Metal plate under bridge to relieve neckdive?

[soontobedead]

Hi there, folks

I was browsing the net for a solution for a heavy neck (I have a 6 string Washburn with a real bad case of neckdive) and I found someone in the Warwick forums who had a Custom Shop Warwick with a big, heavy metal plate beneath the bridge to counter the extra weight in his heavy 7-string neck.
Together with his heavy bridge, the total weight on the bridge area was almost 2 pounds, which, i guess, should be enough.

I know that it is no good idea to add extra weight to an already heavy bass (which is my case), due to potential back and neck problems, but i can't bear no longer with the neckdive.

Has anyone heard/have this on their bass?

Do you know if it's a simple procedure to have a luthier do to one's bass (is it just routing a hole beneath the bridge and placing the plate) or are any other factors compromised in this?

Is this gonna affect the stability of the bridge/overall tone of the bass?

(Oh, BTW, getting ultralite tuners down where I live is impossible , so changing to lighter tuning machines is not an option)

[Pilgrim]

Seems to me like a bad idea. To get a plate under the bridge, you'd have to rout out the body - or you would raise the bridge and make the bass unplayable.

Also, if you have the bridge mounted on steel or a plate rather then on wood, it seems to me you would be taking away whatever part of the bass's sound is due to "good wood".

Have you tried testing different strap button placements? You can CAREFULLY take the strap onto various spots and see how it works.

[soontobedead]

Like this:

[soontobedead]

Hey!

Thanks for replying.

Well, yeah... i thought that it would take away from tone/sustain. Metal on metal doesn't sound quite like a good idea.

I don't know where exactly to put the strap button if i moved it... I'm afraid i could f' up the whole thing...

[T-Bird]

Hi, soontobedead.

That approach is used with several manufacturers IIRC, and the reason is to improve sustain and change the tone of the instrument.

If You're only interested in balancing the neck-dive, I'd suggest a beefier/heavier stop-bar to be machined out of brass stock. That way the bridge can still rest on wood, thin metal plate, whatever, and theoretically the tone of the original design is unaltered.

The stop-bar is also further from the balance point so the result is a bit better than with the bridge-plate.

Regards.
Sam

[peterbright]

Try hanging a weight off the rear strap button & see if it actually is useful to add that much weight to the bass.

[knuckle_head]

peterbright has an awesome suggestion - try hanging counterweights from the bottom strap button to see if it helps and how much weight is called for.

Moving the strap button likely won't help as the one that would help most is moved out as far as it can be. The closer the neck button is to the 12th fret the better a bass balances, and if you have 6 strings or more this becomes very important.

Jean Baudin had this issue with one of his customs and had a lead weight installed near the control cavity. I don't know what your control cavity looks like, but it is easier to conceal if you do it from the back, and having the weight near where the controls are generally located is optimal for what you want to do.

I'd suggest that it might even be worth the surgery to rout out for more room if your control cavity isn't big enough for this.

[Mottlefeeder]

I had a 5-string swamp-ash Corvette with neck dive, and I tried several options.

I moved the horn button about 1.5-2 inches further away from the body, using a longer screw and a spacer. I also drilled out the screw-hole and glued a dowel in, just to make sure I had something solid to screw into. It worked, but the end of the horn was pushing into my chest, so I changed it back.

I fitted a phone pouch to the bridge-end of the strap, and put 12 oz of lead in it. It was very discrete, and it worked, but it annoyed me that the phone pouch got in the way every time I put the bass on its stand, so I scrapped that idea.

I fitted 16 oz of lead strip round the edge of the control cavity. That worked, but it made the bass almost as heavy as the Bubinga model that I sold because it was too heavy.

Eventually I decided I was never going to be happy with it, and sold the bass.

[steve66]

Originally Posted by knuckle_head

try hanging counterweights from the bottom strap button to see if it helps and how much weight is called for.


Jean Baudin had this issue with one of his customs and had a lead weight installed near the control cavity. .

you can get self stick lead weights from most auto parts stores. Just ask for aluminum rim wheel balancing weights..