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Does my new bass have a twisted neck?

S

SecondString

Dec 31, 2012
5
1
#1
I exchanged a 5-string warwick corvette for a 5-string streamer, standard (both were Korean-made). I wasn't unhappy with the quality of the vette, I just had a little buyer's remorse and since this is my first bass, decided I should spend a little less money on it, so I did.

The new streamer arrived yesterday, and I immediately noticed a couple of things. First, the neck has a fairly pronounced forward bow. The odd thing about it is that it seems different depending on which side of the neck I look at. On the B side, it looks fairly uniform. On the G side, it looks like the bow stops and straightens out toward the higher registers, near approximately fret #17.

The second thing I noticed was that the F# at fret #16 of the D string sounds absolutely horrible. It buzzes so much that it barely sounds a note at all. What's odd is that both the F and the G sound fine, and all other strings sound fine on frets #15-17.

I took it to a tech by my house yesterday, and he agreed it didn't sound right. He said it could either be a problem with the string or a problem with the fret. He said generally if it is a fret problem, you will get the same sound on other strings of the same fret, which I don't have. The string doesn't look chinked though, and paying it bent produces the same buzz.

Is it possible that the neck is twisted, or is it common for a bass neck to not bow uniformly due to different tensions on the different strings? I'm considering taking this one back and asking for a replacement. Any advice?
 
#4
Thanks. I did take it back for a replace. I let their tech see if he could fix it first. He raised the seat on the string, played it, handed it back to me, said he didn't hear it anymore. I did. He raised the seat again, told me the buzz was gone. It was noticably less this time, but I could still hear it, and the action on the D was high as hell by this point. Hopefully the next won't be a dud. Thanks everyone.
 
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#5
First tech may have been merely stupid, but the second one was a crook. Raising the string saddle only masks the problem. He was trying to get you to keep a defective bass. Good for you for standing your ground.

For future reference, a good way to check for a twisted neck is to look straight down the neck, sort of like sighting an arrow. Line up your view so that the nut and bridge line up. If they're off-kilter from each other, you've got a problem.

Forward bow by itself (with no neck twisting) is generally correctable by tightening the truss rod a bit. But I don't know of any way to straighten a twisted neck. Then again, I don't know everything. Perhaps some wise TB repair guru can enlighten us. :)
 
#6
Bassist4Eris said:
First tech may have been merely stupid, but the second one was a crook. Raising the string saddle only masks the problem. He was trying to get you to keep a defective bass. Good for you for standing your ground.

For future reference, a good way to check for a twisted neck is to look straight down the neck, sort of like sighting an arrow. Line up your view so that the nut and bridge line up. If they're off-kilter from each other, you've got a problem.

Forward bow by itself (with no neck twisting) is generally correctable by tightening the truss rod a bit. But I don't know of any way to straighten a twisted neck. Then again, I don't know everything. Perhaps some wise TB repair guru can enlighten us. :)
Click to expand...

+1
 
#7
Sounds twisted yes on one side.What im guessing is that it will eventually develop a back bow on the opposite side in time ' while the other side will keep going up.
Korean,Indosian, Janpanese even American ones sometimes get this only because of weather change & the bass definitly didnt leave the factory like that.You have to try to keep the basses from being effected by extreme changes in humidity when you get it.
& music stores really dont give a rats a*** about that or dont know.
The necks that arent finished & theres thin unfininshed ones are even worse & need real care for this reason.
But i dont think it can be fixed to be straight anymore(I could be wrong).What can be done is some frets can be filed down to level up with the rest.But again ive seen videos & people on TB fixed warped necks.It just takes a hell of a alot of work.
Theres a guy by the name of Davey on YT who fixes warped necks perectly or close to it by putting them in a vice & adjusting the Truss-Rod while its in the vice & then hope the wood excepts the change when its released,which funny enough they usually do....Davey in Canada ! His on YT all over the place fixing these bent necks & tanrnished frets & says never to use anything that says Lemon Oil on a Fretboard,ONLY Boiled Linseed Oil as passed down to him.
Sorry for the long anwser.
 
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#9
For all of the science involved, there's quite a bit of voodoo, particularly with necks. The piece of wood that is the neck can indeed twist as it's put under tension. But, it's ususally it's subtle and not a big deal. It can be laser straight unstrung, but get a slight twist when strung. It sounds like yours had a bad case of that. Send it back.
 

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