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Rubbery neck?

thedemiurge

thedemiurge

Jul 25, 2011
43
0
Wilmington, DE
#1
So I was reading The Bass Player Book, a collection of articles over the years from Bass Player magaizine, and the writer of this particular article, Tom Mulhern, describes a process for checking out the neck when shopping around for a bass.

He says, "Check the neck for excessive flexibility. Hit an open string and pull back gently on the headstock. If the strings botom out, the neck may be too rubbery, possibly causing tuning problems and decreased sustain."

My neck does seem to be quite flexible, and if I pull back eough, the strings wll bottom out. However, the bass stays in tune very well and I have great sustain. This bass is a Warwick Thumb BO 4 string. It has an all Wenge neck and fingerboard. I wonder if it is the nature of this wood to be a little rubbery? I thought it was considered a hardwood, though.

I realize that a long slender piece of wood is going to have some flexibility, but I am wondering if it is normal to bottom out the strings if given enough flex, or if a good neck should be too stiff to do that. Can anyone chime in on this?
 
#3
thedemiurge said:
and if I pull back eough
Click to expand...

So, from the author's standpoint, "enough" is the key there. If you can pull back on the neck EASILY and get the strings to bottom out, he might call it "rubbery." But it would be a relative thing -- if it takes a fair amount of strength, then it's probably not "rubbery" -- as you noted, a long narrow piece of wood is gonna have SOME flex.

I've had MIA and MIM Fender jazzers, and the one big difference I tended to find was that the necks on the MIMs were more prone to shifting and losing their setup. I write that off to graphite rods in the necks of MIAs. I could still make a MIA neck flex, but not like the MIM.

And in fact, the whole function of a truss rod is to provide a counter flex in the neck to the flex created by the strings. So the neck is flexing all over the place. So I wouldn't say that a "good" neck won't flex. If I had to specify my standard: A neck is good by my personal standard if it won't flex MUCH if I apply a mild amount of pressure, and when properly set up and under proper string tension...

And in the end, it sounds like he was giving you something to consider before a purchase. So if your bass sets up well and holds that setup well, then "rubbery-ness" is really a moot point.
 
#5
A little bit of give with moderate force is normal. But enough to bottom out strings is overmuch. And would require a lot of force to do with good neck imo. So yes, that would indicate a rubbery neck imo. Normal give of not using strongman tactics should only result in minor movement of the neck up or down and should take a little bit of effort to do. Guitar players who use necks on instruments with looser necks have sometimes bent neck for trem like effects. They also sometimes eventually crack their necks from doing so over time. Rubbery neck instruments also typically require more frequent truss rod adjustments even when player is sticking to same brand and gauges for string changes.

Btw such necks also straghten out more during strings changes. As the removal of a single string causes neck bow shift. And switching between gauges or brands ussually requires more truss rod adjustment then on basses with better necks.
 
#6
It is good that it is flexible! If you are not losing tuning, there is no reason to replace the neck. If the strings bottom out with very little force, that is a bad thing, and can make the truss rod not do its job. I think you are fine. Just about any bass will bottom out if given enough force. Otherwise it would crack.
 

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