What are decent headless fanned fret guitars for 2021?

[BeyondAntares]

I appreciate the responses. I'm still partial to the strandberg and Mayones but will still get a kiesel once I found a few on sale locally.

 

[RiksRiks]

I appreciate the responses. I'm still partial to the strandberg and Mayones but will still get a kiesel once I found a few on sale locally.

I know there are mixed opinions on Ormsby, but in general I would dare to say they are solid. I have only heard about issues with pickups in the earliest runs and given that you are in Australia maybe you could try one out? I agree the fan is very wide, but what matters is if it fits your style or not. From the multi scales I own (Strandy, Ormsby and GOC) I feel like the one that adapts better to my playing style is the Ormsby.

 

[BeyondAntares]

Thanks, I was exploring ormsby about 7 years ago, I'll check them out, had no idea they did headless now.

 

[odibrom]

Thanks, I was exploring ormsby about 7 years ago, I'll check them out, had no idea they did headless now.

Go 2nd hand, because there a few too many horror stories on custom support...

Personally, I find the Kiesel Vader hideous. As far as visual design goes, Aristides and Strandberg are the best, followed by Skervesen and Mayones. Strandbergs have been said to have relatively poor QC on their price range...

 

[Ziltoid]

Thanks, I was exploring ormsby about 7 years ago, I'll check them out, had no idea they did headless now.

FWIW, I've got 2 7 string Ormsby guitars, including one of the headless Goliath models and they've been great. They are both relatively early and I honestly haven't had any issues, had them for over a year now and have used one of them near every day.

 

[BeyondAntares]

Go 2nd hand, because there a few too many horror stories on custom support...

Personally, I find the Kiesel Vader hideous. As far as visual design goes, Aristides and Strandberg are the best, followed by Skervesen and Mayones. Strandbergs have been said to have relatively poor QC on their price range...

Thanks, I found a qatsi deluge second hand, but it's been a challenge find a headless. There are some J series Strandbergs on ebay but hard to find the right one.

I'll be honest the kiesel vader, I never liked the look but was taken by the price point and the neck-through design. It's hard to find other neck through headless guitars.

FWIW, I've got 2 7 string Ormsby guitars, including one of the headless Goliath models and they've been great. They are both relatively early and I honestly haven't had any issues, had them for over a year now and have used one of them near every day.

That's good to hear. I'll see if I can make a trip to perth to give the goliaths a try.

 

[Hoss632]

Thanks, I found a qatsi deluge second hand, but it's been a challenge find a headless. There are some J series Strandbergs on ebay but hard to find the right one.

I'll be honest the kiesel vader, I never liked the look but was taken by the price point and the neck-through design. It's hard to find other neck through headless guitars.



That's good to hear. I'll see if I can make a trip to perth to give the goliaths a try.

There is also the Chris Letchford signature from Kiesel which is multi-scale and neck-thru. Maybe the shape is more to your liking. Pretty much just as customizable as the Vader is.

 

[Nitro]

I can add another vote for Ormsby. The only headless or multi scale I've owned is my Ormsby Goliath GTR, but I tried out a couple of Standbergs in shops in the past. With Ormsby there's two ranges - the GTR production guitars built by World Music, and the hand built guitars. There's obviously a significant price difference, and most people will be looking at the World Music GTRs. My GTR is a really nicely built guitar (most of my other guitars are high end US and Japanese made guitars). The Ormsby has great fret finishing, good hardware, beautiful finish etc. The multi scale is fairly aggressive, but I didn't have any issues adapting to it quickly - and it's my go to 7 string now, even through all my 6s are straight frets.

 

[littlebadboy]

I ordered an Agile Geodesic 62527. For less then $600. Let's see how it goes.

 

[fabronaut]

With Ormsby there's two ranges - the GTR production guitars built by World Music, and the hand built guitars. There's obviously a significant price difference, and most people will be looking at the World Music GTRs.

