neck dive?

[spade2you]

That posture may work with your playing style, but definitely not with my own. I prefer my bass to hang higher and at around 40 degrees or so. Essentially when I play, my fretting hand doesn't do any work to support the bass. I have played a few friends' basses and a few 'wicks that had neck dive and I tend to get fatiqued a lot quicker.

As a guitarist, I have played Explorers, Firebirds, some BC Riches, Les Pauls, etc. No real problem with balance on them. I guess it's a price of being a bassist that we can't always play basses with cool shapes without neck dive.

 

[Zooberwerx]

My Tacoma has neck dive. I got a 1 lb SCUBA weight, the kind that divers wear on a web belt, and threaded my strap through it at the tail of the bass. It's a little bit of a PITA getting it on and off, but once in place it works great.

That's it! Best idea I've seen this week. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a method to add some bulk to the ass-end of my Elrick. The bass is actually very light and fairly well balanced; I just like a little extra bulk to keep the neck at the aforementioned 45 deg. angle.

Here's the kicker: I live within 10 min. walking distance of the Lynnhaven Dive Center here in Virginia Beach. Think I'll also snag a neoprene wetsuit; it'll keep the strap from slipping.

Riis

 

[BassistJonathan]

My epi tbird has huge dive but as is shown above it can be sorted it out. Its the weight that has forced me to drift away from mine rather than the dive.

 

[pj-mike]

An old school favorite: add weight to the electronics cavity if there is room.

 

[spade2you]

That's it! Best idea I've seen this week. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a method to add some bulk to the ass-end of my Elrick. The bass is actually very light and fairly well balanced; I just like a little extra bulk to keep the neck at the aforementioned 45 deg. angle.

Here's the kicker: I live within 10 min. walking distance of the Lynnhaven Dive Center here in Virginia Beach. Think I'll also snag a neoprene wetsuit; it'll keep the strap from slipping.

Riis

An old school favorite: add weight to the electronics cavity if there is room.

So to fix neckdive, wear a wetsuit and make the bass heavier. I think I'll stick with buying balanced basses.

 

[Pilgrim]

To you folks who think the (overly simplistic) answer is not to buy a neck-heavy bass: clearly, none of you own vintage hollowbodies. That is NOT an acceptable answer, and it doesn't contribute to the discussion.

There are plenty of desirable and fun basses out there that suffer from neck dive. The answer is to find solutions, not to cut off your options in terms of the instruments you play.

 

[cnltb]

..do you have such a solution on offer? ( on the previous page there are photos describing how one person has dealt with the neck dive problem on a bass).I hope I am not misunderstanding you here!

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

To you folks who think the (overly simplistic) answer is not to buy a neck-heavy bass: clearly, none of you own vintage hollowbodies. That is NOT an acceptable answer, and it doesn't contribute to the discussion.
.

I disagree - I think this a very important thing to point out and can be a very costly lesson for those buying mail order!!

 

[cnltb]

Yes. Neck heavy basses can in fact do quite some damage to the players' back and shoulders.
( sorry for stating the obvious)

 

[5 stringer]

An old school favorite: add weight to the electronics cavity if there is room.

that's exactly what i did. i got some1 to mold lead to fit perfectly in my electronics cavity without hurting the electronics. i have no idea how he did that.