# NGD :: 8-string - headless - ergonomic - fanned fret



## helferlain (Jul 9, 2011)

Hi,

some of you know my building thread already: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...omic-headless-fanned-fret-phase-1-design.html

And yes, Im finished so far with my new 8-string headless ergonomic fanned fret guitar

The specs:



body: alder
neck: maple (3 pieces)
fretboard: flamed ebony
design: inspired by ergonomic guitars, considering my playing positions and my own ergonomic
scale: multiscale 720mm - 800mm. the last 2 frets of the standard string are cut off
pickups: selfmade single coils. low impedance, 500 rounds. two singlecoils are set in a bridge humbucker position, one singlecoil in neck position
hardware: ABM single string tunder bridges
string retainer: selfmade prototypes (just some screws...)
electronics: active preamp with state-variable-filter. this allows to set the resonance frequence and quality independend from the pickups. any pickup character is possible ( and more...)
The pics:
















































Soundsamples (soon) and videoclips ( not so soon )will follow.


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## IB-studjent- (Jul 9, 2011)

Awesome.


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## Kruxx (Jul 9, 2011)

All that comes to mind is Yummy, and that neck joint is tasty aswell


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## ILuvPillows (Jul 9, 2011)

I can't even comprehend this guitar..and i'm looking right at it!
Awesome guitar non the less
Any reason you chose to join two single coils together for the bridge humbucker?


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## MaKo´s Tethan (Jul 9, 2011)

I hate that kind of guitar, but this is really really nice, I love the overall design and the finish is perfect! 28-31" right? may be I will build something like these someday...


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## Fred the Shred (Jul 9, 2011)

Ah, it ended up looking great!  Now get those clips done!


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## Goatchrist (Jul 9, 2011)

Wow! These pictures sure look stunning! Congrats, that's some great work you've done!

Weiter so!


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## Static (Jul 9, 2011)

damn dude that looks beautiful.love that neck joint.


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## TimSE (Jul 9, 2011)

Dude that is killer!


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## jon66 (Jul 9, 2011)

Killer job dude! Everything looks super professionally done and your work top-notch! Can't wait to hear clips!


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## helferlain (Jul 9, 2011)

ILuvPillows said:


> ...
> Any reason you chose to join two single coils together for the bridge humbucker?



Yes. The typical sound of a pickup is made of two major causes:


Resonance frequency and peak/quality. In classic passive pickups this is the consequence from the pickups impedance, capacity and inductivity. In my case I can set those with the filter circuit.
Magnetic aperture. This means the width of the magnetic field of the pickup that is "touched" from the strings. Single coils are narrower then humbuckers and have a narrower magnetic field / aperture. The broader magnetic aperture of the humbuckers leads to reducing the hights and enhancing the mids and lows. 
This is the reason why a single coil has its clear hights while a humbucker has its fat warm mids but lacks the hights compared to single coils.
The magnetic aperture is given by the magntes of the pickus / the pickup design itself. It can not be altered / influencend.
To get the basis for a typical humbucker / singlecoil sound you need the appropriate layout of the magnetic field.
I want the singlecoil neck pu and the humbucker bridge pu sound. With the basis of the pu layout I can tune the character of the pups with the filter circuit to my needs.

I can't explain it better in english. I have only some german recources. If anyone has a easy-to-understand explanation of this topic please post a link.



MaKo´s Tethan;2562243 said:


> ... and the finish is perfect! 28-31" right? ...



Sorry, the pics are lying. The finish isn't so good. I did all I can with my cam not to show  

720mm - 800mm would be 28.35" - 31.50".
The scale for the reduced 6 strings is 640mm - 692mm / 25.36" - 27.24"


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## Skyblue (Jul 9, 2011)

I'm sorry, but you seem to have mistaken. That's no guitar- that's a spaceship


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## technomancer (Jul 9, 2011)

Awesome design, looking forward to hearing sound samples


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## Mindcrime1204 (Jul 9, 2011)

Would love to hear this thing...

Also.... I don't think there's enough screws on the heel 

Way cool, bro.


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## scherzo1928 (Jul 9, 2011)

That came out amazing. And it was quite a fast build as well.

