neck thickness?

tbassist4 · #1 09-18-2005, 04:22 PM

Hi, and ongoes the story of my China bass. I finally got it into a luthier the other day to have multiple things replaced and repaired. The one thing i didnt have him do was slim down the neck, because that would be an extra hundred or more or i dont remember, but it was a lot of money. I have big hands, and thus far I haven't had any soreness, and i know the neck is a lot thicker than other nicer basses i've played, and i mean a lot thicker. Is there any danger to my hand because of this? Like I said, I have big hands, and i haven't had any soreness thus far, im just wondering what could happen, thx in advance.

JimmyM · #2 09-19-2005, 02:10 AM

Probably nothing. As a matter of fact, I've found that the inverse is true. The thinner the neck, the more problems I have playing it. I enjoy playing an Engelhardt bass for about 5 minutes, but then the thinness of the neck starts to get to me and causes my hand to start feeling sore.

elvinstheman · #3 09-19-2005, 08:29 AM

[quote=tbassist4]I finally got it into a luthier the other day to have multiple things replaced and repaired. The one thing i didnt have him do was slim down the neck, because that would be an extra hundred or more or i dont remember, but it was a lot of money.QUOTE]

You can actually get the neck thinned down? I would really like to have a thinner neck on my Christopher. Are there any ramifications to doing this, such as increased chance of the neck bending over time or anything?

Marc Decho · #4 09-19-2005, 09:51 AM

[quote=elvinstheman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbassist4

I finally got it into a luthier the other day to have multiple things replaced and repaired. The one thing i didnt have him do was slim down the neck, because that would be an extra hundred or more or i dont remember, but it was a lot of money.QUOTE]

You can actually get the neck thinned down? I would really like to have a thinner neck on my Christopher. Are there any ramifications to doing this, such as increased chance of the neck bending over time or anything?

i've got a big ol' chunky neck too, my teach says to have it trimmed down, I personally find it to be a major pain in the ass, the other bass I borrowed a while back felt like I was playing on air compared to mine....my luthier wanted quite a few bucks so I said screw it, i'm not dumping any more $$ into that thing.

elvinstheman · #5 09-19-2005, 03:21 PM

Does anyone know if getting your DB neck thinned down impacts the longevity of the neck or instrument overall?

I'm seriously thinking about having HA do that for me but want to know the side-effects if any.

Thanks!

tbassist4 · #6 09-19-2005, 09:49 PM

well, id assume it might, but it depends. The neck of my bass is VERY VERY Thick compared to regular basses, so im sure mine is definetly thicker than needed, so there is extraneous wood. If you bought a decent bass and you can deal with the neck then i dont think id recommend slimming it down. A lot of things could happen, the neck could slowly start to bow, possibly crack, now that there's less wood than the design originally called for, setting things out of balance. Then again i'm no luthier (although im starting to study about it), but from my experience with electric basses and other stringed instruments with necks, id assume the same would be all around.

Any luthiers here wanna comment please?