Graphite Necks

[Bass-Adrenaline]

Im considering a graphite neck for a project bass im working on and was wondering if anyone here who has had exprience with the ones on the market could give me some advice and/or tell me of their experience with the companies they dealt with.

As of now im torn between Moses or Status.

Any help would be great, thanks.

[251]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

Im considering a graphite neck for a project bass im working on and was wondering if anyone here who has had exprience with the ones on the market could give me some advice and/or tell me of their experience with the companies they dealt with.

As of now im torn between Moses or Status.

Any help would be great, thanks.

I bought a fretless, headless neck from Steve Mosher (Moses Guitars). Service, communication & the quality of the work are all very, very good. The neck is everything I could ask for; dimensionally stable, flawless finish, the Steinberger headpiece fit with no adjustment & the mount is rock solid using the brass inserts provided. I asked Mark Herbert (Brookline MA) to mount the neck. I don't have the jigs needed to hold all those curved surfaces in line on the table of a drill press.

The Zero Fret was 0.040". That's fine on a fretted neck. I had to reduce it to 0.025" myself. It took 30 minutes of careful work. I never thought to ask Steve to do it.

Having a truss rod is nice. I torqued it as tight as I dared (about 25 lb/ft) for a #10 thread. That gives about 0.015" relief at position 8, with 1st & last positions in contact. I haven't touched it since the neck was mounted, 7+ years ago.

FWIW, I care for the neck with 400 & 600 grit wet/dry silicon carbide sand paper (rarely needed) & marine fiberglass (boat) polish.

[Bass-Adrenaline]

Thanks, im leaning more and more towards moses.

[elgecko]

I have two pre-truss rod Modulus parts basses that I love. I also had a Moses-necked jazz bass that was pretty good. It sounded great but wasn't as nice, finish-wise, as the Modulus necks. Moses is great if you're on a budget.

[Bass-Adrenaline]

How are moses necks budget priced? I admit not all of them are $700-$900 like most of the modulus necks but they arent budget imo. Unless of course you consider $500-$700 range budget priced. Status necks are the cheapest ones of the three.

[elgecko]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

How are moses necks budget priced?

You can get one for about half the price of a Modulus or Status...they're "expensive" when compared to wooden aftermarket necks.

[BluesWalker]

Moses necks and Status necks are made differently. The Status necks are made by layering graphite fiber with some sort of epoxy. This is why the Status graphite basses and necks have that "striped" pattern. I am not sure how the Moses necks are made but the appearance is homogeneous and they appear to be denser. I have a Status bass (Streamline) and a Steingerber bass (XQ-25A) with a Moses neck (with truss rod). It is hard to give a true sound comparasion because of other important between the basses (electronics, Moses neck bolted on to the wood Steinberger body, Status is made via a one-piece mold, etc). Comparing the two basses (same amp & setting, same strings), the Steinberger sound is more low frequency oriented and warmer while the Status has more of a high frequency component to the sound (it sounds more modern). Sound manipulation with pedals, equalization can bring them close together. The Status neck is a lot flatter which I like a lot more than that Moses neck. The back of the Status neck is shinier and slicker, which imparts less friction to thumb movement up and down the neck. The Status bass has been my go-to bass since I bought it about 9 months ago and I will probably be selling the Steinberger.

[testing1two]

The Moses jazz replacement necks are quite reasonable at $389.

http://www.mosesgraphite.com/cgi-bin/moses/mj144.html

[62bass]

I bought a Moses graphite neck for a 1990 Stingray about 10 years ago. Very nice neck. It fit properly, everything worked as it should and I had no trouble installing the original tuning machines. I used threaded inserts as Steve recommended to mount the neck. After getting it all set up I did a final fret dressing to tweak it for my own preference, but the frets are fairly level out of the box.

I played that bass almost exclusively on gigs for 3 years and recorded with it a few times. There was a slight difference in sound-a bit more treble bite and more even from note to note. No dead spots. The neck would stay in tune for weeks unless I bumped the tuning pegs. All in all it was an improvement. I think I payed about $500 Canadian including the shipping which was expensive because I wanted it rushed to me.

I've played on Status and Modulus necks from time to time. They're very good too. Out of the three I think I prefer the Status but the Moses is no slouch.

I eventually sold that bass because I got tired of the limitations of the Stingray for the music I was playing. The new owner bought it mainly because of the neck. He loved it as did a friend of mine who is really into slap and pop, which I am not.

If you already have a nice wood neck, I'd think twice before replacing it with graphite. There's not really that huge a difference in sound unless you're really into glass shattering treble all the time. But if you want a neck that won't require much adjustment, it's the way to go. I set the truss rod once and never had to touch it again.

[blastjv]

I got a great deal on a VERY slightly used Moses Jazz neck which I installed yesterday on my constantly upgraded Franken-Jazz, and I can not believe what an amazing difference it has made. The bass was great before, but it is now EVERYTHING I have ever wanted from a bass. The (admittedly subjective) things I have noticed are - significantly increased sustain and acoustic volume (and amplified), a 'bigger', 'rounder' sound, much more even tone and volume both across and up and down the fretboard, increased clarity especially noticeable with chords, slightly increased 'brilliance' or presence, without really having an overall 'brighter' sound (hard to explain, I guess I mean that the lows and mids are increased as well so it doesn't make this a brighter bass than before, it just has more of everything)

All I need is a $3 String Retainer button and this bass is finally DONE!!!!!