Sooooo, what's next?


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## JamesM (Jul 9, 2011)

So sick.


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## MikeH (Jul 9, 2011)

I want a fucking headless guitar.


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## Nublet (Jul 9, 2011)

Totally missed the whole building process until the end but still, great work! That's such a marvelous guitar.


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## vampiregenocide (Jul 9, 2011)

Dude I completely missed this build. That is bloody impressive. The design, everything is really fresh and unique. Not seen anything like it before. It's a mix of retro and modern. One of the most interesting builds I've seen on here, really looking forward to vids and clips.


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## metalman_ltd (Jul 9, 2011)

Everything looks sweet man. Definitely want me a headless one of these days.


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## Winspear (Jul 9, 2011)

Absolutely incredible. Good job, well done!


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## Empryrean (Jul 9, 2011)

congratulations on your latest build sir!


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## flo (Jul 9, 2011)

It turned out amazing!

What a unique and innovative guitar, both in terms of design and electronics.

But it still has got some kind of Fender-vibe (at least for me, because of the finish, pickguard and three single coils, armrest, bolted neck,woods etc.), cool

The Djentocaster


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## helferlain (Jul 9, 2011)

flo said:


> It turned out amazing!
> 
> What a unique and innovative guitar, both in terms of design and electronics.
> 
> ...




You are right. Wait for the sound samples. I think there is a Tele inside


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## Variant (Jul 9, 2011)

That's awesome!!!


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## in-pursuit (Jul 9, 2011)

sooooo keen to hear this beast in action, looks fantastic!


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## JaeSwift (Jul 10, 2011)

Very nice build, impressive design work there! Shame about the neck turning out too thin but it should be no problem to build a new one (though it sucks ofc).

Really can't wait to hear those sound samples. Very interested in what your homemade pickups will sound like.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jul 10, 2011)

Modern ideas with a strong vintage execution; fucking slick.


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## tuneinrecords (Jul 10, 2011)

ooohwee! that is a beautiful design. The pick guard scheme with the electronics and angular yet soft look plus the way the neck is fanned all make it work. I usually don't go for headless guitars but this one has my vote of being the best looking one ever. It almost reminds me of a Fender design from the 50's or 2050's. I'm not sure which.


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## zappatton2 (Jul 10, 2011)

That is a gorgeous guitar!!! So, when do they go into mass production? I want one!!!!


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## bostjan (Jul 10, 2011)

That looks great! Can't wait to hear it in action.


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## Splinterhead (Jul 10, 2011)

Really amazing work! Very cool design, form and function...just the whole thing seems to work together really well!


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## crg123 (Jul 10, 2011)

Wow that's an awesome guitar! Can I ask what fueled your decision to put the micro-tonal frets on only the 8th string and why they are spaced the way they are? I'm also interested in why you cut off the 2 lowest frets on the E standard through high e. That seems like it would play in an interesting way. Is that so you can tune to E and A but have the frets line up so the standard tuning would line up with F# and B? 5 Knobs? The possibilities! The design looks so comfortable/ interesting. Its such a cool instrument good luck with it!

Edit:
Oh!! Those are Aluminum fret markers, maybe I should have read the build thread first haha.


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## Underworld (Jul 10, 2011)

Holy shit. That's awesome! I soooo want a headless guitar! (But with a more "standard" shape)


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## The Grief Hole (Jul 11, 2011)

You didn't make that. You stole it from Zeus! The Gods will be angry!!!!

Beautiful guitar.


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## BrainArt (Jul 11, 2011)

Skyblue said:


> I'm sorry, but you seem to have mistaken. That's no guitar- that's a spaceship



I came in here to say this. 

Awesome looking guitar, man!


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## Hollowway (Jul 11, 2011)

Great job, man. I'm really impressed. I love that.


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## Runner (Jul 11, 2011)

I've tried the guitar yesterday, and it is really comfy to play. Very flexible soundwise, the pickups are awesome. Ultra-thin neck, probably the best i've ever played (sadly too thin for the tussrod).

I've already ordered one


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## Sollesnes (Jul 11, 2011)

Wow, that is classy!


