Neck dive... why is it a problem?

[Watchootognbout]

Lifting a diving neck while fretting causes muscle tension.
Your arms should be tension free and basically float.

Many have unknowingly(or knowingly) compensated for years by pushing down with the plucking arm and lifting with the fretting.
And don't know it until they play a bass that doesn't dive and are relieved at the relative ease of playing.

It's like running with a heavy weight on your back for years and then having it removed.

 

[Buster Brown]

I remember back about 7-8 years ago, I foolishly traded for a Epiphone EBO.....worst damned neck dive I have EVER experienced. Got rid of it a short time later..

 

[Watchootognbout]

I’ve never noticed this problem myself. But if I had to guess, I would say this is probably a bigger problem with people who spend most of their playing time sitting down.

Not if you play "Classical"style and use a strap.

 

[cdwillis]

I hate the feeling of a strap pulling at my shirt. A friend gave me a nice wide leather strap for my SG and I feel bad because I can't stand to use it because of how it feels on my shoulder. My usual strap is one of those Couch straps made from recycled seat belt material and it's much more comfortable. Thankfully my p bass isn't neck heavy enough to make dive an issue.

 

[rashrader]

Not if you play "Classical"style and use a strap.View attachment 5021646

I moved to this posture while playing seated and it really loosened up my entire self while playing. It’s fantastic.

 

[J-Bassomatic]

I'm no stranger to neck dive. My first bass was a neck-divey Thunderbird and of the 6 basses I own currently, 3 or 4 of them are quite neck-divey. My solution to this was a leather/suede strap that I got for $8 at a pawn shop a long time ago. The strap is slightly wider than normal at 2.25'', but is otherwise not as potentially intrusive as a massively wide or thick strap. I get zero neck dive in any situation when using it.

But a line I occasionally hear is... "grippy straps are a band-aid, what you really need is a balanced bass".

... why?

I mean... I guess I could see the novelty in a bass that feels well-balanced. I own a couple. But with my bass-playing habits, neck dive simply isn't a problem that concerns me. Even when I practice and am not using the strap, it's really more of a minor inconvenience than an issue of any import.

Is there something I'm missing? Can a divey neck throw your back out, or something crazy like that?

OK, this might be an unpopular opinion.
If I have an instrument around my neck on a strap and I let go of the neck and it dives to my feet then that's a problem. End of story. YOU might not see this as a problem but many of us do. Drop it bro. Stop telling us that abnormal is normal. Some of us choose not to accept it as acceptable. End of story. I am not here for your design flaw.

 

[micguy]

A bass with neck dive is like a car that, if you let go of the wheel, it turns left*. Sure, you can hold on to the wheel and avoid plunging into oncoming traffic, but why not buy a car that wants to go straight?

*One of my jobs when I was young, we had a truck that turned right if you let go of the wheel. It was a pain to drive.

 

[micguy]

I remember back about 7-8 years ago, I foolishly traded for a Epiphone EBO.....worst damned neck dive I have EVER experienced. Got rid of it a short time later..

A lot of Gibsons combine neck dive with a headstock that wants to break (another poor design choice on their part). Take together, it's not at all a good combination.

 

[SteveCS]

...
Drop it bro. Stop telling us that abnormal is normal.
...
I am not here for your design flaw.

I have to agree 100% with the last sentiment, but to be fair to @jdjk7 he is not the one keeping the discussion going. In fact, thus far he hasn't responded to any of the posts since starting the thread. Unlike other replies, I don't read the OP as any kind of 'directive' tellling us all to get over ourselves, embrace poor design or invest in Velcro: it's just a description of his own situation. It has obviously created some tribalism, but it seems to me that it the nature of the world in the 21st century. The only part of the OP I was responding to was the 'good faith' question at the end:

...Is there something I'm missing? Can a divey neck throw your back out, or something crazy like that?

to which the answer, IME, is yes.

 

[spade2you]

I have to agree 100% with the last sentiment, but to be fair to @jdjk7 he is not the one keeping the discussion going. In fact, thus far he hasn't responded to any of the posts since starting the thread. Unlike other replies, I don't read the OP as any kind of 'directive' tellling us all to get over ourselves, embrace poor design or invest in Velcro: it's just a description of his own situation. It has obviously created some tribalism, but it seems to me that it the nature of the world in the 21st century. The only part of the OP I was responding to was the 'good faith' question at the end:

This thread has been Lowner'd?

 

[Giffro]

In this particular instance...not a problem at all