Aluminum Neck Club

[cataract]

I seriously can't wait to see it. My body from Decibel is like... 8lbs, so hopefully yours is well under 5lbs being largely (or entirely) carbon fiber. Have they given you any progress pics?

Also, how's the new gig?! Breathing in any metal shavings yet? It's gotta be crazy being a part of the process.

I heard from James @ Aluminati a few weeks ago & he said the body was hitting the printer sometime this month- but I’m in no hurry, and I told him such. My guess is the whole thing’ll weigh around 7 lbs fully assembled.. Ripper bodies are huge lol.

And YES the new gig is TIGHT. I’m mostly winding & assembling pickups but have started to learn the big machines.. actually working on necks today. Much excite!

 

[cataract]

Trying out the Aluminati neck on my CV 70s Jazz w/ fresh Quarter Pounds installed.

 

[cataract]

Just listed my Aluminati neck in the classifieds!

 

[Iommian]

Just listed my Aluminati neck in the classifieds!

Beautiful neck! I'm planning on an Aluminati all-aluminum neck order soon.

 

[cataract]

Beautiful neck! I'm planning on an Aluminati all-aluminum neck order soon.

They feel GREAT and the finish work is top notch! Curious to hear how their solid necks sound in comparison to the CF/AL hybrids. You won’t be disappointed I’m sure

 

[percomis]

Hey everyone, glad to have found this thread as I'm going down the rabbit hole of aluminum necks

There's topics I'm wondering about where your experience could help me:
- How do aluminum necks handle downtuning? I assume being metal instead of wood helps handle thick strings, but does the aluminum add anything extra compared to wooden necks?
- I personally like chonky bass necks (the thicker Warwicks, old P-basses) and I'm wondering who if anyone makes thicker aluminum necks? I think I've read that the Aluminati ones are the thickest?
- Finally as I'm in Europe, the fact that Baguley is also in Europe makes them interesting to me, does anyone have experience with their necks? Mostly in terms of neck profile and feel, but any info is welcome.

 

[Poobini]

Hey everyone, glad to have found this thread as I'm going down the rabbit hole of aluminum necks

There's topics I'm wondering about where your experience could help me:
- How do aluminum necks handle downtuning? I assume being metal instead of wood helps handle thick strings, but does the aluminum add anything extra compared to wooden necks?
- I personally like chonky bass necks (the thicker Warwicks, old P-basses) and I'm wondering who if anyone makes thicker aluminum necks? I think I've read that the Aluminati ones are the thickest?
- Finally as I'm in Europe, the fact that Baguley is also in Europe makes them interesting to me, does anyone have experience with their necks? Mostly in terms of neck profile and feel, but any info is welcome.

My Aluminati handles being downtuned pretty well - I've got it in drop C right now and it sounds and feels great. I don't think handling thicker strings is an inherent benefit to being metal, but the neck *shouldn't* ever bow unless it was machined incorrectly.
In regards to shape/chonk, I can't speak to anything other than my Aluminati... but I HATE thick necks (a standard P neck is insufferable to play imo), and the Andromeda isn't too much for me. I said earlier in the thread that it was akin to a thinner D shape?
No experience with Baguley, but 60 Cycle Hum on youtube had some good things to say about 'em in the past for their guitar necks.

 

[220_Hz]

Hey everyone, glad to have found this thread as I'm going down the rabbit hole of aluminum necks

There's topics I'm wondering about where your experience could help me:
- How do aluminum necks handle downtuning? I assume being metal instead of wood helps handle thick strings, but does the aluminum add anything extra compared to wooden necks?
- I personally like chonky bass necks (the thicker Warwicks, old P-basses) and I'm wondering who if anyone makes thicker aluminum necks? I think I've read that the Aluminati ones are the thickest?
- Finally as I'm in Europe, the fact that Baguley is also in Europe makes them interesting to me, does anyone have experience with their necks? Mostly in terms of neck profile and feel, but any info is welcome.

EGC mentions on their website that the necks love heavy strings. A lot of metal bands also use aluminum necks, but probably no correlation there

Bongripper uses aluminum necks and they tune the bass to low F, so I think you’ll be fine downtuning it. The benefits are that you don’t have to mess with a truss rod at all, it’s only a matter of getting heavy strings and adjusting the nut

personally I love being able to tune down in the middle of the set and not have to adjust my bass to do so. I can rely on it being able to handle multiple different tunings with the same set of strings

 

[Jimbowhit7]

So I guess I didn't post it here when I got it, but I got my Baguley neck about a month ago - waiting on a local luthier to install it, the body it's going on doesn't have a standard Fender neck pocket so a little body modification is needed. Overall quality of the neck seems great, it's solid aluminum as opposed to hollow, and the brushed finish is gorgeous. Gonna be trying out EMG pickups for the first time on this bass, and using Rotosound Drop Zone + strings for F# standard tuning - if I wind up hating the strings I've got a second nut for setting it up in standard tuning.

 

[Poobini]

So I guess I didn't post it here when I got it, but I got my Baguley neck about a month ago - waiting on a local luthier to install it, the body it's going on doesn't have a standard Fender neck pocket so a little body modification is needed. Overall quality of the neck seems great, it's solid aluminum as opposed to hollow, and the brushed finish is gorgeous. Gonna be trying out EMG pickups for the first time on this bass, and using Rotosound Drop Zone + strings for F# standard tuning - if I wind up hating the strings I've got a second nut for setting it up in standard tuning.

I had no idea Baguley did a 2x2 headstock! That's super rad!

 

[Jimbowhit7]

I had no idea Baguley did a 2x2 headstock! That's super rad!

