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Attention all TBers with neckdivey basses

#5
Good evening to all:

Neck diving ERB's are a major peeve of mine. I can't understand why boutique builders don't simply adjust the body templates and/or body thickness to compensate for the extra weight of the neck and so on...besides, a body outline which looks great on a 5'er sometimes looks sort of out of proportion on a 6'er and worse on a wider necked ERB instrument. End of rant...

There's a solution...get your local luthier to install a female threaded insert in the upper bout of your bass, and add a male threaded insert with your strap button on it, length selected to achieve the sort of balence you want. It works on even the worst neck-diver. If you're interested in the stealth look :ninja: , just use black anodized/coated/plated material and a black strap and most folks won't ever notice it's there in the first place.

:smug: YOU WILL, though, because you won't be fightin' an out of balence instrument all night long...

In my limited experience, props for this simple idea go to my friend John Warden of Warden Custom Guitars out of Woodstock, Maryland. He has fixed several of my out of balence neck divin' ERBS nicely, cheaply, and with a quick turnaround to boot.

Hope that helps. It really does work...

Happy Thanksgiving to all---

RC a/k/a "notrt"
 
#6
I had a shop drill a big hole in mine (a little above the strap button on the bridge side of the body), place one of the heavy solid chromed slides in it (13 oz. I think it was), glue it in, fill the hole and no more neck dive. I got a nice thick long hollow leather strap, which cured most of the problem, and this took the rest of it away. A little heavier, but I think it even added a little more sustain.
 
#10
notrt said:
There's a solution...get your local luthier to install a female threaded insert in the upper bout of your bass, and add a male threaded insert with your strap button on it, length selected to achieve the sort of balence you want. It works on even the worst neck-diver. If you're interested in the stealth look :ninja: , just use black anodized/coated/plated material and a black strap and most folks won't ever notice it's there in the first place.
Click to expand...

Could you explain this again, in a different way?

:)
 
#12
CetiAlphaVI said:
I had a shop drill a big hole in mine (a little above the strap button on the bridge side of the body), place one of the heavy solid chromed slides in it (13 oz. I think it was), glue it in, fill the hole and no more neck dive. I got a nice thick long hollow leather strap, which cured most of the problem, and this took the rest of it away. A little heavier, but I think it even added a little more sustain.
Click to expand...

Great idea. The Wish version of it would involve driving a pound of nails into the body of your bass.

For those who don't want to mod their basses, adding some weighty decoration to the butt end of your strap will accomplish much the same thing except for the added sustain. Giant buckles or metal studs, depending on whether you're country or metal.
 
#13
This is what I did with my Warwick.

I made a little strap (like the ones you find on backpacks, with this little clicker atached) and attached it to my belt. Next, I connected this little belt with the end of my strap, so my belt held down the bass.

A bit like this
beltstrap.gif
 
#14
As most know, BC Rich basses are notorious for neck dive.

My BCR Virgin had the same problem. Here are a few pics of my fix. I'm sure alot of people would cringe at my solution but it works. Its not quite finished yet as I need to touch up the black paint. As you can see, it is not really noticeable in the playing position.

bracket4.gif

You can also see I found a good use for a guitarist. :p

Bracket1.gif

Bracket2.gif

Bracket3.gif
 
#16
Another possible fix is going with some of the newer ultra lightweight tuners available.

Neck dive is caused by too much weight at the headstock and in the neck itself in relation to the balancing points of the strap buttons, which makes the lighter tuners a very attractive possibility if you've got the cash available.

Another is that you'll notice some companies have started putting the rear strap button higher up as opposed to being directly down the centerline behind the bridge.
 
#18
NJL said:
Outstanding! Where did you find that piece? What material is it?

:)
Click to expand...
It was made from a heavy duty shelf bracket that I picked up at Walmart. I think it was like $3 already in black. It was
shaped similar to the little graphic I made below but with a rounded hook on the top. I cut it roughly where the arrows are.
Bracketdiagram.gif


EDIT: I forgot to mention that it is made from steel. The hole for the strap button was already there as it was the hole to mount the bracket to a wall. To hold the strap button on I went down to Ace Hardware. There I picked up a bolt that would fit through the strap button and a self locking nut (the ones with the nylon insert) to go with it.
 
#19
NJL said:
Nope, been there and done that...didn't help at all on my bass.
Click to expand...
This is something I've always thought would at least be helpful if you already had some fairly weighty tuners but evidently not.

Was there any noticeable difference in the weight of the tuners you swapped?

Anyway I guess it goes down to another YMMV. :hmm:
 
#20
Kelly Lee said:
It was made from a heavy duty shelf bracket that I picked up at Walmart. I think it was like $3 already in black. It was
shaped similar to the little graphic I made below but with a rounded hook on the top. I cut it roughly where the arrows are.


EDIT: I forgot to mention that it is made from steel. The hole for the strap button was already there as it was the hole to mount the bracket to a wall. To hold the strap button on I went down to Ace Hardware. There I picked up a bolt that would fit through the strap button and a self locking nut (the ones with the nylon insert) to go with it.
Click to expand...

You are simply a genius. Dooood! I'm trippin'!!!

:)
 

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