Rubber Neck ?

[The modifier]

I bought an Ibanez GSR200 at a local pawn shop for 70$, love its its amazingly light and thin with a twig for a neck(thats not a complaint mind you), after giving it a a proper set up it sounds amazing, however ive ran into a weird problem, when you lay the bass on its back or when you put force on the neck either backwards or forward, the strings raise and lower (like a built in whammy bar), its like the neck were made of rubber and you can bend it back and forth even under the tension of the strings and the truss rod, at first I thought it was loose neck bolts, but no they're on nice and tight, also its not the truss rod, as I straightened out the neck and a truss rod is fully functional, is this just a case of a really thin weak neck

 

[Craig_S]

Um... It's wood. It'll bend if you push or pull on it.

 

[ryognbass]

I just watch victor wooten use this flexibility to his advantage in a solo
Don't worry. andy bass you get will do it. except graphite. i wouldn't want to try bending that one.

 

[ehque]

Yeah. You can do the same thing on a fender neck as well.

Or on any wood neck. Or a graphite neck, even, but only if your father is Zeus.

(no really, you can, even if you're human)

 

[ChrisBowsman]

Try it on something with a set-neck. You'll crap when you see that sucker flex.

 

[The modifier]

ryognbass I don't know if you're being serious or not, but i guess you would be able to use this ability as a built in whammy bar, I cant imagine it being too good for the relief of the neck.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Almost all the Ibanez necks I've played behave the same.

It takes some getting used to if Your playing style is heavy, you're out of tune all the time.

It also makes the back of the neck more prone to cracking (obviously) as the material thickness between the truss rod and the back of the neck is very thin.

Regards
Sam

 

[Johnny Crab]

when you put force on the neck either backwards or forward, the strings raise and lower (like a built in whammy bar), its like the neck were made of rubber and you can bend it back and forth even under the tension of the strings and the truss rod

I had an Alembic with the same problem. It was GREAT in off stage but SUCKED onstage because of the same neck thing. Fast neck, thin neck, played out of tune if you had any force on the neck(pushing or pulling). Hated that so I sold it, can't stand still and perform, can't keep a bass not used on stage.

This one:

 

[The modifier]

Thanks for the replies guys, well im going to have to definitely change my playing style a bit for this bass, at practice I don't usually move around too much, but ill be extra careful when using this bass, kind of sucks to have such a nice balanced bass with such an easy playing neck to have such a problem, ah well
you lose some, you win some.

 

[NickInMesa]

All necks do that and with strings tight some necks will bend forward more than others, hence needing a new reset.

Necks are more and less rubbery based on the direction of the wood fibers. Tiger maple looks awesome but it makes the neck more rubbery. If the fibers are parallel to the direction of the neck, then said neck is less likely to be as rubbery.

 

[ByF]

That is the advantage of a laminated neck--besides having wood grain running in different directions, the glue is stiffer than the wood.

My Ibanez and my Carvin have necks that are similar in thickness, but the Ibanez is much more stable because it has a laminated neck.

I've always done intonation with the bass hanging on the strap around my neck. StewMac sells a fixture that holds a guitar or bass in the playing position for setup--it will be different laying on its back.

Ed

 

[superhand]

I had a Squier Jazz bass that did that. The previous owner, or possibly the one before him, removed the frets and didn't fill in the slots. It had a serious bow to it too, and back then I didn't even know what a truss rod was. I used to bend the neck to get some whammy bar like effects, I was always worried that it would just snap one day.

My MIM Jazz is much sturdier, it still bends a little though.

If you really like the bass I would probably look into replacing the neck.

 

[Meatrus]

but i guess you would be able to use this ability as a built in whammy bar.

Its a fairly well known technique that guitarists use, Slash once bent one too far on stage and it shattered and splintered his face!

 

[line6man]

i guess you would be able to use this ability as a built in whammy bar

Billy Sheehan is well known for bending the neck inward to act like a whammy bar.

He says he has never snapped a neck off, but on the other hand, the neck on his bass is a freaking baseball bat, and he has a very special re-enforced neck joint.

