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It's got a nice straight neck

hhenry

hhenry

Feb 17, 2011
87
1
NFLD, Canada
#1
It's got a nice straight neck. We've all heard (and maybe said) that a hundred times. I'd like to know what you think this means to most people. I think most people use it to mean that the neck does not have an excessive amount of relief. But of course, a neck that is not "staight" in this regard is very easily fixed. A neck could be "not straight" in that it is not parallel with the center-line of the body. A bit of a harder fix but still do-able. Or the neck could be twisted corkscrew style. Unfixable, I guess. What do you fine people think?
 
#3
"Straight neck" only refers to the absence of noticeable relief. In some cases a neck can truly be set up dead straight but that is rare; Rickenbackers are often set up that way. Seems like some basses actually benefit from a little relief and so they can't really be said to have straight necks at that point, but nearly straight.

The best way to measure neck straightness, I have found, is to get in playing position and depress the E string at the nut and last fret, and see how much gap there is between the 7-10th position and the string. A straight neck, like my 4001FL's, has almost no gap even with just a fretless fingerboard. Most basses will have a tiny gap there indicating some relief. A big gap would indicate a lot of relief.
 
#4
To me, a straight neck is one without excessive relief. I got a bass recently where the action was the same at first and last fret, and about 1/2" at the 12th fret! That would not be a straight neck.

As for a twisted neck, it depends on how bad the twist is. I had a guitar I really loved develop an unfixable twist once, and NYC tech legend Norio Imai was able to grind and polish the frets so that the effect was straight and level even though the neck wasn't. Still have that one too, though I don't play it anymore.
 
#5
I assume a neck isn't twisted unless you are told otherwise--it should be assumed it's not a part of the equation in a functional instrument. Kind of like unless you say the pickup is dead I will assume it works. Some necks that are good to play have a tiny twist that favors the E/B string side and gives extra room for the string excursion, but the effect is so minimal it's hard for me (as a non-luthier) to even detect or compare against a straight neck.
 
#7
cassius987 said:
"Straight neck" only refers to the absence of noticeable relief. In some cases a neck can truly be set up dead straight but that is rare; Rickenbackers are often set up that way. Seems like some basses actually benefit from a little relief and so they can't really be said to have straight necks at that point, but nearly straight.

The best way to measure neck straightness, I have found, is to get in playing position and depress the E string at the nut and last fret, and see how much gap there is between the 7-10th position and the string. A straight neck, like my 4001FL's, has almost no gap even with just a fretless fingerboard. Most basses will have a tiny gap there indicating some relief. A big gap would indicate a lot of relief.
Click to expand...

Rickenbackers were notorious at having neck problems back in the day. They twisted and "s'ed" and that to me is what a bad neck means. All bass necks have a "bit" of relief. If the neck was perfectly straight, it would be playable but sound like crap. You by no means could jam hard on it as the buzzing would be horrendous. Now this could be helped by raising the action a crap load...but then again, play ability issues.

I actually saw a Ric hanging on the wall back in the late 70's or early 80's that if you looked from the bridge to the head stock, leaned to the right....the e string was not even centered above the front pole piece on the pup.

Rics have become my favorite bass. I have had many and no issues other than pup adjustments.

Warped neck is the definition of too much relief.

Every Ric I have ever owned set up just like any other bass...put in a small relief and play.

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