locks installed slightly incorrectly. There actually ARE two screws to fix them to the neck, one of them just goes right through. That makes more sense to me now


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## ForThisGift (May 29, 2014)

I built my own progressive tension sets for my guitars as well, but I use a smaller range than you went with. I like my lowest string about 18lbs, so we are close there, but I don't string anything at less than 15lbs. This gives a more uniform "feel" across the strings, while still giving you a bit more room for expression on the lighter ones. I have built sets for 6 of my guitars now and have always used LaBella for my orders. I will NEVER buy a pre-packaged set of strings again!

The work on the guitar looks great by the way. I am not a fan of plain ash, but everything else about this one is doing something for me.


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