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Neck heavy

S

Stash

Apr 6, 2011
12
0
Ipswich, Suffolk
#1
Hi all,

I've checked that this hasn't been covered and couldn't find anything about it.

When I play my basses, especially the Ric, the neck slides downwards and I end up either lifting it loads of times during a gig or pushing the body down to hold the neck up.

I've tried various straps and nothing seems to hold the neck up.

Has anyone else had this problem and managed to solve it?

Stash
 
#4
Thank you so much. I have ordered the strap.

I really don't want to sell my beautiful Rickenbacker and I've not found another bass that I find as easy to play with that great low action. It is not only stunning to look at but a pleasure to play and sounds great too.

Thanks again.
 
#10
Stash said:
Sorry to be dense but what is a hipshot ultralite tuner please?

My excuse for my ignorance is that I'm from England, lol
Click to expand...

Sorry for not explaining more. Hipshot is a company that makes tuners and bridges (among other things) for basses and guitars. They are very high quality products used on most of the more expensive instruments made.

The Ultrlight series is made to fit many different brands of basses and are much less weight than stock tuners found on many basses. I have a "parts" Jazz bass that had stock Fender tuners. The neck dive was horrible. I put on a set of Hipshot Ultralites and the bass is now perfectly balanced.
 
#11
Perhaps stating the obvious, but I've had better luck in these instances by using a
wide leather strap with rough suede back.....tends to stay in place rather than sliding.
The above point about Ultralites is also well-considered. But a plain leather Levy's strap
is a lot cheaper :}

Edit to add a link to the strap I was talking about:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

You can do your own shopping, but in general it's worth a try for around twenty bucks....
 
#12
A wide strap with some roughness is helpful, but when wearing a light shirt, it just ends up pulling your shirt down along with the neck dive (depending on the severity of the problem, of course). :help:

The ultralight tuners is the best long term solution since it helps the actual problem rather than masking it--and makes the bass a tiny bit lighter as well.
 
#13
I once put a strap button flat on the BACK of a J horn and that, in combination with moving the end button about 4 inches down on the edge of the bass, ended dive on that bass. Also I've advanced buttons around the curve of the horn on the edge of a P bass. That worked, too. There is a new harness that hangs your bass at your "ideal angle," but I haven't tried that out. It looks like a medieval torture device.
 
#14
Beatle basses are notoriously neckheavy too. On at least some occasions, McCartney's answer was to use a strap attached to the headstock.

check out YouTube videos for–

My Brave Face.
.

it's hard to see how the strap hooked up on the body.

Makes you wonder why McCartney didn't do it more often. is it a loss of cool points as the strap gets more conspicuous?

Both these examples are informal performances.
 
#15
spike42 said:
Perhaps stating the obvious, but I've had better luck in these instances by using a
wide leather strap with rough suede back.....tends to stay in place rather than sliding.
The above point about Ultralites is also well-considered. But a plain leather Levy's strap
is a lot cheaper :}

Edit to add a link to the strap I was talking about:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

You can do your own shopping, but in general it's worth a try for around twenty bucks....
Click to expand...

I was gonna say...

Also, my jazz Bass Special does it, but I can keep it up by just moving it once in awhile. I know some do it worse than others, though. I had also thought about adding some weights.
 
#18
In case the weighted strap doesn't work : Go to gauchostraps.com and look for their Vintage-series. These are straps that go over both your shoulders and spread the weight. Less changed for neck dives and painfully shoulders :)
 

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