Bass necks warp easier than guitar necks

Neither one makes any sense as a generalization, with modern materials and techniques.

 

If you think of it, the longer the distance, the bigger the difference, so yes, but it's proportional. The same warp seems smaller in a shorter scale. Othervise there shouldn't be a great difference...

 

I find that basses need adjustment more than guitars. The longer the neck means the same movement is more pronounced.

 

Given a guitar neck and a bass neck of identical thickness and dimensions (other than length) and of identical construction and tension loading ....

The bass neck will bend and flex more.

 

Right, the longer neck means the string tension has more leverage to pull on the neck. Meaning if both had the same string tension, the longer neck would have more forward bow.

This isn't a huge factor in a stable neck though. Once adjustments are made to correct this, string tension isn't really a factor in the need for further adjustments. Climate and humidity changes are the biggest players.

 

Hmm... I'm sure I could look this up, but do guitar strings have more tension in them(by virtue of being tuned higher)? On the other hand, bass strings are much thicker and longer, so <i>could</i> theoretically have more tension, despite being tuned lower.

 

A 4 string bass in general has about 1/3 more tension than a 6 string guitar, though what gauge string you choose has a significant impact.

http://daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

Bass necks tend to deflect more. This is different than "warping", which generally refers to lasting and unpleasant changes in neck geometry that do not disappear when string tension is removed.

 

Glad someone else looked up the tension charts. I was too lazy.
Anyway, I understand the difference between deflection and warping, tho I'm not convinced that they are entirely unrelated.

 

The length of the neck has nothing to do with the leverage that the strings have on the neck. The strings pull parallel to the neck. Proportionally, a bass neck is skinnier than a guitar neck with more tension pulling along the neck axis, that is why there COULD be more deflection. Think about a bass/guitar neck in this way, it is kind of like a bow. Leverage is like a teeter-totter.

With all that being said, a properly built neck will need minimal adjustments and wont deflect more than designed.

lowsound

 

Leverage still plays its part. While most of the tension is pulling horizontally there is still some upward pull. The bridge saddles are higher than the nut.

 

Yup. If leverage played no part, a neck wouldn't bow under any amount of tension. At some point(probably thousands of pounds, tho I just know it's larger than what strings are likely to do) it would collapse/crush, but it wouldn't bow.

 

Leverage plays a small part, a very small part. The height of the nut, the height of the saddles and the angle that is produced from the two is what creates the leverage. Although, IMO, a perfectly setup bass will have a very minimal angle.

lowsound

 

It's not just the angle between the nut and the saddles. It's the break angle over the nut. The strings want to pull the headstock forward/push the nut thru the neck. That flexes the whole thing.

 

Here is the math. The moment over the nut (which is what you are referring to) can be calculated the same way, you just have to know the individual string tensions and break angles.

lowsound

 

Yep.

Wait... how did we get on this topic?