They're also adding another price tier soon - GTI models, presumably at a specific factory selected in China / Indonesia to reduce the cost of labour while having similar / same appointments? hopefully it doesn't cut too many corners and is consistent. I've been eyeing the Korean made stuff on and off for ages. if I was more consistent with practicing and developing my skills, I probably would've jumped on one of the 7 or 8 Goliath or Hype models by now. (RIP wallet if they bring back the purple to pink colour shift paint job.)

apparently the GTI models will have an Evertune bridge option with a fan, neutral point at the bridge, much like the multi-scale Floyds that are out there. not sure if Evertune will bother prototyping a fanned variant of their bridge. there isn't really a de facto standard for scale length and neutral fret position. I assume production tooling may not be profitable unless someone hits massive success in volume sales or has an industry wide splash we haven't seen yet. think of the impact that Steve Vai's Universe / JEM models had for Ibanez -- that level of buzz. small companies have made their own custom tremolo variants but goddamn, are they ever expensive.

the GTR stuff will likely remain the price / performance sweet spot, as well made Korean guitars are stupid good from a consistency standpoint. I believe the Agile ones are mostly (all?) made in Korea. the LP neck through I have is well spec'd, it just weighs a ton. not too many Agile models kicking around here in Canada, probably b/c we get hammered with massive shipping and import / handling charges when it crosses the border. kind of a major piss-off when it's made overseas anyway, but what can you do.

anyone anywhere can make great guitars, provided that they know what they're doing and rigorously QC so nothing lacking leaves the shop. regional generalizations would be more accurately tied to specific factories / shops, but brands aren't likely to tell you where they're specifically made in case they switch or have competitors saturate the production queue.

in spite of the Jackson X Series DKAF7 multiscale (presumably Cort, made in Indonesia) having a disappointing fret dress / crown job that turned me off from actually playing the damn thing, it was nice to be able to try a fan fret guitar recently. I'll have one some day. maybe it'll be the first 7 string I own, who knows. looking forward to hearing about more fanless stuff, will lurk and learn as I go!

 

[DudeManBrother]

I’ve had 4 strandbergs and they were decent, save one that was quite nice. Nine of them can touch my Padalkas though. If you want a modern FF headless: that’s where I’d go.

 

[bzhang9]

how many strings?

I play primarily ibanez, tried a bunch of headless/multiscale. for 6/7 strings they don't play any better, probably worse, its just novelty and the different in tension is negligible to have much benefit. For 8 strings its probably worth it to try multiscale, as good as the MIJ Ibby 8s play.

 

[BeyondAntares]

Thanks. I've played Ibanez guitars since 1995. I've played RG550's, Sabers, Jems, Jcustoms and Universe's but sold them a few years ago.

I'm looking at playing mostly 7 and 8 strings. I found the 27" neck string tension too high for the high E and B strings, where bends felt too hard to pull off. I'd rather have the multiscale that's not too dramatic and have higher tension on the lower 3 strings and lower tension on the higher strings.

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

Recently, and due a couple of medium-range purchases (Agile Chiral, Ormsby Goliath), I'm now fully bought into the multi-scale design as the only logical option for 8-string and beyond (totally agree w/ Tosin ). Not just easier intonation, but the high strings sound so much sweeter, anyway, besides the point I'd like to make.

So, re the Agile Chiral, I was not only surprised by the specs (SS frets, 3-piece Wenge/Maple neck, ebony fb, Fishman moderns), but it was almost flawless, perfect fret endings, awesome back of neck satin finish, great fit & finish overall. My 2 minor gripes were the bridge saddles (adequate) but they recently changed the design, I got the old one, and I like to upgrade them (in the works). The other issue has to do w/ wiring, but that's a trivial fix. Overall, great experience there. I was terribly worried about the 28.5" inch on the bass side, but 30 mins. were enough to get me used to it.

