Are there any real advantages to a headless guitar?
Believe it or not, yes.
Headless guitars look goofy and always have, but they've been around for a long time, so players do buy these things. There are plenty of choices available - some of which are quite affordable.
The advantages to using a headless guitar
Lighter in weight (typically)
Most headless guitars are purposely built using smaller bodies since they don't need to counterbalance the weight of a headstock since there isn't any. As such, overall weight is usually quite light.
Absolutely no neck dive
I'm pretty sure the headless guitar is the only one where I can absolutely say it will never have neck dive. The majority of the weight is always in the body and there are no heavy tuners on the neck, so yes, one could say you are guaranteed no neck dive.
More portable
More often than not you get the same scale length on a headless as you would on a full-bodied electric, but because the body is smaller and there's no headstock, the instrument will fit in more gig bags. The lack of headstock also makes it shorter and lighter, so it's easier to carry a gig bag on your back when walking around with it.
Nobody wants to play it
This sounds like a negative, but it's a positive. Players unfamiliar with headless guitars are literally afraid of them. They see that weird looking guitar and think, "I'm not touching that thing." This is good, because you don't want other people touching your guitar, right? Right. Chances are pretty good whenever you bring the guitar anywhere there are people, they will of course want to look at it but not play it. And that's a-okay.
The disadvantages
The only real disadvantage is the tuner setup, namely for when they wear out. Tuner parts will be more expensive. And that's assuming they're even available for your particular headless guitar. However, given that tuners take a very long time to wear out, this isn't much of an issue.
Generally speaking, the best type of headless electric guitar to own is one that has no vibrato system on it at all, as in hardtail. No vibrato means no vibrato system to break and give you a few extra years out of your headless guitar as long as you maintain it properly.
Telecaster is a good example of a one-and-done guitar
Guitar minimalism has its benefits.
When I was going through my Jazzmaster phase, I embraced the guitar with all its complications. Two circuits with two sets of volume and tone controls, an always-floating vibrato system, and ridiculously high-treble pickups (with traditional 1meg volume pot, thank you very much). But then I switched over to Telecaster which is the polar opposite.
Single circuit, two knobs, no vibrato (meaning no floating anything), and a sound that I describe as much more civilized.
Is the Telecaster the ultimate minimalist guitar? No. The ultimate minimalist electric guitar is a build so simple that most won't dare to make one.
Imagine an Esquire (basically a Telecaster without the neck pickup) with no controls whatsoever, meaning the pickup is wired straight to the output jack. That's as minimalist as it gets.
But as I said, most guys who build guitars won't dare to put a guitar together like that. They will at least put in one toggle switch as an on/off for the pickup to cut the signal. I'm in agreement with that, because otherwise I'd have to use a footswitch to cut the signal, adding in needless bulk just for basic volume control.
As my guitar journey continues, I now gravitate towards guitars with two pickups and a minimal complement of controls.
My next guitar as I talked about in my last article might have 5 controls on it, meaning 4 knobs and one pickup selector. Said honestly, I'm not really a fan of that and prefer the 3-control system of one volume, one tone, one pickup selector. But if it happens to be that the next guitar is a 5-control thing, it's not unusable. I can work with it, albeit it's slightly annoying to deal with.
While true the Telecaster isn't the ultimate minimalist guitar, it does totally qualify as a one-and-done instrument.
Someone asked me on YouTube recently that if I had to pick just one electric guitar, which would I choose? Easy answer. Telecaster. That guitar allows me to get the most usable sounds with the least complications.
This doesn't mean I'm a Tele player for life, but I've done the complicated guitar thing and concentrate more on playing now. Better to do that rather than trying to muck about with a guitar that has needless stuff that just gets in the way.
The guitars I still want that I haven't owned yet
I have a to-do list of guitars I still want to own, and this is what I want.
Up to this point in my guitar playing life, I've owned most of the famous guitar shapes. Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Les Paul, Rhoads style V (with short fin on the bottom), and even a Warlock at one point (not a B.C. Rich but still a "true" Warlock style).
What's left on my to-do list are the other Gibson shapes.
One of them is an SG, the "1961" Epiphone G-400 PRO. When I say "Gibson shape", the guitar doesn't have to be made by Gibson. I'm fine with Epiphone or other guitar company that can make a close approximation without being an outright ripoff.
The closest I ever was to an SG style guitar was the Ibanez GAX30 and AX120 that I previously owned. Decent enough guitars but the neck did not agree with my fret hand at all, so I had to part with them.
And before continuing, the #1 reason why I've not owned more Gibson shape guitars is because of the neck. Epiphone, much like Squier, just loves putting skinny flat necks on their guitars that feel totally wrong.
However, every so often, Epiphone does sneak out a thick-necked model. But you really have to hunt for them because their web site tells you next to nothing about neck thickness. The only way to find one is to go to a guitar store, pick one up, try it and see how the thickness feels.
I'm almost at the point where I may bring along a vernier caliper whenever I go to the guitar store just so I can measure neck thickness right on the spot.
Let's get on to the other shapes.