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## Strawberry Man (Jul 15, 2011)

Looks almost like a headless Ovation Breadwinner with 8 strings.

That is ridiculously awesome.


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## unclejemima218 (Jul 20, 2011)

I require sound clips.


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## Ernesto (Jul 25, 2011)

zappatton2 said:


> That is a gorgeous guitar!!! So, when do they go into mass production? I want one!!!!




Dark Metallic Blue? Shipped to Arizona, US?


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## synrgy (Jul 25, 2011)

DUDE.

That turned out even cooler than I imagined it.


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## skeels (Jul 25, 2011)

I saw the build thread and it turned out great! Breadwinner is right!


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## in-pursuit (Jul 25, 2011)

i seriously want one, very badly. but without the extended low B and E strings


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## ElRay (Jul 25, 2011)

'nuff said.

Ray


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## stevemcqueen (Jul 25, 2011)

How is playing that? I can't decide if it looks completely unplayable sitting down or if it is perfect.


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## helferlain (Jul 26, 2011)

stevemcqueen said:


> How is playing that? I can't decide if it looks completely unplayable sitting down or if it is perfect.



The playing position is great, it has the perfect ratio between the guitars neck and the players shoulder. My left hand has nothing to do with stabilizing the the neck while playing the guitar. Seems like I should do a video soon..

I still have some trouble with the noise of the active preamp / filter circuit. The cleans are ok, but it gets worse with crunch and higher gain is impossible. 

I love the Tele- / Strat-like tones of this setup. Therefore I'm going to look into custom made passive pickups. Since this needs some money I have to make a decission about staying with the multiscale first.



> i seriously want one, very badly. but without the extended low B and E strings


This is one of the parts I like most on this guitar.
The open tuning I use is: E-A-E-A-D-G-B-E. Imagin you can play all your stuff that you normally do an the regular E and A string a full octave lower. There's nothing to get used to, just playing. And the transition from the 7th/8th string to regular strings follows the natural tunig of a guitar, so playing scales is very intuitive.


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## SilenceIsACrime (Jul 26, 2011)

Holy shit, so glad this was bumped because somehow I missed it the first time around. That is beyond cool!!


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## Durero (Jul 27, 2011)

Fascinating build!


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## GuitaristOfHell (Jul 27, 2011)

Fuck!! That's sick! Nice build


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## sidesane (Jul 28, 2011)

so...something landed in your back yard from space, what do you do, but kill the occupants and attach strings and pickups to it, a very classy guitar indeed, reminds me of a similar guitar i saw once, i think it was called the area 51 fretless. Very cool sir, i look forward to more builds XD


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## floyo123 (Jul 29, 2011)

SICK!!! MUST RESIST...G..A....S....


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## Daggorath (Jul 29, 2011)

Awesome, there've been way too many headless ergo, fanned pieces of sex on here lately. I really don't have the time to be building one, but it's getting to that point where I NEED to.


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## McCap (Aug 2, 2011)

Very nice guitar!
-Beautiful design
-Nice ideas

...and as soon as I read state variable filter I knew you were from germany 

Wo bistn her?


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## aWoodenShip (Sep 1, 2011)

O god. Do want. It's like if good ice cream took guitar form.


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## clockworksam (Sep 1, 2011)

Retro modern aesthetics really work well there, nice one!


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## IamSatai (Sep 3, 2011)

Oh wow, I like a lot. It looks like a strange creature head eating the neck of a guitar. Very awsome.


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## helferlain (Sep 3, 2011)

Thank you all for those kind words.

After a few weeks I found more and more issues. It was a great experience to build this guitar but after all it is not satisfying. 

I bought a Agile Intrepid 828 and now I have finally a working 8-string guitar. Would be nice to have the Intrepid a bit more ergonomic (this part was a success on my own build), but I won't complain ...

Can't stop with d.i.y. ... at the moment I'm working on different pickup combinations on my Intrepid, including coil filters, splitting, using a buffer circuit ... there will be a "pimp my Agile 8 string stock pickups" thread with sound samples soon...


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## in-pursuit (Sep 4, 2011)

what are you doing with the guitar then? what issues did you come across?