It's a new design they launched last year, it took until the end of the year for them to get them in production - I was lucky enough to order one toward the end of the year so I didn't have to wait long. I LOVE the 2x2, kind of reminds me of something between a Gibson and a Ric headstock.

 

[350125g0]

So I guess I didn't post it here when I got it, but I got my Baguley neck about a month ago - waiting on a local luthier to install it, the body it's going on doesn't have a standard Fender neck pocket so a little body modification is needed. Overall quality of the neck seems great, it's solid aluminum as opposed to hollow, and the brushed finish is gorgeous. Gonna be trying out EMG pickups for the first time on this bass, and using Rotosound Drop Zone + strings for F# standard tuning - if I wind up hating the strings I've got a second nut for setting it up in standard tuning.

That looks really great! Excited to hear about how it plays.

 

[Iommian]

It's a new design they launched last year, it took until the end of the year for them to get them in production - I was lucky enough to order one toward the end of the year so I didn't have to wait long. I LOVE the 2x2, kind of reminds me of something between a Gibson and a Ric headstock.

Love the look of that headstock! Very pleasing and elegant design.

 

[rvsty_bones]

Been having GAS for an aluminum neck to put on my P Bass. What tonal changes can I expect off the bat? I've searched all over the tube and am having a hard time finding just a straight ahead P with Aluminum Neck example. I've read some people say it doesn't change much other than the sustain. I find that hard to believe, but hey I don't know. Any help here?

Just for reference I run .145-.60 in Drop A right now -> AD200 -> 810e

 

[Poobini]

Been having GAS for an aluminum neck to put on my P Bass. What tonal changes can I expect off the bat? I've searched all over the tube and am having a hard time finding just a straight ahead P with Aluminum Neck example. I've read some people say it doesn't change much other than the sustain. I find that hard to believe, but hey I don't know. Any help here?

Just for reference I run .145-.60 in Drop A right now -> AD200 -> 810e

Acoustically it affects the tone more - but in my experience, the only tonal shift really comes from the stability (and it's a LITTLE bit more zingy, but you can save that by rolling off the tone). I'm sure the other folks here with a bit more experience will have more anecdotal evidence - I've only had one aluminum neck!

 

[Kendescending]

Been having GAS for an aluminum neck to put on my P Bass. What tonal changes can I expect off the bat? I've searched all over the tube and am having a hard time finding just a straight ahead P with Aluminum Neck example. I've read some people say it doesn't change much other than the sustain. I find that hard to believe, but hey I don't know. Any help here?

Just for reference I run .145-.60 in Drop A right now -> AD200 -> 810e

I have an Alef neck on a Squire P bass body, but I did change the volume pot to 500k and replaced the tone pot to a 6 way rotary switch with different resistor values which changes the value of the volume pot.

I do notice the increased sustain, and the notes also seem to have more transient attack and sound more "precise". I would say that my other basses with wood necks sound more woody or organic and maybe have a little more heft to them. My friend sold his aluminum neck tele because of this. I personally like the sound of the aluminum neck, and really haven't touched my other basses much. Hope this helps.

Alef neck on a squire P bass body with Reverend pickups. I put the mirror pick guard on because it was laying around and my friend hates them.

 

[350125g0]

I have an Alef neck on a Squire P bass body, but I did change the volume pot to 500k and replaced the tone pot to a 6 way rotary switch with different resistor values which changes the value of the volume pot.

I do notice the increased sustain, and the notes also seem to have more transient attack and sound more "precise". I would say that my other basses with wood necks sound more woody or organic and maybe have a little more heft to them. My friend sold his aluminum neck tele because of this. I personally like the sound of the aluminum neck, and really haven't touched my other basses much. Hope this helps.

Alef neck on a squire P bass body with Reverend pickups. I put the mirror pick guard on because it was laying around and my friend hates them.

View attachment 5014850

HOT DAMN

 

[cataract]

I do notice the increased sustain, and the notes also seem to have more transient attack and sound more "precise". I would say that my other basses with wood necks sound more woody or organic and maybe have a little more heft to them. My friend sold his aluminum neck tele because of this. I personally like the sound of the aluminum neck, and really haven't touched my other basses much. Hope this helps.

Well put. I agree with all of this! Bolt-on necks can be tricky to describe in a blanket fashion because whatever it is you’re bolting it on to will effect the instrument’s overall tone in major ways. I’ve liked the results I got with mine with HOT pickups & “low mass” bridges. Aluminum as a body material in guitars & basses really starts to shine when it’s used in the neck-thru fashion ie: Travis Bean / EGC / Obstructures etc. Bolt-on necks definitely add a sparkly shimmer to FSOs but once you’ve played a neck-thru it’s hard to even compare the two tonally & feel-wise. IMO of course

 

[220_Hz]

Been having GAS for an aluminum neck to put on my P Bass. What tonal changes can I expect off the bat? I've searched all over the tube and am having a hard time finding just a straight ahead P with Aluminum Neck example. I've read some people say it doesn't change much other than the sustain. I find that hard to believe, but hey I don't know. Any help here?

Just for reference I run .145-.60 in Drop A right now -> AD200 -> 810e

You’ll notice the biggest difference if you play through a tweeter. All the crispy aluminum tone lies in the 1K-6K range where most speakers drop off

feel-wise, the difference is that the neck feels denser and harder to me. Hard to describe but the notes feel different on aluminum

 

[rvsty_bones]

Thanks for the replies everybody! I think you all helped me make a decision.
Less heft is certainly the opposite of what I'm looking for. Appreciate it!

@cataract I totally get the bolt on vs through point. It'd be bolted on a squier cv with a hi mass bridge.

@Kendescending that is beautiful!

@220_Hz Not running a tweeter, so thank you for pointing that out!!!