Do headless guitars look wrong on stage?

[Bloody_Inferno]

When I was a kid and saw Bill & Ted being rewarded with Steinberger paddles, I thought those guitars were the coolest things ever.

Today... I don't care what anyone thinks or says, I still want a Steinberger paddle.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

Do headless guitars look wrong on stage?

As long as they balance right, I see no problem. The only heastocks I don't like are the tiny Music Man ones, which look like a crippled hand or something like that.

 

[feraledge]

None more metal.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Given what you said in a recent thread about Schecter, I'm starting to think you worry way too much about image, rather than the substance.

 

[Science_Penguin]

Given what you said in a recent thread about Schecter, I'm starting to think you worry way too much about image, rather than the substance.

Ouch... Well, that explains why the OP's fallen silent...

Still, I guess that's one more vote in favour of headstocks. If you care that much about a logo, you gotta have somewhere to put it, right?

When I was a kid and saw Bill & Ted being rewarded with Steinberger paddles, I thought those guitars were the coolest things ever.

Today... I don't care what anyone thinks or says, I still want a Steinberger paddle.

To be fair, those were GP's, and, in my opinion, they're the coolest looking of the paddle guitars. Almost like a Micro-Flying V. If I HAD to pick from the paddles, that's the one I'd get.

If only for the pickguard, really. When I see a top-routed guitar, I see potential for experimentation. Grab myself a blank sheet, maybe something in a nice chrome mirror, cut out the basic shape with the original as a template, and then route it for a 3 single coil configuration. OOH! Or P90's! That'd be sweet...

 

[GuitarBizarre]

Ouch... Well, that explains why the OP's fallen silent...

Still, I guess that's one more vote in favour of headstocks. If you care that much about a logo, you gotta have somewhere to put it, right?



To be fair, those were GP's, and, in my opinion, they're the coolest looking of the paddle guitars. Almost like a Micro-Flying V. If I HAD to pick from the paddles, that's the one I'd get.

If only for the pickguard, really. When I see a top-routed guitar, I see potential for experimentation. Grab myself a blank sheet, maybe something in a nice chrome mirror, cut out the basic shape with the original as a template, and then route it for a 3 single coil configuration. OOH! Or P90's! That'd be sweet...

See, I actually think these look amazing, but then, I'm the kind of guy where the speclist being as incredible as it is for the money these go for, that it might have affected my view of the aesthetics.

https://cdn.ustatik.com/article/gear/1/3471_1_ver1465868074.jpg

 

[Science_Penguin]

See, I actually think these look amazing, but then, I'm the kind of guy where the speclist being as incredible as it is for the money these go for, that it might have affected my view of the aesthetics.

https://cdn.ustatik.com/article/gear/1/3471_1_ver1465868074.jpg

That's fair. On a spec level, those guitars are real nice, and I've always liked that shade of blue on maple tops. I'm just... REALLY not a big fan of the square shape.
Also, I use straplocks pretty much across the board on all my instruments, and I don't see how I could make those work with that upper strap... thing...

 

[eugeneelgr]

It's funny, all this resurgence in headless guitars in recent years was started by Strandberg, yet no mention of it in this thread at all.

To the dude that mentioned Kiesel Vader and not strandberg, you should be ashamed of yourself.

JKJK I personally think headless guitars look wierd when doing a hard rock/classic rock gig, but if you're doing metal or fusion or prog, I think the look is really cool on stage.

 

[Casper777]

Well I think I will share my experience here...

Since I got my first Strandberg one year ago, I played several gigs with them! and I must say that there is a similar pattern for people in the public.

First, the headless guitar, it's true will always draw some attention from people and I like it! They are curious, ask about it, etc...

Then there are typically 3 types of reactions:

- The non-musician adults: the usualy like it and find it pretty and strange. A mix of surprise and something else
- Kids: (I mean little kids 10yo (yes I played a summer festival with kids haedbanging evrywhere on stage ) They LOVE the guitar, find it super funny and cool and......
- The musician: They find it ugly, don't like it... One guy even told me (completely drunk) "you should play your nice music on a nice guitar, like I don't know a Flying V... " yeah, sure...

So this leads me to the following conclusion:

1) musicians are stuck with cliché and are so used to some shapes that they actually are the most closed-minded in the public. You should play metal on a black pointy guitar, country on a telecaster and good ol' rock on a Les Paul... you see the point
2) fresh minds (kids) that are note "polluted" by the predefined ideas are the most open minded and actually LOVE those new shapes and colors!

Then to each his own.

One thing though... Headless guitars look quite weird when played on the knees They look more at thei place up against the chest Like a Les Paul would look weird played Plini style

But again... influenced by the image we have (of Slash wearing his Les Paul down so low...).

One last thing... I personnaly LOVE when I take my Boden on stage, turn in front of the crowd and look at the face of people!!!!!

 

[Science_Penguin]

ne thing though... Headless guitars look quite weird when played on the knees They look more at thei place up against the chest Like a Les Paul would look weird played Plini style

Now I'm just trying to picture a Punk rocker playing a Strandberg slung way down below the belt, and I kind of want someone to actually try it.

It would never happen, because no one would spend that kind of money on a guitar like that to play anything less than Prog or Fusion, but, you know, that's kind of why I want to see it. Just for how wrong it would be.

 

[pullingstraws]

Scott Hull definitely pulls it off on stage IMHO. He also isn't chest-rocking or shredding up any fusion solos either.

 

[bpprox22]

There are guitars that I can't stand looking at but if it sounds good, I don't really care if it has an extra chunk of wood (or lack of) on it or not... Completely subjective of course.

 

[stevexc]

Now I'm just trying to picture a Punk rocker playing a Strandberg slung way down below the belt, and I kind of want someone to actually try it.

It would never happen, because no one would spend that kind of money on a guitar like that to play anything less than Prog or Fusion, but, you know, that's kind of why I want to see it. Just for how wrong it would be.

>implying punk is "less than" prog or fusion

I get what you mean, though, if you're spending that kind of money on an ergo guitar it's likely for ergonomic reasons. Although that Pig Destroyer link kinda disproves that

 

[Science_Penguin]

I really should know better than to say "never"... Guess some people REALLY must like how Strandbergs look, regardless of the REASON they look the way they do... I dunno, do you get any of the benefits of the ergo design when you play that low?

Though, come to think of it, if you're playing on stages that cramped, a headless might be pretty useful regardless...

 

[mrspacecat]

I would say that they look out of place if there's only one headless in the band. It depends on the guy playing it, though. I recently saw Beyond Creation and they all had headless guitars/bass (one was a strandberg), and it looked pretty awesome.

 

[StevenC]

I really should know better than to say "never"... Guess some people REALLY must like how Strandbergs look, regardless of the REASON they look the way they do... I dunno, do you get any of the benefits of the ergo design when you play that low?

Though, come to think of it, if you're playing on stages that cramped, a headless might be pretty useful regardless...

As far as the body shape of a Strandberg, there are no ergonomic qualities when standing up, aside from the obvious stuff like a belly carve and having a strap button in the right place. The Boden and Varberg shapes are designed to sit comfortably on your legs. Standing up, the guitar will be no more or less ergonomic if the strap is high or low.

The ergonomic design elements of a Strandberg that will come through when playing standing up are the light weight body and the EndurNeck. It'll save your back just as much if it's in your chest as round your knees, and provided you use it properly, the EndurNeck will do what it's supposed to.

When I came across Strandberg, the big selling point for me was that it weighed so little, because I have back problems and I can't play any of my other guitars for as long as I can the Strandberg.