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## Slunk Dragon (Sep 4, 2011)

Very nice job! I get the feeling of newer technology mixed with some older styling, especially with the pickguard shaping. Very beautiful guitar. I'd love to hear how it sounds!


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## WishIwasfinnish (Sep 5, 2011)

This is awesome, the pointy design and the thin pickups make me think of the 50's for some reason, it looks very "retro"


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## 27duuude (Sep 5, 2011)

When do we get to hear it?


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## helferlain (Sep 6, 2011)

some quick and dirty, simpel & clean sound samples:

helferlain://d.i.y.autodidact


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## helferlain (Sep 7, 2011)

some simple distorted sound samples:

helferlain://d.i.y.autodidact


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## aawshred (Sep 10, 2011)

Such a badass looking guitar, crazy awesome.


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## Samarus (Nov 11, 2011)

Yes want!


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## Stan P (Nov 16, 2011)

*I love your design!* Especially the extension on the bottom string Thomas Humphrey style!


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## mikemueller2112 (Nov 17, 2011)

This reminds me of this crazy Ovation my friends dad has. Ovation Breadwinner







Crazy build, impressed with your attention to detail.


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## Norstorm (Nov 19, 2011)

Lord have mercy!


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## craigny (Nov 19, 2011)

Wow..that is the most original looking guitar ive ever seen!!


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## helferlain (Nov 20, 2011)

Thank you for all your nice replys.

This guitar is now a piece of decoration in my living room. It's technically playable but in the end it's a prototype with many needs of improvement.

Since I don't have the budget for serious research and development of my own guitar desing ideas I ended with with the well known Agile Intrepid 828.


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## Jacobine (Jun 6, 2013)

"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" just doesn't cut it for this. It's absolutely impeccable! It's taken me over 5 minutes just to type this because I'm in awe over it. Great work!


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## MrPepperoniNipples (Jun 7, 2013)

What the shit

I have a boner


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## Sponge (Jun 7, 2013)

Wow does that look awesome! Like the single coil idea too!

This guitar would have been perfect in the Bill and Ted movies when anything future guitar was related.


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## unclejemima218 (Jun 7, 2013)

holy necrobump!


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## MetalBuddah (Jun 7, 2013)

unclejemima218 said:


> holy necrobump!



I should probably take the blame on this one, I linked this build in Walterson's strandberg copy build


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## shawnperolis (Jun 7, 2013)

It looks like a battle ax. That's metal.


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## helferlain (Jun 7, 2013)

Nice to see thap people still like that design  . In the end, it was only a step on my way to my very personal guitar shape. 

There will be some NGD's soon ...


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## MetalBuddah (Jun 7, 2013)

helferlain said:


> Nice to see thap people still like that design  . In the end, it was only a step on my way to my very personal guitar shape.
> 
> There will be some NGD's soon ...



It is definitely my favorite build ever on this forum


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## The Spanish Inquisition (Jun 7, 2013)

helferlain said:


> Nice to see thap people still like that design  . In the end, it was only a step on my way to my very personal guitar shape.
> 
> There will be some NGD's soon ...



How do the metal clips hold up as tuners/locks for the strings?


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## helferlain (Jun 7, 2013)

YJGB said:


> How do the metal clips hold up as tuners/locks for the strings?



They don't.

The pins were an attemp for a tool free string mounting solution, based on the knots and slings of nylon strings on classical guitars. 

It worked for the high strings, but for the low strings the pins were to small. 

For tuning I've used ABM single tuner bridges for headless guitars.


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## The Spanish Inquisition (Jun 7, 2013)

helferlain said:


> They don't.
> 
> The pins were an attemp for a tool free string mounting solution, based on the knots and slings of nylon strings on classical guitars.
> 
> ...



So what are you going to/did you do about the string mounting?


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## helferlain (Jun 7, 2013)

I did nothing. Since this guitar had many other issues, I dropped the whole project. 

I've learned one lesson: Never change / try to may new ideas at one time.

A few builds later, I now work with common 6-string hardware and guitar shapes based on approved designs:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/3586718-post126.html


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## yellow (Jun 8, 2013)

very cool congrats


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