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Aluminum Neck Club

oZZma

oZZma

Sep 13, 2018
1,770
2,896
Italy
#1
Travis Bean, Kramer and Electrical Guitar Company owners and lovers unite!! I see there are many on TB but I can't find a "club" in the search so I created It! :) Welcome everybody! If you want to join and be listed just state the aluminum neck bass you own! ;)
Photos are very welcome too! :)



I'd like to start the discussion asking you: what kind of strings do you use on your aluminum neck bass? I think the choice may affect significantly the "voice" of any instrument and more significantly on these ones which are really unforgiving ones!
I currently use Daddario ProSteels (heavy gauge), I loved their sound on my previous bass (Fender Jaguar) but I'm a newbie to aluminum necks and looking for more options and suggestions!


--- the club! ---

1. Bob_Ross (lusting for) Travis Bean TB-2000 :D
2. GIBrat51 ('78 Kramer 450B and '81 Kramer Duke Special
3. oZZma ('83 Kramer Stagemaster)
4. A9X (Kramer DMZ5000)
5. mikewalker ('81 Kramer Vanguard, Vaccaro X-Ray, '02 Hartke HK-4, Hartke XL-4 Prototype #46)
6. cdwthunderfoot (EGC guitar+bass - coming soon!)
7. cataract (Obstructures prototype - coming soon!)
8. Jeff Scott ('76 Kramer 350B, sold)
9. Todd Hamby (Kramer 650B, Kramer 450B)
10. Boot Soul (Travis Bean TB2000)
11. hbarcat (Hartke - coming soon!)
12. saltymonkey (Travis Bean TB2000)
13. singlemalt ('76 Kramer 450B)
14. slantedpanted (Kramer)
15. Phud (Kramer 450B)
16. saddleslab (Travis Bean TB2000)
 
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#2
Great idea for a thread! Sadly I will only be able to participate vicariously, as I own no aluminum, but I've lusted for a Travis Bean TB-2000 for ages. Some day...

But seriously: How can you start a thread like this -- and even go into details about what strings you use on your aluminum-necked bass -- without even mentioning what make/model you own, much less posting a picture of said bass?!?!

Show us the bass! :)
 
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#3
Kramer 450B bass.jpg Lefty Duke 2.JPG OK, I'll play.. here are my"Lumies"; a '78 Kramer 450B, and an '81 Kramer Duke Special (or Deluxe; whichever you prefer). I also have another Duke, but it's a righty, and it's just parts for a custom bass that's under way.. Yes, the 450B in the picture is mine; Jerry's Lefty Guitars just takes better pictures than I do...:whistle:
As for strings? I'd say just put whatever you want on yours. I'm sure lots of people will disagree, but.. I've got close to 2 dozen basses - of all kinds - and, other than being VERY neck heavy, the only real difference the 450B's aluminum neck makes, IME, is sustain. Obscene amounts of sustain... The Duke came with an old - but still good - set of short scale GHS Bass Boomers on it. The Duke Special's forte' is copping a P-bass/Jazz Bass sound, using a pickup made of 2 back-to-back Dimarzio Jazz pickups and a mare's nest of wiring. IMO, it does it pretty well - well enough to save me having to buy a Jazz Bass, anyway... I like the Boomers, so that's what it wears...;) The 450B? This thing is LOUD; I can just about knock my old Marshall combo amp on it's ass, playing an open E with it. I haven't made up my mind about strings, yet. It came with a set of rounds with black silk on both ends; not sure what they are; other than that they're pretty dead. I've tried a set of Warwick Black Label Low B's on it; kinda what I was looking for, but; I don't really have any use for BEAD basses, and I didn't want to hack the aluminum, pinned nut up. Not many lefty Kramer nuts floating around... So, the old rounds are back on it for now. It will, like most of my basses, most likely wind up with flats of some kind on it. La Bellas or Roto 77s, probably...:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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#4
Bob_Ross said:
Great idea for a thread! Sadly I will only be able to participate vicariously, as I own no aluminum, but I've lusted for a Travis Bean TB-2000 for ages. Some day...

But seriously: How can you start a thread like this -- and even go into details about what strings you use on your aluminum-necked bass -- without even mentioning what make/model you own, much less posting a picture of said bass?!?!

Show us the bass! :)
Click to expand...
Ok, I'll start showing my bass then!