 

[The modifier]

I had a Squier Jazz bass that did that. The previous owner, or possibly the one before him, removed the frets and didn't fill in the slots. It had a serious bow to it too, and back then I didn't even know what a truss rod was. I used to bend the neck to get some whammy bar like effects, I was always worried that it would just snap one day.

My MIM Jazz is much sturdier, it still bends a little though.

If you really like the bass I would probably look into replacing the neck.

Well so far im loving the tone (heck of bright:smug), and I wouldn't mind spending 200$ or so on a new neck since I got it at a bargain, but I have no idea where I would purchase a 22 fret reinforced Ibanez replacement neck, any insight?

 

[The modifier]

Billy Sheehan is well known for bending the neck inward to act like a whammy bar.

He says he has never snapped a neck off, but on the other hand, the neck on his bass is a freaking baseball bat, and he has a very special re-enforced neck joint.

That's amazing, but I can't imagine using the technique myself, id most likely over do it and end up like Slash

 

[phxlbrmpf]

My Status Energy has a graphite-reinforced maple neck and I can still do the neck bending thing. I sometimes wonder how much graphite bars really help with a neck's stability.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

Well so far im loving the tone (heck of bright:smug), and I wouldn't mind spending 200$ or so on a new neck since I got it at a bargain, but I have no idea where I would purchase a 22 fret reinforced Ibanez replacement neck, any insight?

I think that replacing the neck might be just a little extreme, especially for a bass that you only paid $70 for! Like people have said, a wooden neck will have some flex to it, and a thin neck like that of a Soundgear may well flex more than the thick neck of, say, a '70s P-bass. Is the bass going out of tune when you play it? If not, I wouldn't think that it's too big of an issue. I played an Ibanez SR600 for years, and despite its 3-piece quartersawn neck, I was able to flex it quite a bit if I wanted to. It was never an impediment to playing in tune though.

One thing that I would say is that due to the Soundgear's angled headstock, I wouldn't recommend putting your bass down lying on its back - in this position, the weight of the bass is being supported mostly by the tip of the headstock and the tail end of the body. And if someone happens to step on the bass....well, there's quite enough leverage available there to put a nice big crack in the headstock. If you must put it down on a flat surface, I would advise you to let the headstock hang over the edge so only the body is touching that surface.

Enjoy your new bass!

 

[NickInMesa]

Before getting a new neck, which would only make sense if for instance you have a Squier Jazz and you buy an 80s MIJ neck for it, take it to the luthier and spend $40 or so to get it shimmed and setup.

 

[The modifier]

I think that replacing the neck might be just a little extreme, especially for a bass that you only paid $70 for! Like people have said, a wooden neck will have some flex to it, and a thin neck like that of a Soundgear may well flex more than the thick neck of, say, a '70s P-bass. Is the bass going out of tune when you play it? If not, I wouldn't think that it's too big of an issue. I played an Ibanez SR600 for years, and despite its 3-piece quartersawn neck, I was able to flex it quite a bit if I wanted to. It was never an impediment to playing in tune though.

One thing that I would say is that due to the Soundgear's angled headstock, I wouldn't recommend putting your bass down lying on its back - in this position, the weight of the bass is being supported mostly by the tip of the headstock and the tail end of the body. And if someone happens to step on the bass....well, there's quite enough leverage available there to put a nice big crack in the headstock. If you must put it down on a flat surface, I would advise you to let the headstock hang over the edge so only the body is touching that surface.

Enjoy your new bass!

It doesn't go out of tune unless I actually yank on the neck, which in case it seems to go flat or sharp just a bit depending on the direction I flex it, the only reason I would replace the neck would be for peace of mind that it wont go out of tune under normal use (even though it doesn't, but it still kind of bothers me) but still it won't keep me from rocking it Also I don't usually lay any bass on its back, my basses spend 99.9 Percent of their non-playing time on their stands, I just happened to lay this one down on top of my bed and noticed the neck flexed under its own weight.