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Here's my headless Ibanez :) (lemmy.nz)
submitted 6 days ago by viral.vegabond@piefed.social to c/guitars@lemmy.world
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I've been playing this beauty almost every day for a few months now, probably about 30 minute sessions on average. I started to play some today but my fretting hand was giving me some not-so-good feelings when I was playing some bar chord heavy stuff so I decided to wait... This has been happening infrequently, and I had a pretty good session yesterday, so I figure I'm probably still recovering from that.

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[-] deadbeef79000 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

TIL about headless guitars.

What are the advantages of having all the tuning gizmos at the other end of the string?

Or rather, why is having them at the head typical?

Edit: I can actually search for things for my self: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_guitar

To address the common issue of "neck dive"—the tendency of bass guitars to tip forward due to their long, heavy necks...

And solid bodies:

...tuners in the bridge of an acoustic also would have severely dampened the resonance of the top, another issue rendered moot on a solidbody instrument...

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Better balance, lighter weight, shorter overall length, more compact/travel friendly. Plus they look badass to me 😁

[-] pH3ra@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The only reason to have tuners on a guitar headstock is because you can pick the strings with your strumming hand while you tune with your fretting end, and that's the most comfortable and immediate way to do it.

Tuning a headless guitar reverses that and makes it a tiny bit more cumbersome, but any other aspect, regarding functionality of course, is objectively better: ligther in weight, smaller dimensions, neck doesn't dive when you play, more resonance, easier to carry around, you don't hit the top of the doorway when you wear the gigback on your shoulders...

[-] n4ch1sm0@piefed.social 6 points 6 days ago

Ohh that's a beauty. Ever since I got a headless myself, headless guitars just look and feel right to me; the lock in mechanism at the head and tuners at the bridge are so reliable and stable too.

Love the color scheme with that mat blue bod and the hardware.

[-] CHOPSTEEQ@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago

My biggest issue with the strandberg I don’t have the skills to deserve to own but do anyway is the bridge tuner. Picking a string and then fumbling the pick out of my fingers so I can twist the peg is a pain. That’s the one bit of muscle memory that I just haven’t been able to deal with.

[-] highduc@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Pick with your other hand. I know its unusual but while adjusting the tuner I find it works well.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

I'll have to give this one a try.

[-] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago

Pluck, pick to mouth, turn the tuner, pick to hand

[-] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago

Don’t do this though. I accidentally swallowed a pick doing something like this in high school, and I choked. It blocked my wind pipe and I was basically fucked. Thank god someone was there and witnessed it, and my English teacher had to basically dry hump me, but thank fuck he was able to get it dislodged. I was fading hard.

Also wasn’t good for trying to pick the babe that sat in front of me up. I don’t think she was able to get the image of that whole event out of her head after that, and it really salted my game. Or at least that’s what I still tell myself, here 30 years later.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

That sounds rough! Glad you ended up being ok! Sorry about your game getting salted too 😆

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

Gross. You can also learn to tuck the pick into your bent middle finger. The guitarist from The Police did this when switching between picking and finger picking, like for things like artificial harmonics, which require an available thumb and finger on your right hand. (I suppose you could do it with just two fingers on the right hand, but that would be crazy.)

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So, I'm trying to picture what you're talking about here. Typically, I've been moving the pick into the palm of my hand where I hold it with the tip of my middle finger while I adjust the tuner.

Also, I've never heard of artificial harmonics 🤯

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago

When I would do it, one edge of the pick was was in the fold of the middle finger between the last segment and second segment, the other edge of the pick is in the bend where the first segment meets the palm. The tip of the finger doesn’t touch the palm. Or doesn’t have to anyway.

[-] n4ch1sm0@piefed.social 2 points 6 days ago

I get it. Sounds like you may be able to benefit from something like this:

OWHC69JcyZK2onY.jpg

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

I was eyeballing that brand too before I pulled the trigger on this one, but holy shit they are expensive! You should do a post about that one if you'd like to.

