Well the BTB is neck through and might have graphite reenforcement rods, no surprise it’s super stable. I have a neck thru BTB and it’s great, haven’t set it up in over a year now
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Basses w Maple FB's more stable than RW?
- Thread starter vindibona1
- Start date
I have two working basses - a 93 MM Stingray with a maple neck that was never quite stable (still isn't) and a cheap Rogue Precision copy with a maple neck and it's rock solid. Go figure.
Maple is effectively closed grain, rosewood is open, so in theory the rosewood "should" absorb and expire more water vapor, but yeah, in practice, I never noticed any difference. The board is usually around 1/4" thick vs. 1
for the neck, so it definitely contributes to rigidity and stability, but if the neck warps, it's taking the board with it, not the other way around.
for the neck, so it definitely contributes to rigidity and stability, but if the neck warps, it's taking the board with it, not the other way around.
I haven't had a bass with a maple neck since the 70's. I have had Fender basses over the last 40 years with Rosewood necks. I rarely have to make truss adjustments.
In my 50+ years of owning basses, I've never had a neck that was fine when I left the house, then needed to have an adjustment at the gig. Usually it takes consistent exposure to weeks of high or low humidity to get a neck to budge.
" Your sample size to small " --
Looks like the FDA commenting on your clinical testing on an anti OCD drug
Looks like the FDA commenting on your clinical testing on an anti OCD drug
Same here, I have several basses but my 96 Stingray (flamed maple, oil & wax neck finish) is the only one that moves regularly. Luckily the spoke wheel adjuster means it’s the easiest to tweak.
It's really down to the woods in a given instrument. You'll find a range of experiences with these combinations. It's generally difficult to make blanket statements about supposedly identical necks and their wood(s).
By the luck of the draw, some will be very stable and others won't be. All the more reason knowing how to do and maintain setup is so handy.
By the luck of the draw, some will be very stable and others won't be. All the more reason knowing how to do and maintain setup is so handy.
I will say I’ve owned several 1970s jazz basses, and the maple board ones were generally less buzzy. Can’t speak for the stability though, they all kinda move how they move.
Well my 2 cents lets talk string gauges this will effect the neck, I have a 2015 4003 Ric with the same gauge Ric strings that I have changed over the years and that is always the same my neck does not move. I have found that a slightly lighter gauge on a wood neck is key. So for my other basses I own I use 40-60-80-100 gauge strings for a nice even tension. And than of course for the 5 er I use a 120 B
Most stable neck - Mustang with rosewood which I have never had to adjust the truss rod in almost 10 years.
Least stable - Peavy Foundation with maple which developed a twist so bad I gave it away.
Like most generalizations based on one person's experiences, concluding anything about fretboards and stability is a fool's errand.
Least stable - Peavy Foundation with maple which developed a twist so bad I gave it away.
Like most generalizations based on one person's experiences, concluding anything about fretboards and stability is a fool's errand.
Wood, over time, dries out, and the resins in it crystallize - it takes many years to do that, but old wood will, if you tap on a piece of it, resonate more - it "rings". If you drive screws into old Douglas Fir studs, the wood literally screams (new studs don't do that at all). Wood also, over time, tends to move a bit in response to stresses that are in it - the stresses "relieve" themselves, and as a result the wood warps, but becomes more stable over time. Roasting wood does both of these things - it gets lighter, it actually gets stiffer (the note that you hear when you tap on a pice goes higher in pith as a result of both of those things), it becomes more stable (stress relief), and it does ring noticeably more. Roasting wood is done before it's machined into final form, so the warpage that happens when the stresses are relieved can later be machined out of the piece - unlike an old neck that may warp and then become stable, a neck that's roasted and then machined will be straight and stable.
Putting a rosewood fretboard onto a maple neck (I have had quite a few rosewood fretboards on roasted maple necks) may cause it to bow/warp a bit, if the woods shrink or swell differentially. You see that a bit in the first couple of years, then it seems to settle down. The direction that it tends to warp is up and down, and the warpage tends to be very uniform (and small) over the whole neck - it's precisely the kind of warp that a truss rod can easily deal with. So you adjust the truss rod a few times during the first 2 or 3 years, but after that, not very often at all.
In my present experience with maple, ebony, rosewood, and pau ferro fingerboards, there is no correlation between fingerboard type and neck stability. Stability is primarily a factor of the quality and construction of the neck shaft. I would expect that the fingerboard can play into that, but more as a function of the specific piece(s) of wood used, rather than the species of wood.
I’ve had many basses and there’s only one, which I still own, that’s been “temperamental”. It’s a mid 80s Pre-Gibson Tobias. I attribute it to the neck, which is a beautiful figured maple.
You couple that w the south Texas weather & humidity and it usually needs a neck adjustment 2-4 times a year! Despite the fact that it has dual truss rods!
You couple that w the south Texas weather & humidity and it usually needs a neck adjustment 2-4 times a year! Despite the fact that it has dual truss rods!
I think a lot of it is the age of the wood more than the species. Old or torrified wood is dry and the sugars have broken down making it less susceptible to changes in RH and temperature. I have no science other than what I've read on the internet but in my experience playing 40+ year old instruments and one with torrifed neck wood have very few stability issues. The newer P bass I have is more susceptible to moving when the RH changes.
That is so contrary to most of the "knowledge " here. At least I'll admit to experience and not knowledge or book larnin'
I think it's generally accepted knowledge that highly figured maple isn't as stable as straight-grained maple. The truss rod (or 2) doesn't stiffen the neck or add rigidity as it's not firmly fixed in the neck shaft.
Dude.
You really should not, and should not need, to adjust a truss rod on a weekly basis.
This has nothing to do with the fingerboard material. One of the following is happening:
• You forgot that it can take up to 24 hours for a truss rod adjustment to fully settle in. E.g. you're making too big of an adjustment, then a week later it's off so you make another adjustment that's too big, etc.
• You need to suck it up and learn how to play with slightly higher action than you normally prefer.
• The neck is screwed.
I strongly recommend you bring the instrument to the best repair shop you can get to, and have a professional set it up. You shouldn't need to adjust it after that for another 6-12 months.
Or, you can just have the shop replace the unstable neck.
Well since Rosewood is actually a harder wood than Maple. I'd say it has more to do with now the wood is selected, cured, and stored then whether either type is stronger and better than the other type. Over decades I've owned good Rosewood and Maple necks and bad Rosewood and Maple necks.