Now, re Ormsby, I got a Goliath GTR black and white, here:

I was not prepared for this thing. First of all, it is chambered, so it weighs like nothing, but still sounds great. I like the neck pickup (Alnico II), bridge pickup is not bad per se, but definitely not suited for anything metal w/ 8-strings (no tightness/clarity on bass side), so plan on replacing it.
Everything else is perfect, fit/finish, SS frets, custom Hipshot hardware. This will definitely not be my last Goliath, already looking forward to current & future Goliath GTR runs.

 

[Dayn]

Thanks, I was exploring ormsby about 7 years ago, I'll check them out, had no idea they did headless now.

Yeah mate, if you're Australian, check out Ormsby's offerings. You'll have no problem enforcing your consumer law rights compared to overseas brands. I see all these interesting things here, but I always know that unless an Australian retailer sells it it's always a gamble.

 

[G_3_3_k_]

Strandbergs are hot garbage, and I personally won't give Kiesel a cent. The Mayones Hydra is a definite winner.

I want Strandberg to be successful. Cool design. Interesting neck profile. They just have terribly inconsistent delivery with the exception of the J Series. I want one. But I also want it to not suck. Especially for that kind of money. Would love for prices to be more reasonable based on location of manufacture as well.

That is my mistake, I've mixed up VanderMeij and Valravn.

I was gonna say, VanderMeij makes so quality stuff. Though they don't get mentioned much around here.

There is also the Chris Letchford signature from Kiesel which is multi-scale and neck-thru. Maybe the shape is more to your liking. Pretty much just as customizable as the Vader is.

The Chris Letchford is a set neck. Not a neck through. One of the few Kiesel headless guitars I like the design of. Maybe the only one. I won't give them a penny though until Jeff steps down. I've also seen some issues with the way that the pilot holes are drilled for the nut/string locks at the end is splitting the wood. Looks like along the grain.

If I were looking at a headless design, I'd be looking at Padalka. Simon's guitars are unbelievably good. One of the few I'd put next to my Oni. Speaking of, I'd love for Dan to figure out how he'd like to address that situation. A headless Oni would be unreal.

 

[Ben Pinkus]

Neither vandermeji or eq have a headless model. So they are lumped in with parlor acoustic builders in terms of modernity in my book.

I swear I have seen a one off Vandermeij headless - but yeah the magistra is his main offering to my knowledge.

I'd probably go Aristides out of the choices listed, some other options that I don't think have been listed:

Skervesen
Padalka

 

[BeyondAntares]

Holy shit, I've just watched a padalka neptune - making of video. These look incredible. I don't know if I could ever afford it though, but it looks crazy good!

 

[jco5055]

I swear I have seen a one off Vandermeij headless - but yeah the magistra is his main offering to my knowledge.

I'd probably go Aristides out of the choices listed, some other options that I don't think have been listed:

Skervesen
Padalka

Yes a single Vandermeij headless model does exist, it was just a prototype/test though

 

[Hoss632]

I want Strandberg to be successful. Cool design. Interesting neck profile. They just have terribly inconsistent delivery with the exception of the J Series. I want one. But I also want it to not suck. Especially for that kind of money. Would love for prices to be more reasonable based on location of manufacture as well.



I was gonna say, VanderMeij makes so quality stuff. Though they don't get mentioned much around here.



The Chris Letchford is a set neck. Not a neck through. One of the few Kiesel headless guitars I like the design of. Maybe the only one. I won't give them a penny though until Jeff steps down. I've also seen some issues with the way that the pilot holes are drilled for the nut/string locks at the end is splitting the wood. Looks like along the grain.

If I were looking at a headless design, I'd be looking at Padalka. Simon's guitars are unbelievably good. One of the few I'd put next to my Oni. Speaking of, I'd love for Dan to figure out how he'd like to address that situation. A headless Oni would be unreal.

Ah my fault on the misquote. Also I had forgotten about the issues with the pilot holes for the nut/string locks. Once you mentioned it I remembered seeing several things about that and remembered why I wasn't considering a headless from Kiesel any longer.