Definitely agree on the pick fumbling. I've typically been palming the pick with my middle finger after picking, but it's still an awkward little extra movement to have to do. I'll take that tradeoff though 😁

[-] CHOPSTEEQ@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

Your comment about your fretting hand giving you problems is kinda why I was looking at strandberg in the first place. I picked up skateboarding as a Covid hobby and my 30 year old wrist didn’t like falling on it, that left me in a similar situation to you where I could get a half hour of low intensity playing before it was just too uncomfortable to keep going. They advertise their neck profile is some hyper ergonomic design, and maybe I drank the koolaid but I swear it made a huge difference. I’m finally back to normal and I still find it more comfortable to play than my traditional necked instruments.

Maybe I’ll do a lil writeup.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

Very interesting. Now you've got me wanting to play one. I've watched a few reviews before, so I know about the angular neck design. I wouldn't have made the connection about it potentially alleviating wrist pains though 🤔 I may have to do some more research. I also feel like part of it could be from my posture (I don't think I've ever had 'proper' posture when playing).

Looking forward to it!

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

I know headless are off-putting to some but for me I absolutely love it. It looks really cool, it's lightweight, compact, and balanced. Tuning does take some adjustment, but that's something I'm willing to deal with. Lol

The one thing I've been considering is different pickups possibly. I'm not big on the contrast, personally, and the neck pickup is so chunky that I find myself hitting it with my pick often. This may be something that better technique could remedy, but I can't help but wonder if I'd like a HSS pickup configuration guitar better... The rabbit hole deepens. 😅

[-] tigermountain@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Excellent job of regularly playing. How is it to play?

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

Thank you!

It plays really great. It has as much capability as I'll ever need, that's for sure. Nicest guitar I've ever had.

[-] tigermountain@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Cool, man.

[-] baronvonj@piefed.social 4 points 6 days ago

What type of music do you play?

[-] lord_of_shrimps@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I'm a sucker for brass(or brass-like finished) hardware. Really nice

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

Not to disappoint but I think the light is throwing it off a bit. In real life it's more of a nickle finish. Here's a gold hardware model and a regular one for comparison:

mIEXSGF9UAWk4WR.jpg

Z3RhYfhUweEdyax.jpg

[-] glitchy_nobody@leminal.space 2 points 6 days ago

I really like these, but I like my other headless guitar more and can't justify another.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

What do you have?

[-] glitchy_nobody@leminal.space 2 points 5 days ago

I picked up a Legator Revenant seven string and the build quality was a lot better than expected. Only downside is the so-so pickups but, even still, they are wire around magnets and get the job done.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

Wow, yeah those look really sleek. I like the colorways/designs on the body.

[-] glitchy_nobody@leminal.space 2 points 5 days ago

Right?! I was so tempted to get a strandberg but, wasn't sure if I would like the neck. Saw the Legator and was immediately obsessed, I had to have it.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

How did the price compare?

[-] glitchy_nobody@leminal.space 1 points 5 days ago

The strandberg boden metal 7 string is $2,100. I was also looking at their 6 strings with the new trem but they cost even more for anything interesting. I really didn't want to buy without trying because of the endure neck and an unfamiliar trem. Unfortunately I can't try one without taking a road trip.

The Legator was $1200, and I knew ahead of time that I will probably upgrade to fishman fluence pickups at some point. Even then, $1500 or so for something I like way more seems like the wining play.

[-] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

Nice save, sounds like you got a sweet-ass deal man!

I don't know much about pickups, what makes those special?

[-] glitchy_nobody@leminal.space 2 points 5 days ago

Yeah! I like to do some research and find out what I really want. This time it definitely paid off.

Fishman Fluence are just really nice modern active pickups with a few different voicings like classic PAF humbuckers and single coils.

this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
120 points (97.6% liked)

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