-JV

[basswave]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

Im considering a graphite neck for a project bass im working on and was wondering if anyone here who has had exprience with the ones on the market could give me some advice and/or tell me of their experience with the companies they dealt with.

As of now im torn between Moses or Status.

Any help would be great, thanks.

I have played everything and owned everything -Status. I have played mostly graphite for 15 years.

So let me just go over the following with you based in my experience.

1. Modulus
2. Status
3. Moses

I used to like the Moses but feel they went down in quality.
Sorry folks I'm going to call it as I see it.

In the past few years I have had trouble with the necks themselves and Steven has been very helpful.

I'm was not going to write this but on a hot hot summer day I had Modulus Jazz and Moses J parts bass in my car. I was stuck in traffic and decided to get off the highway to eat to avoid the traffic so I left my basses in very hot car.

(Now I done this with lots of Modulus over the years and never had an issue) wel by the time I got t rehersal and pulled my basses out of there bags l my Moses neck twisted so bad that I could not keep the g string on the nut and nothing was wrong with the Modulus neck at all.
.
So take that into consideration.

[basswave]

Originally Posted by elgecko

You can get one for about half the price of a Modulus or Status...they're "expensive" when compared to wooden aftermarket necks.

+1 to this

[Bass-Adrenaline]

One of the biggest things drawing me towards moses is the variety of necks they have to fit different bodies and stuff. Seems like status and modulus only have necks for fender and/or music man bodies. Im at the point with what im doing that i need to decide on a body type and neck to go with it. As of now id like a warmoth body but id prefer a status neck and i dont think status makes a neck to fit warmoth bodies.

[basswave]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

. As of now id like a warmoth body but id prefer a status neck and i dont think status makes a neck to fit warmoth bodies.

Its all about the pocket size.

If your talking about a standard P or J body from Warmoth then yes status fits. (Stanard J pocket is 2.5)

I'm not trying to sway you...Just inform.

I got a replacement neck from Moses on the bass that I'm talking about that does not have any issue (then again I have not left it on 96 degree day for an hour either).

If you really instrested in a Moses J neck then PM me.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by 251

I asked Mark Herbert (Brookline MA) to mount the neck.

Hey, I used to work with Mark at LaSalle Music way back in the 1980's! And I still have a Roland G-303 guitar that he did the setup on & it hasn't needed a thing touched or tweaked in 25+ years. Nice guy, great guitar tech. He does Pat Metheny's work too.

Originally Posted by BluesWalker

Moses necks and Status necks are made differently. The Status necks are made by layering graphite fiber with some sort of epoxy. This is why the Status graphite basses and necks have that "striped" pattern. I am not sure how the Moses necks are made but the appearance is homogeneous and they appear to be denser.

They may appear different, but that's primarily due to differences in the weave of the outermost carbon fiber layer, which is there for aesthetic purposes only. Stripes, weaves, checkerboards, Thousand Ladies Dancing...it's all cosmetic. All graphite necks are made by "laying up" carbon fiber fabric and impregnating the layers with some sort of resin (often epoxy, sometimes proprietary mixtures...remember the Steinberger Blend®?), then subjecting that structure to heat and/or pressure in a mold. The differences between Moses, Modulus, & Status are miniscule compared to the similarities.

[basswave]

Originally Posted by Hoover

The differences between Moses, Modulus, & Status are miniscule compared to the similarities.

I disagree with this statement almost entirely. (not aruging just saying)

As far as laying up carbon fiber with this is accurate.
They all do that.

However unlike wood there is different resin and resin combinations that add to the rigidity/ flex characteristics and overall tone of the instrument. Also how the weave of the fiber takes a part in how much resin is taken in.

All the graphite builders have different formulas.

I have had extensive conversations with Geoff Gould on this topic (and for those who don't know He was the founder of Modulus and created the first patent on carbon fiber instruments).

[elgecko]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

How are moses necks budget priced? I admit not all of them are $700-$900 like most of the modulus necks but they arent budget imo. Unless of course you consider $500-$700 range budget priced. Status necks are the cheapest ones of the three.

Are you in Europe?

Last time I was shopping for graphite J necks (2 years ago), it's seemed that Modulus and Status were similarly priced at $600-$700. There are brand new Moses necks on Ebay for about $350. If you know where you can get a Status for less than that, hook a brother up!

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by basswave

I disagree with this statement almost entirely. (not aruging just saying)

As far as laying up carbon fiber with this is accurate.
They all do that.

However unlike wood there is different resin and resin combinations that add to the rigidity/ flex characteristics and overall tone of the instrument.

Sorry, I should have clarified: I was talking about construction. The construction differences between Moses, Modulus, & Status are miniscule compared to the similarities. Yes, the sonic differences are more overt...tiny differences in construction seem to yield larger differences in tone, at least with regards to graphite necks.

[basswave]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Sorry, I should have clarified: I was talking about construction. The construction differences between Moses, Modulus, & Status are miniscule compared to the similarities. Yes, the sonic differences are more overt...tiny differences in construction seem to yield larger differences in tone, at least with regards to graphite necks.

No worries, its all good.

I just wanted to point that out.
I remember LaSalle Music, I used to still see Glen (Saitu)sp who used to work there up to a couple of years ago.

[dannster]

I love my Status necked Jazz. Maple-ized fretboard is custom and I can't seem to find the option on their site anymore.

The folks at Status were wonderful to work with and did not dissapoint. I'm still very happy with it. Stable as a rock and plays great.