Neck warp on 5-string basses - how frequent is it?

[Smooth_bass88]

file under misinformation/disinformation. the number of strings on a bass has absolutely nothing to do with the reasons for neck issues

 

[J Wilson]

I've played and owned many five-strings since the late 80's of a lot of brands and price ranges.

Of course adding that big B adds tension, but it's obviously on a bigger, fatter neck.

All of mine exhibited normal setup routines with NOTHING I could even remotely tie-in to it being a five instead of a four.

In my experience, either this guy explained it to you incorrectly or it's complete bull+++t.

 

[ezstep]

If it is "common" then he should be able to fix it. I have five fivers dating back to 1993. Never had a neck warp.

 

[funkinbottom]

"the usual neck warp common for basses with uneven number of strings"

??? I've never heard such nonsense. I guess you better buy something with an even number of strings to avoid such "usual neck warp"

 

[Iridescentone]

Sounds to me like just another joker posing as a "luthier" or a "guitar tech" trying to drum up some business for himself. Don't forget, they don't make money by recommending easy, cheap fixes. They don't like workarounds they can't charge much for, and they especially don't like DIY solutions that circumvent your need for their services altogether. Their field is no different than auto mechanics, plummers, HVAC contractors, etc., of which many are simply dishonest, or even worse, unskilled. Find another person to work on your bass, or go on YouTube for DIY lessons.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I've had five string basses.
And a seven string bass.
They both had no issues with warping.

 

[moon-bass]

Are those few kilograms of tension less enough to warp the neck?

The short answer is "no." It's not even close to making a difference.

And as for the OP, like many others have said, this guy is full of poopie on several different levels. Seriously? If I had half a mind, I'd ask him how he could possibly detect warpage on a "sub millimeter level," explain his crackpot theory, etc. But realistically I'd just drop him like a hot potato.

If he actually believes this bunk, there's no telling what else he believes, and I'd be genuinely worried about him damaging my bass if he worked on it. No thanks.

 

[prndltech]

I’ve never heard of this. I’m not as old as a lot here but I’ve been playing for 20 years and I’ve never heard even heard a rumor about this…

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Yeah... No. That's not really logical. I don't buy it.

In my personal experience, I've been playing 5's for almost 30 years and I've seen more neck warpage with 4-strings than 5-strings. I don't even know how many 5s I've owned, but I currently have 5s from 1991, 2001, ~2003, 2017, and unknown, and none of them have any hint of a problem.

If the luthier is blaming warping on the fact that it has 5-strings, then what else is he attributing to unlikely sources?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hi!

I recently acquired second-hand a custom 5 string bass. I took it to a locally well-known luthier for a setup and inspection. He said that it has "the usual neck warp common for basses with uneven number of strings". The amount of warping is not that drastic; it's sub-millimetre, but it's enough to affect action so that it can't be lowered under the standard 2 mm-ish range, which is a bit sad.

Anyway, I wanted to know if any of you heard about or experienced what this luthier had told me: that 5 string bass necks naturally tend to warp.

Not with the 5 strings I’ve owned. IMO based on my experience I’ve heard of them twisting due to the additional tension from the thicker strings. Warpage is an indication of an mis adjusted truss rod.

 

[micguy]

What this guy is trying to sell you is BS. If he told you that there are challenges with inline hum cancelling pickups on 5's, he would have a point. There are, because you need to split the coils somewhere besides the middle, which means they are asymmetrical, so they don't hum cancel as well. Having built a bunch of 4's and 5's, that's the one thing I've run across where an odd number of strings bites you - other than looking down at your bass when getting used to it, and being confused that you now have a middle string. That goes away after a while, though...

 

[Jugghaid]

It's nonsense. He's upselling.

 

[Iron Miska]

Thanks for the answers, guys.