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Ibanez tuned neck inserts? Anyone know about this?

tpaul

tpaul

Supporting Member
Mar 19, 2011
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Vermont
#1
Apparently Ibanez used to use steel rod inserts to "tune" the neck to eliminate dead spots and hot spots.

s7vh7qmu6gkinhwvxsgf.jpg


Anyone know anything about this? How long they did this? Did it work? Seems similar to the carbon rods Fender and other companies use, but maybe more refined?
 
#2
My luthier and many boutique builders I follow sandwich the truss rod with 2x rectangular carbon fiber or graphite rods. They make sure carbonfibers fibers line up with tension just like quartersawn wood.
I got 2 bass like this and one more on the way. No truss rod adjustment needed over 8 years since they are made. No dead spot, good resonance, no neck dive.. just good resonant tone.
Some use titanium but my luthier doesn't like titanium for some reason. He sais metal "works" over time in a way not salvageable. I'm not sure, gota see If someone here has old one of that models.
 
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#3
Unlike the typical carbon fibre or steel reinforcing rods, these were, as you can clearly see by the posted ad, of two different lengths. Designed to, as the ad states, help remove dead spots and hot spots. As a Musician user since the early '80s, and still a Roadster user, I do believe there is some validity to the practice.
 
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#6
Snert said:
Then why isn't it used on any of their models now? Many use CF of Ti so it can't be cost.
Click to expand...

Weight is a big deal with a lot players these days, and carbon fibre is lighter than steel, but does the lighter weight help as much with eliminating dead spots as the heavier steel? I don't know.

Are the carbon fibre (or current steel) rods installed for stiffening of two different lengths as in the original TR necks? Again, I don't know. Does it make a difference? Probably.

But I'm not involved in any manufacturer's construction decisions, so you are asking the wrong person. All I know is I still like my Musicians and Roadsters. (People have complained about the weight of the Musicians — I don't find them too heavy, but one of my Roadsters weighs about 5.5 kilograms, yet it is still my number 1.)
 
#8
I know my old musician is super stable.. it had been in it case for pretty much the last year and when i pulled it out last week, it was pretty much in tune still and fun as heck to play again. In its case, it was moved several times during different seasons and not always in ideal climates.
It does have some weight to it but its so well balanced that I don’t care about the weight at all.
 
#11
Funny, you never see an actual explanation for how stuff like this works.
"Tuned with steel *tone bars* to eliminate these annoying peaks and dips."
Not an explanation. Just a vague claim. It reads like an infomercial.
Plus, they called them "tone bars". That's an automatic BS red flag for me.
Just build a good neck and you don't need a gimmick.
 
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#13
Snert said:
Mine was too. But so are my SR and BTB necks, none of which have reinforcements.

The point of the 'tuned rods' wasn't stability. If it worked it would still being marketed.
Click to expand...
I don’t have an argument here, I don’t have a clue if they were proven to work or not. I saw the info about the extra rods a while back and thought, huh… neat. That’s about as far as I went with it.
 
#14
tpaul said:
Apparently Ibanez used to use steel rod inserts to "tune" the neck to eliminate dead spots and hot spots.

View attachment 4912807

Anyone know anything about this? How long they did this? Did it work? Seems similar to the carbon rods Fender and other companies use, but maybe more refined?
Click to expand...

from 77-early 80s. At first the musician, studio and roadster models all had the TR neck. By 83 or so it was only the musician basses.
3F7A5C98-6B42-4556-9507-A5AD9246D915.jpeg
364A27A0-9504-4B8D-97BC-EB847C9184F5.jpeg
 
#17
hypercarrots said:
from 77-early 80s. At first the musician, studio and roadster models all had the TR neck. By 83 or so it was only the musician basses.
...
View attachment 4914027
Click to expand...

The bit I find puzzling is how one might predict the final resonance of something when
  1. Any ananysis has to be performed on something that is, by definition, in a state of partial construction - the fingerboard is yet to be fitted;
  2. some of the final components (the TR Rods) have not yet been specified or manufactured so you don't know how they resonate or what impact they will have;
  3. The part you can check (the unfinished neck) has to be changed (channels routed) by an as-yet unknown amount to accomodate the as-yet unspecified modifiers (the TR rods). This in turn will impact the original analysis. Any prediction that might have used the original analysis become more of a WAG.
I've no doubt the necks were good, and distant memory confirms that, but any general stiffening will do that. it is not really necessary to fine-tune: just design to place the main resonances beyond any naturally-occuring stimulus. TBH, my experience is that resonance in the headstock is the main culprit in creating dead-spots. It is difficult to see how stiffening in the main shaft will make any difference in that area. YMMV
 
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#18
SteveCS said:
The bit I find puzzling is how one might predict the final resonance of something when
  1. Any ananysis has to be performed on something that is, by definition, in a state of partial construction - the fingerboard is yet to be fitted;
  2. some of the final components (the TR Rods) have not yet been specified or manufactured so you don't know how they resonate or what impact they will have;
  3. The part you can check (the unfinished neck) has to be changed (channels routed) by an as-yet unknown amount to accomodate the as-yet unspecified modifiers (the TR rods). This in turn will impact the original analysis. Any prediction that might have used the original analysis become more of a WAG
Click to expand...
Exactly.
This is a simple case of the builders adding stiffening rods in strategic places.
Then the marketers took it over and turned it into an infomercial, loaded with misnomers and catchy descriptions.
I'm sure they were good necks. Ibanez makes good stuff. Unfortunately, to make money, you don't let your engineers write the description of how a product works. You hire a marketing team. It reminds me of the whole t*#$wood $#!tshow.
I'm not picking on the design, just the marketing. I'm sure it helped stiffen the neck and I'm sure steel rods were cheaper than a laminated neck and/or CF at the time.
I always wonder about whether or not the engineers/builders roll their eyes or even get in arguments with the marketers when they see the silly sales pitches in the ads for products.
 
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#19
All basses have dead spots. It really comes down to-
* How bad they are
* How many there are
* Where they occur on the neck
* If you could hear them or not (they're still there even if you can't)

The most infamous dead spot is the one found around the 5th position, on the G string, on a 34" scale neck. It's really annoying because it is in an area played frequently. Adding mass to the neck, tends to move the dead spot into upper registers.

Many of you might remember the Groove Tubes "Fat Finger", which added mass to the headstock. When I was at Fender (after FMIC purchased Groove Tubes), I reintroduced the Fat Finger under the Fender brand.

On a personal note, I really like Lakland US basses because many of them are 35" scale and they also have a really "fat" headstock.
 
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