Headless Guitars

Earnie Bailey was mesmerized as a kid, sitting in the front row of an Earth, Wind & Fire concert and seeing all the instruments up close! This experience inspired him to go to the library to learn all he could about guitar building and repair. While in high school Earnie made a guitar in wood shop, which led to requests from his friends to repair their instruments. While working as a repairman for music stores by day, in his off hours Earnie provided his services for free to area rock bands in exchange for concert tickets.

Kieran Downes played piano as a child, but switched to bass in high school to play in a friend's band, and later discover his true musical passion when he picked up his brother’s guitar. While experimenting with building his own instruments at night, Kieran had an impressive educational journey that included MIT and Evergreen College as well as a gig at an advertising company for four years. These experiences may have played a role in his bold approach to designing guitars. Kieran opened his own shop in 2014 and spent a great deal of time designing the body shape, picking the wood

Stuart Spector’s creation of the Spector Bass is recognized around the world.  As Stuart explained, little has changed in the design of the Spector guitar since it was first created in 1974.  Three years later Stuart hired a furniture builder named Ned Steinberger, who designed the famed NS headless bass.  When Kramer Musical Instruments purchased Spector, a series of Kramer-Spector instruments were produced between 1986 and 1990 including the NS-6 electric guitar.  Years later he formed Stuart Spector Designs and created a host

Ned Steinberger is known around the world for his innovative instrument designs. His guitars and basses created without the traditional headstock gained wide popularity in the 1980s rock era and have come to be known simply as Steinbergers. When he formed NS Designs in 1990, Ned focused on electric classical instruments such as the double bass, bass cello, cello, viola and violin. Ned’s passion for making musical instruments is clear in the sound of each of his products. He remains one of the great innovators of the music products industry.