warmoth neck build, worth getting the carbon fiber reinforcement?

[GlassOnion]

As the title says I am having a custom neck built for my jazz bass in wenge/wenge fretless. The question is should I pay the extra 65$ for the carbon fiber reinforcement truss rods? Anyone here have any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it.

[steve_rolfeca]

Tough call.

In a previous thread, some people indicated that the CF reinforcements weren't quite as effective as the metal rods at killing dead spots.

However, they do allow for a slimmer neck profile, less weight (and therefore better balance), and presumably, more "wood" in the tone.

[joeyl]

wenge/wenge, yes get the graphite rods, that neck is heavy as is.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by steve_rolfeca

Tough call.

In a previous thread, some people indicated that the CF reinforcements weren't quite as effective as the metal rods at killing dead spots.

However, they do allow for a slimmer neck profile, less weight (and therefore better balance), and presumably, more "wood" in the tone.

I thought that the neck profile wasn't dependent upon the type of reinforcing rod used. ie: You can order a slim neck contour with steel rods.

Dead spots on fretless are a major pet peeve of mine. They seem more evident to me than they usually do on a fretted bass. I'd personally opt for the steel rods due to this and use the lightest tuners I could source to try and counteract and neck dive.

[Turnaround]

Carbon fibre rods won't prevent dead spots. Nor will steel. Dead spots are a consequence of the resonant frequency of the instrument as a system. Changing from one type of reinforcement to another will change the resonant frequency if the masses are different. But given that different woods have different densities and different resonant frequencies, using carbon fibre reinforcing rods may cause a dead spot to show up when it wouldn't be there with steel, and vice versa.

If weight is an issue, get carbon fibre if you think it will offer better rigidity at a lighter weight.

[Kael]

Steel reinforcing rods change the way mass is distributed in the neck. This changes the way the neck resonates. I suspect that having more of the mass in the neck proper, as opposed to the headstock, has a good bit to do with it also.

If a fat finger can change the appearance of dead spots by adding metal (read: mass) to the headstock, how can it be argued that adding steel to the neck is unable to accomplish the same thing?

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by Kael

Steel reinforcing rods change the way mass is distributed in the neck. This changes the way the neck resonates. I suspect that having more of the mass in the neck proper, as opposed to the headstock, has a good bit to do with it also.

If a fat finger can change the appearance of dead spots by adding metal (read: mass) to the headstock, how can it be argued that adding steel to the neck is unable to accomplish the same thing?

Right.

A fat finger will change the resonance of the instrument as a whole and thus will have an effect on "dead spots". But it can also add dead spots to a bass that never had any. So the whole equation depends on the resonance of the entire system and the amount of mass that is being modified. And it depends on the degree of resonance of the system. Adding or subtracting a specific mass may not be enough to significantly relocate the resonant frequency of the entire instrument.

In other words it can be a bit of a crap shoot.

[GBassNorth]

Originally Posted by GlassOnion

As the title says I am having a custom neck built for my jazz bass in wenge/wenge fretless. The question is should I pay the extra 65$ for the carbon fiber reinforcement truss rods? Anyone here have any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it.

I haven't tried the new carbon truss rod option on the Warmoth neck but FWIW I do have a rosewood/rosewood 5 string neck on a black korina Jazz body and there is no neck dive, balance is perfect and overall weight of the total bass is ok (about 10 pounds). I did use hipshot ultralight tuners so that may have helped a bit. I suspect wenge is close to rosewood in weight so you shouldn't fear neck dive or balance issues, even with a 5 string. YMMV

[darkstorm]

Originally Posted by joeyl

wenge/wenge, yes get the graphite rods, that neck is heavy as is.

Yes. the lighter neck is gonna be better choice, less neck dive. The graphite version will not only be easily as strong as other mfg good imports necks. Bit also less weight then warmouths steel rod ones. Which are stronger, but also heavier and some have even said, less organic sounding. Warmouth lists the carbon neck option as being more vintage or standard neck sounding.