Anyone else feel their Stingray Special neck is a bit unstable?

[Philthy]

Does anyone else believe their Stingray Special neck to be a bit unstable? I have a 2018 Stingray Special 4 HH in dropped copper with roasted maple neck and fretboard. I'll have it set up to my liking (.012" relief, 7/64" bass side, 6/64" treble side - bridge pu 9/64" bass 8/64" treble neck pu string height) and by the end of a gig night (avg. 2 1/2 hrs of total playing time) it seems like my action has gotten higher. I measure the relief and the neck seems to have moved. I'll have to tighten the trussrod again before the next gig. I've never experienced this with my other Stingrays. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe it's just me and I'm going nuts. but I want to see if I'm not the only one. Not sure what I can do about it. Thanks.

 

[FirewalZ]

I had an ever so slight treble side warp worked out by a Luthier on my 2018 Special. It was small enough to be fixed, and it plays and sounds great now. However I don’t like the hollow bridge saddles, you can lower the set screw low enough without running out of threads. I haven’t noticed the issue you report though.

 

[Geri O]

Haven’t noticed any such errant activity with my 2023 Special H5.

It could be moving slightly and I just don’t notice with my ham-fisted way of playing. And I don’t go to near that much effort with all the measurements. I kinda set relief and action by eye and ear.

I seem to tweak on it every few months, which doesn’t seem out of line to me.

That’s about all I can report.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

No.

 

[steveinohio]

I had a strange issue with my 2019 BFR neck that could never get worked out no matter who I took it to. I ended up getting rid of it rather than deal with the hassle. Probably my only sour experience with EBMM. I’ve read some specials had neck issues.

 

[64jazzbass]

Yes, I have this same issue with SR 5. I personally don’t find that the roasted necks offer any more stability than a standard neck. It all depends on the piece of wood being used.

 

[Turnaround]

Theoretically, a roasted neck will be less reactive to changes in humidity. From that standpoint they are “more stable”. And roasting supposedly makes the neck more rigid, but I’m not convinced of that claim. It makes the wood more brittle, but that does not mean it is more rigid. So the problem may be that the neck is not sufficiently rigid, and thus less able to handle the stress from string tension. That could well lead to more frequent truss rod adjustments.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Absolutely not both stay in tune extremely well very stable best necks I've ever owned.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Theoretically, a roasted neck will be less reactive to chsnges in humidity. From that standpoint theyvare “more stable”. And roasting supposedly makes the neck more rigid, but I’m not convinced of that claim. It makes the wood more brittle, but that does not mean it is more rigid. So the problem may be that the neck is not sufficiently rigid, and thus less able to handle the stress from string tension. That could well lead to more frequent truss rod adjustments.

I have 4 basses with roasted maple necks, 3 different vendors I've seen no evidence of being brittle period. In fact Roasted Maple is now my preferred neck.

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Does anyone else believe their Stingray Special neck to be a bit unstable? I have a 2018 Stingray Special 4 HH in dropped copper with roasted maple neck and fretboard. I'll have it set up to my liking (.012" relief, 7/64" bass side, 6/64" treble side - bridge pu 9/64" bass 8/64" treble neck pu string height) and by the end of a gig night (avg. 2 1/2 hrs of total playing time) it seems like my action has gotten higher. I measure the relief and the neck seems to have moved. I'll have to tighten the trussrod again before the next gig. I've never experienced this with my other Stingrays. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe it's just me and I'm going nuts. but I want to see if I'm not the only one. Not sure what I can do about it. Thanks.

I have the same exact bass, same year too. I check my action measurements regularly and it does not budge---truss relief too. I thrash the crap out of it too. Usually Dogal CS 45-105, but I just switched to SIT PS 50-105.

 

[TonyP-]

Ok, I so fins roasted more stable in general with one brand exception. Ernie Ball…Yep my Ray 5 neck moved way too much and was unstable.
Turned me right off from them.

 

[Turnaround]

I have 4 basses with roasted maple necks, 3 different vendors I've seen no evidence of being brittle period. In fact Roasted Maple is now my preferred neck.

You wouldn’t notice the necks being brittle unless you were subjecting them to fracture level stresses.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

You wouldn’t notice the necks being brittle unless you were subjecting them to fracture level stresses.

Is there any normal situation where this would occur in that a roasted neck would break whereas a non-roasted one wouldn't? I would imagine that if you're getting to that level of stress, roasted or regular is not going to help you!

 

[Jugghaid]

I don't have a stingray special, but the older regular stingray 4 I had had the most unstable neck of any bass I have ever owned.

Sounded great though.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

You wouldn’t notice the necks being brittle unless you were subjecting them to fracture level stresses.

So in other words you have no evidence that can be proven scientifically. LMAO

 

[smurfco]

i have had that on basses from lots of big manufacturers. had a jazz bass that had to get tweaked like every two weeks. the jazz i have now doesn't ever really need tweaking.

wood is wood and sometimes you get a neck that for whatever reason just kind of noodles on you...

 

[pineweasel]

I have two pre-Special Stingrays and they require more frequent truss rod adjustments than my other basses. I’ve always attributed this to the oil and wax neck finish making them more susceptible to humidity change.

 

[Bevan777]

Sorry to hear about this problem. Both my pre-2018 stingray and my special have very stable necks, I never need to adjust them now they are set how I like them.

 

[brstma]

I went through an EBMM phase for a few years and had several high end models with necks that were not very stable. One flamed neck was so bad it would bend while I played it. I sent it back to EBMM for inspection and they made a new neck for it, but it was the only one I bought new from a store.

 

[evanrunyon]

I commend you on knowing your numbers; the best I can do is just to grunt and go "too high" or "too low." Perhaps me just caveman, me play bass loud.