HazBeen Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) So I came home today to this……. (See pics) My 1984, serial 067 Streamer headstock (it was a glued repair) has miraculously let go…. The body has a minor dent at the bottom from my guitar rack, and obviously the bass is beheaded. Like Gibsons, the early Streamers were prone to breakage due to not having a volute. The break was pretty ugly and repaired by a monkey, but the bass sounds wonderful and glue is stronger than wood. So I used it quite often, never an issue. But since it has let go and I will probable never be able to sell anyway, I have hatched a cunning plan….. I could replace a large part of the top of neck and headstock with new wood, add some splines ….. basic traditional Gibson-esque surgery. But I am going to do something else….. I am going to use the wood of the headstock, graft that in place (keeping serial number intact) and turn the bass into a (semi) headless! Will post the plan/design here soon. But the plan is to go from beheaded to headless, using mostly original wood. Edited August 25, 2021 by HazBeen 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 I also had an old beheaded Streamer from the 80's. It had been fixed, broke again when falling from its stand, then binned... I know. 🤦♂️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 There's was an Aria SB on ebay this week which I was considering. Plan was to de-head and convert to headless. Went for more than I would have paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 25, 2021 Author Share Posted August 25, 2021 1 hour ago, Hellzero said: I also had an old beheaded Streamer from the 80's. It had been fixed, broke again when falling from its stand, then binned... I know. 🤦♂️ Not ready to give up on this one yet….. the plan should work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 25, 2021 Author Share Posted August 25, 2021 So one of the really great features of a pre 1996 Wick is the removable trussrod. That means I can - very carefully - graft on what will be the headless “head” without taking the fretboard off. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 sub'd. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterMute Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Good luck, a worthy effort to save a good bass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 Ordered a headless bridge/string clamp from Nova. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted August 27, 2021 Share Posted August 27, 2021 They are very good Harry. Wise choice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 Slow beginnings…… Frets are almost dead, so will do a refret (assuming I can do the fix). Frets came out without too much fuss. Also made a small start in getting the neck ready for the new “head” to be glued on. Mainly to check there are not further hidden cracks. I will make the angle even shallower to ensure I have as much surface areas as I can for the glue up, but need to know how the hardware sits to get it spot on. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Dat Wengé grain, tho... This promises to be sooooo sexy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Henrythe8 said: Dat Wengé grain, tho... This promises to be sooooo sexy. It is a naturally gorgeous wood, and that looks like a good piece of it. May I be the first to suggest, after you work out the hardware, especially the bridge tuners / tuner block, that you add some chambers to the body to tune the balance? Without the headstock it may be bridge heavy. I'd say see how it is, but I'd expect to see some benefit from weight reduction at both ends if it was nicely balanced before the break. Just a suggestion! Best of luck with this promising project! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 6 hours ago, PlungerModerno said: It is a naturally gorgeous wood, and that looks like a good piece of it. May I be the first to suggest, after you work out the hardware, especially the bridge tuners / tuner block, that you add some chambers to the body to tune the balance? Without the headstock it may be bridge heavy. I'd say see how it is, but I'd expect to see some benefit from weight reduction at both ends if it was nicely balanced before the break. Just a suggestion! Best of luck with this promising project! Appreciate the suggestion. The old Streamer body is too slim to chamber anything realistically, but I do not think it will be any issue. The Nova bridge is very light, lighter than the Schaller roller bridge it originally had. Add to the the recess I will need to make (probably) in the body to create proper access to the tuning knobs and I am 99% sure balance will not be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 30, 2021 Author Share Posted August 30, 2021 BTW, it was 3.7kg to start. I imagine we can knock it down to 3.6kg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 I hate it, but I love it Sad to see it beyond repair, but really cool plan and I look forward to the finished result! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 1 hour ago, LeftyJ said: I hate it, but I love it Sad to see it beyond repair, but really cool plan and I look forward to the finished result! Get it. I would very much have preferred it to not be the case, but the brake was pretty bad to start with so reglueing would have been far from ideal. This way I can keep the soul of the original, but fix it so that it is actually ready for the next 37 years… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted August 31, 2021 Share Posted August 31, 2021 18 hours ago, HazBeen said: BTW, it was 3.7kg to start. I imagine we can knock it down to 3.6kg. Cool. Even with the heavily contoured and slim body, if you had a heavier bridge and lighter (or no) headstock you might find the balance off, certainly different than it was before. It will probably be to your liking as is, I hear good things about the Nova system, but you may even want to add weight to the bridge end of the bass depending on how much you like the "bridge heavy" feel lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 Just parking this one here…… if you followed my tandem build thread you will remember I took the Thunderbird pickups out of my Bogart. Tonight I routed the Bogart body to fit a PJ config and made a new pickguard. Just waiting on a new battery box to be delivered and will then add a Noll TCM4XM pre to the Geezer setup. I need this done so I can focus on the Streamer. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 Look what just arrived from the wonderful @Andre_Passini Soon I will have 2 basses sporting Nova hardware 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre_Passini Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 This is great Harry! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 Looks pretty good! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre_Passini Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Looks Amazing Harry! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted September 4, 2021 Author Share Posted September 4, 2021 On 31/08/2021 at 21:55, HazBeen said: Just parking this one here…… if you followed my tandem build thread you will remember I took the Thunderbird pickups out of my Bogart. Tonight I routed the Bogart body to fit a PJ config and made a new pickguard. Just waiting on a new battery box to be delivered and will then add a Noll TCM4XM pre to the Geezer setup. I need this done so I can focus on the Streamer. This one is now 100% complete and working well. So full attention to the Streamer. The key challenge will be routing the bridge and tuner knob recesses as the body is curved. But I have already sussed out how to do that without issues. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 Have been working on the Streamer, unfortunately it looks as if the broken off headstock will not work as a basis for the new headless. I will most likely build up from Wenge “left overs” I have. I have plenty to make a stable “graft” 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard R Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Following with interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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