Headless Monster

I suppose it was inevitable.

Monster's parting comment after our video shoot was, "You're lucky Orchid belongs to a 16-year old girl. Otherwise the bass would be going home with me."

It might have been a threat. I'm not sure.

So I called him a few days later to see if we were still friends. Conversation went something like this:

Me: "Yo, Monster!"
Monster: "Wassup, Dude!"
Me: "Hey, I was thinking of..."
Monster: "...5-string."

Seemed like marching orders.

In collaboration with the Maestro, a beast emerges: "HEADLESS MONSTER"

1. We are cutting off Orchid's head (gasp)
2. I've designed, prototyped, and am machining a new type of bridge & tuning system (?!)
3. Asymmetrical trapezoidal neck profile (?!)
4. Curly maple stacked laminate neck
5. Curly walnut, Honduras & Philippine (ribbon grain) mahogany, and ebony (accented) body
6. Stainless steel hardware throughout, including frets & bridge/tuning system
7. Pickup system under evaluation
8. Monster (very scary) inlay at the octave
9. I might just run out of fretwire at the 5th...

:)

HEADLESS MONSTER SERIES:

Aaaahhrrrgg...they're MULTIPLYING!!!
Headless Monster
Lever Tuning System
Asymmetrical Trapezoidal Neck Profile
Um...

Comments

[Joachim]

Sweet! I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

[The Increduble Bulk]

Love the book matched body. It's only in the embryonic stages and it already needs no laquer finish. HUzzzzzaaaah!
Can't wait to hear this one.

[05Ric]

I very much look forward to seeing how this turns out :)

[Raphael Pulgar]

what do you think of philippine mahogany tonewise? i live in the philippines and there are a lot of luthiers here using philippine mahogany. although players seem to be against it because its a local wood (blame colonial mentality on that one lol). but id like your opinon on it's tone and application because quite frankly, i think its a very beautiful grained wood. how does it differ with other, more endemic species of mahogany there?

[Rick Toone]

Raphael — thanks for your question.

Quite honestly, I think any species of wood can make a fine instrument. Cherry, oak, pine, hickory and locust are all local woods here in the northeast US that I think have unusual tonal and aesthetic properties. Why not reach out?

Break free of the crowd! Sound different!

Construction of the neck is the most important influence on the tone of an instrument, in my experience.

When I previously built yachts, we used quite a bit of mahogany. I've always thought it to be beautiful and stable — no matter which variety. I love the idea of building with local species...wherever you live.