A couple of neck questions

[Doctor Roberts]

Dear fellow players, I'd appreciate your help with the following questions:

1) Could you please provide a resource (video, pictures, or explanation) that, in your opinion, could clarify how to identify twisted necks? I have read and watched some videos, but I can't seem to grasp the concept or to identify what to look at.

2) Is the stripe behind the neck something desirable? Is one stripe better than none? Are two stripes better than one?

Thank you very much!

 

[thewildest]

Hey Doc:

1) twisted necks, when not evident to the naked eye, they manifest themselves when you get spotty string buzzing in some areas of the fretboard. Often a problematic fret (that needs adjustment) will affect all notes played before that specific fret (or area if playing fretless). If you observe this problem in just a subsection of the string (between fret 6 and 13) it could be a case of a warped neck.

2) these are not decorative stripes, but sections of wood (cut in a different direction and often made with stronger wood than the rest of the material) that offer the neck more stability. You’ll see that basses with more than 4 strings trend to have this feature to allow additional strength to the neck.

I hope these help.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Dear fellow players, I'd appreciate your help with the following questions:

1) Could you please provide a resource (video, pictures, or explanation) that, in your opinion, could clarify how to identify twisted necks? I have read and watched some videos, but I can't seem to grasp the concept or to identify what to look at.

2) Is the stripe behind the neck something desirable? Is one stripe better than none? Are two stripes better than one?

Thank you very much!

@Doctor Roberts, I’ll answer your second question first. It depends on what you mean by “stripes.” The first version would be this and the darker wood strip is simply a filler for where a truss rod was installed from the back of the neck instead of under the fretboard before the board was glued on. It is partially a visual holdover from the old one piece neck days from Fender and, as long as the neck is well made, doesn’t, by itself, have a huge effect on neck stability.

Second version is this: Note how the contrasting wood runs the full length of the neck. This is often called a multi laminate neck and is made up of at least three pieces of wood on up to nine or more often contrasting laminates. This type of neck construction is more labor intensive and is usually associated with higher cost / quality instruments. Also, as long as the grain directions of the pieces are reversed during the glue up this type of neck can be more stable and / or stiffer (which isn’t necessarily the same thing) then a one piece neck.

A twist in a neck essentially means that the plane of the back of the heel is not parallel with the plane of the back of the headstock. That’s probably not the best technical explanation but it might help you visualize it. Take this picture blatantly stolen from @Christopher DBG. It’s obviously an unshaped blank but the 2 boards on the top perpendicular to the length of the board are called winding sticks and the tops should appear parallel as you sight down the neck. Any deviation would be a twist. The same thing can happen to a finished neck. As far as seeing that it is often just experience from having looked at a number of necks.

Hopefully that’s helpful and not gouging your own eyeballs out tedious.

 

[Doctor Roberts]

Dear @thewildest and @Matt Liebenau, infinite thanks for both of your detailed answers. I believe I'm all clear now. Have a great and bass-intensive week!

 

[Zooberwerx]

Dear @thewildest and @Matt Liebenau, infinite thanks for both of your detailed answers. I believe I'm all clear now. Have a great and bass-intensive week!

This is a great thread courtesy of TB pro @Turnaround : Sizing up a Neck - quality evaluation

Were you having a particular problem?

Riis

 

[Doctor Roberts]

This is a great thread courtesy of TB pro @Turnaround : Sizing up a Neck - quality evaluation

Were you having a particular problem?

Riis

Thank you! Nice thread!

I don't have a particular problem right now, but I did have a related one: Not so long ago, I bought a "B-Stock" bass that had no information on why it was B-stock (it wasn't in the US or Europe), which I ended up purchasing. After some months, I wanted to set it up and found out the truss rod was stripped and had to be replaced.

I intend to check out the used market now, and I would like to be aware on what neck issues to check when buying in-person. Online, the only place I have found where the bass is thoroughly reviewed is in Ishibashi.