I've already mentioned the first one, the SG.
Second on the list is the Explorer. At the time I write this, there is one and only one Epiphone "1958" Korina Explorer in Ebony out there, but there will probably be more. Gorgeous. And expensive. But what a looker. Love it. It's one of the few instances where I'm totally okay with the gold hardware because it just looks so nice against the black with white guard.
Third on the list is the ES-335. I've played the smaller Les-Paul-sized ES-339, but didn't really care for it. I'd like to at least try an ES-335 "full size" just to see how it feels.
Where the ES-335 semi-hollow body is concerned, it doesn't necessary have to be an Epiphone. I can get a semi-hollow ES-335-ish looking guitar for literally under 200 bucks new, so it may very well be this will be the one I go with first since there is the most choice.
Most other guitar companies don't do SG shapes aside from Epiphone, and a proper Explorer is a tough one to get. I've never seen a proper Explorer for a decent price. But the ES-335 shape? Easy to get. And cheap.
That being said, there may be an ES-335 type guitar in the barn this year. Watch for it.
Casio W735HB (I wish this strap was offered on G-SHOCK)
I like this watch so much, I bought two!
It has taken me a long, long time to finally find a big Casio that fits my wrist correctly. I finally found it with the Casio W735HB.
The W735 measures close to a G-SHOCK DW6900. The DW6900 measures 53.2mm lug-to-lug, 50.0mm case size and 16.3mm thick. The W735 measures 51.4mm lug-to-lug, 47.1mm case size and 16.1mm thick.
On paper, the W735 should not fit my 6.5" wrist, but it does. And the reason it does is 100% because of the strap that I talk about in detail at the tail end of the video seen above.
What many G-SHOCK owners do is get a strap adapter kit to specifically make the watch wear like the W735HB does. When you have a proper nylon strap, what was unwearable is now wearable with no strap tail whatsoever.
The strap on the W735HB is a genius design. The top side is a short length of resin with a thick loop, and the other side is nylon with Velcro and a single strap keeper. It works amazingly well.
If Casio offered this same strap on G-SHOCK watches, it would make for the ultimate G-SHOCK. But no such strap option exists for that line. As far as I can tell, only the W735HB has it...
...if you can find one. I bought the two I have from eBay, and the only North American seller had 3 in stock. Amazon shows 4 in stock at the time I write this. That's it.
While the W735 model with resin strap may stick around a while, the W735HB looks like it may be gone by 2022 or possibly much sooner - hence the reason I made the jump and just got 2 of them now. After receiving the first one, it fit so nicely that it was a no-brainer to order a second one immediately.
Specifications
- Measurements: 51.4 x 47.1 x 16.1mm
- Nylon/resin strap
- 100m water resistance
- "Super Illuminator" LED night light
- Dual time
- 1/100 stopwatch up to 24 hours with 5-second countdown auto start
- Countdown timer from 1 second to 24 hours (no auto-repeat)
- Daily alarm (1 alarm only)
- Hourly time signal
- Vibe alert (when vibration enabled, beeps are disabled, vibrates twice every hour if hourly signal enabled, vibrates if alarm is set, vibrates when countdown timer ends)
- Full auto-calendar up to 2099
- 12/24 hour format
- 10-year battery, battery used is CR2032
Better than a G-SHOCK?
Strictly speaking from a toughness perspective, no. All G-SHOCKs have 200m water resistance and shock-resist technology. The W735 has 100m water resistance and no shock-resist tech - but - it is a rugged piece and built to take some punishment.
The vibration feature, while nice, isn't the big deal about this watch. On the HB model, it's the strap. That strap makes the watch fit just about any wrist without flopping around and no strap tail as said above.
Is the all-resin W735 any good?
Yes. The non-HB is the same watch except with an all-resin strap. It operates exactly the same as the HB models...
...but if you can get the HB with that glorious fabric/resin strap, you'll be glad you did, because it's amazing.
EART guitars are really stepping it up
I'm glad these guitars exist, and I'll tell you why.
Take the EART Explorer-II. My kind of guitar? Not in the slightest, but I'm happy to see them.
The Explorer-II has stainless steel frets, ebony fingerboard, exotic veneer top, 9.5" to 14" fingerboard radius, 24-fret, custom pickups...
...and it's under $1,000. And in three finishes as you'll see on the link. All very exotic looking.
I can remember not-so long ago when axes like this sold for multiple thousands of dollars. The Explorer-II by EART, while not my style of guitar whatsoever, is something I can respect because it's a steal for what they're selling it for.
There are guitar companies right now charging upwards of $2,000 just to get a guitar with stainless steel frets on it. Never mind the ebony fingerboard. Never mind the custom pickups. Never mind the exotic veneer. Just getting those stainless steel frets is something other guitar makers charge thousands for just to get. EART sells it along with some other seriously highfalutin (and legit) stuff for under a grand.
So yeah, I can respect this instrument even if it's not my style of guitar.
I love the fact guitars like this exist at the price they're selling for, because it gives the middle finger to other guitar companies that grossly overcharge for this stuff.
Well done, EART.