Kramer stagemaster.JPG

It's a Kramer Stagemaster 1983, the previous owner added the bridge pickup (mod I really like). It was a very good deal and I'm happy with it, it sounds thunderous, but my wet dream is the EGC series one:p unfortunately I can't afford one at the moment but "Some day"... :)
 
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#6
A9X said:
I have a Kramer DMZ5000 aloooominum neck submarine.
I offer the attached crappy photo as proof and as a warning to others; sometimes bourbon and ebay don't mix.
Click to expand...
:D:D:D

GIBrat51 said:
It came with a set of rounds with black silk on both ends; not sure what they are; other than that they're pretty dead. I've tried a set of Warwick Black Label Low B's on it; kinda what I was looking for, but; I don't really have any use for BEAD basses, and I didn't want to hack the aluminum, pinned nut up. Not many lefty Kramer nuts floating around...
Click to expand...
Mine came with a set of, I think, someting like .135 gauge. The guy was a doom/sludge guy :D
It doesn't seem to me like the nut was filed, but if so... there would not be much I could do to fix it. That Aluminum-one-piece-with-the-neck nut is one of those "bright ideas" I can't understand :eyebrow:
 
#7
Yep, something magical in those Aluminum necks!
I have
VANGUARD (1).JPG

VANGUARD (4).JPG

1981 Kramer Vanguard...



full-front.JPG

headstock.JPG

Vaccaro X-Ray (2000-ish?)...



XK-4 (3).JPG

XK-4 (5).JPG

Hartke XK-4 - hot-rodded with EMG pickups (2002-ish?)...



XL-4 (4) (Medium).JPG

XL-4 (1).JPG

Hartke XL-4 Prototype #46 (2001) :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I fell in love with the sound of Aluminum Kramers back in the late 1970s, but could never afford one back then...

PS: (trivia!) I used to own a nice Koa Travis Bean TB-2000 in the late 1980s... the thing WEIGHED A TON though!
 
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#9
PS: strings...
Vanguard's 31 inch scale is perfect for GHS Balanced Nickles Medium 44-106 "Short Scale set".

Vaccaro X-ray currently has some old set of generic roundwounds- and sounds MAGICAL! I have never in my life heard a better-balanced sounding bass guitar... Example: G is not too tinny, and tone of E on 12th fret, 7th fret or 2nd frets are all near identical (etc!). I have a set of Thomastik Powerbass EB344 sitting here I bought for it a year ago, but frankly it sounds so good I am afraid to change the strings :)

Hartke XK-4 has a set of Rotosound SH77 Steve Harris Signature (heavy!) flatwounds, and I keep it tuned down to DGCF. Awesome tones!

Hartke XL-4 has a set of (coated) neon yellow roundwound something-or-others. Sounds great, so I have no desire to change them yet. Might be a splendid candidate for that set of Thomastiks...
 
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#15
cdwthunderfoot said:
I have a matching EGC guitar and bass pair on order. until they arrive, I shall be living vicariously through you guys.
Click to expand...
which model did you choose?

cataract said:
Sick. That’s gonna be a great pair!
I’m doing the vicarious thing as well- expecting an Obstructures bass prototype to arrive sometime early next month.
Click to expand...
wow, I had to google it, never heard about them!
Obstructures \ thing \ 0.750 bass guitar
Very strange and unique brutalist/industrial look, I like it! drool
From the description:
"The extreme mass of the body and neck refuses to absorb the vibration of the strings as well as any extreme lows and highs yielding a monstrous tone."
Yesssss drooldrooldrool
 
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#16
oZZma said:
which model did you choose?


wow, I had to google it, never heard about them!
Obstructures \ thing \ 0.750 bass guitar
Very strange and unique brutalist/industrial look, I like it! drool
From the description:
"The extreme mass of the body and neck refuses to absorb the vibration of the strings as well as any extreme lows and highs yielding a monstrous tone."
Yesssss drooldrooldrool
Click to expand...

As it stands right now: Series two with black anodized body, brushed aluminum neck, dual humbuckers with push/pulls for coil tapping.

Of course I made the mistake of looking at the Instagram page the other day and seeing an Gibson RD shaped guitar and I'm really close to throwing out my 4 months I've been waiting so far to get them done in that shape.
 
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#17
cdwthunderfoot said:
Of course I made the mistake of looking at the Instagram page the other day and seeing an Gibson RD shaped guitar and I'm really close to throwing out my 4 months I've been waiting so far to get them done in that shape.
Click to expand...
maybe you're still in time to change idea on the shape without losing the "queue"?
(I'd stick to series two anyways, I like its look better :D)
 
#18
I owned a very early (Fall 1976) Kramer 350B for a while back in 2012. Cool bass, but it would NEVER stay in tune. I attribute that "feature" to the aluminum neck. The feel of the neck was superb, unless it was cold (the neck, not the weather, although there certainly was some correlation there). :smug: The profile was similar to that of the two 1973 4001 basses I owned for many years (friends of mine own them these days).
 
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