My Kramer seems straight too. If there is any relief, it's a veeery small amount
How could I measure that?
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Aluminum Neck Club
- Thread starter oZZma
- Start date
How could I measure that?
Cool! how does that bass play - any buzzing or choked-out notes on the neck? How's the action?
Measuring neck relief is a pretty straightforward process actually, there's some good guides out there for that including this one: www.jerzydrozdbasses.com%2Fakcndfr54jdhrei567%2FUltimate_Guide_ver100.pdf
The action is low, I had a hard time to remove the buzz from ONE single fret but now its ok (could also be some fret wear issue, it's a 35 years old bass...)... I use a heavy gauge, never tried with a lighter one. I may measure the relief with that method, just to have confirmation if the neck Is actually straight!
I'm kinda on the fence about the string gauge thing, I generally prefer lighter gauge bass strings because because the treble response seems to be better compared to heavier strings, but treble response is likely not a big problem for most aluminum instruments
My 4003 was set up with little to no relief at all, and it was a clank machine! (In a good way- the fret “buzz” is inherent to a Rick’s aural aesthetic IMO.)
Whatever EGC sets their relief to, I’d take it as probably the best idea and route to take. I don’t think the necks are milled with relief rather than bent to spec on a hydraulic press (may have been said before here, sorry if so!)
Looks like my chunk’s got a bit o’ relief too:
Whatever EGC sets their relief to, I’d take it as probably the best idea and route to take. I don’t think the necks are milled with relief rather than bent to spec on a hydraulic press (may have been said before here, sorry if so!)
Looks like my chunk’s got a bit o’ relief too:
Really nice, good pictures of the relief there. I sent an email to EGC asking about the relief on their bass necks so hopefully I'll have an answer soon.
I hadn't considered using a hydraulic press to build relief into the neck. Seems like that would be a risky move and you might end up weakening the neck, but maybe that would work
Some great forums to dig into and research what goes into building aluminum instruments are
www.metalnecks.com
The EGC thread @ www.electricalaudio.com
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and the very informative thread archives @ www.travisbeanguitars.com
I’ve spent a whole lot of time reading through most all of these sites, tons of info to be found.
Just read that most Travis Bean basses are actually bent backwards to make up for the tension of fully tuned strings.
www.metalnecks.com
The EGC thread @ www.electricalaudio.com
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and the very informative thread archives @ www.travisbeanguitars.com
I’ve spent a whole lot of time reading through most all of these sites, tons of info to be found.
Just read that most Travis Bean basses are actually bent backwards to make up for the tension of fully tuned strings.
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As much as I fully LOVE Talkbass, it seems like aluminum doesn’t always get the love it truly deserves here.How did I miss this site?
Digging this thread and hope those sites help you in your endeavors. Excited to see metal necks become a more “normal” thing (and always happy to help!)
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Yeah, anyways it seems to me like aluminum is getting more and more popular, there are music niches where literally EVERYONE seem to have, or want, an aluminum neck
I recently joined a FB group (aluminum guitar?) and I found that there are so many small companies making aluminum now, which I would heve never imagined... You probably already know them, I will post some photos later
Aluminium Axes is my favorite FB groupYeah, anyways it seems to me like aluminum is getting more and more popular, there are music niches where literally EVERYONE seem to have, or want, an aluminum neck
I recently joined a FB group (aluminum guitar?) and I found that there are so many small companies making aluminum now, which I would heve never imagined... You probably already know them, I will post some photos later
@ZachM
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useful tips, fret slots size is being discussed too. As I thought, they can't be the same size as for wooden fretboard, they need to be slightly oversized.
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useful tips, fret slots size is being discussed too. As I thought, they can't be the same size as for wooden fretboard, they need to be slightly oversized.
Nice find, good thread there!
Did a little more reading about the fretting thing and it seems you can either oversize the fret slots as you said, or sand down the tangs of the frets a bit. There's probably not a big difference in the end product
I completely overlooked the Electrical Audio forum, there's ton of stuff there and Kevin Burkett himself posts there from time to time. Great resource!
@cataract I'm kinda curious about the thickness of the neck walls on your Obstructures bass. I finally found a post on metalnecks.com that explained the wall thickness of the Travis Bean necks (apparently they're .125") but those instruments are made of 7075 aluminum which is a decent bit stronger than the 6061 variety. I read on your NBD thread that the Obstructures is milled from 6061, so was curious about the neck thickness they went with to achieve enough rigidity.
I saw this cool graphic on their website as well, but unfortunately it's not high-res enough to read the measurements:
I saw this cool graphic on their website as well, but unfortunately it's not high-res enough to read the measurements:
Mine came with a set of, I think, someting like .135 gauge. The guy was a doom/sludge guy
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
Look at your bass' nut again. The nut's just pinned on; as can be clearly seen in the pictures of mikewalker's Kramer (XK 10?). The number of pins may very (usually it's 3), but the nut will pull off fairly easily. I have a spare neck (for a project bass) that I pulled the nut off of. I just grabbed it with a pair of vice-grips; wiggled it a little; and it (and the pins) pulled right off. I would have left it on the neck, but it was pretty badly chewed up (along with the tuners), and besides; it's a right handed one, anyway...
I’m bummed that the photo you posted isn’t high enough res to read those numbers- would be nice to know.
Haven’t taken mine apart to do measurements, I’ll get in touch and see if they’ll send me a sharper picture.
Also, I’d say the fact that the fretboard’s solid aluminum (instead of ebonol ala Travis Beans) probably adds to the overall rigidity & stability.
This thing’s built like a tank, feels more like a weapon than a bass sometimes!
