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Single piece vs multi-piece neck

#22
The main issue with flat sawn necks it they tend to twist. When they do their done. 1/4 sawn don't usually do that. All different types of necks can have issues. Quality lumber and great craftsmanship help, but look at the instruments with the most neck issues ( needing replacement) 95% or better are bolt on flat sawn pieces.
 
#24
grendle said:
The main issue with flat sawn necks it they tend to twist. When they do their done. 1/4 sawn don't usually do that. All different types of necks can have issues. Quality lumber and great craftsmanship help, but look at the instruments with the most neck issues ( needing replacement) 95% or better are bolt on flat sawn pieces.
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maybe so, but it's pretty rare that a flat sawn fender neck has a twist in it, and if it does, they would replace it.
 
#26
Multi peice necks are stronger and better resist twisitng then one peice necks. Sure you can make a one peice neck that is as good as most mid price multi peice neck basses. But your going to pay a premium for it. Cause like the rest of the bass, extra care is taken in its construction compared to the average mass market one. When your making slim fast necks like Ibanez Sr and Esp Ltd B & F serie, using 3-4 peice necks becomes more important imo.
 
#27
johnk_10 said:
maybe so, but it's pretty rare that a flat sawn fender neck has a twist in it, and if it does, they would replace it.
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Not rare at all with them. Their probably the biggest example. They will only replace it under the warranty period. The newer ones with the graphite inserts are better, but they have known for decades they have an issue and chose not to do anything about it. Same with dead frets.
 
#28
grendle said:
Not rare at all with them. Their probably the biggest example.
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IMO, that would only be because there's more fenders out there than anyone else's..

grendle said:
......... The newer ones with the graphite inserts are better, but they have known for decades they have an issue and chose not to do anything about it. Same with dead frets.
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i disagree with you. IME, ever since i started working on fender basses in 1972, it's very rare that one had a twist in it, and i've worked on & serviced 10's of thousands of them, both as an independent and an authorized fender service center. IMO, the extremely few that did have a twist issue, was not due to the design or cut of the neck, it was due to it being one of thousands of individual pieces of wood that never 'wanted' to end up being a bass neck.
 
#30
johnk_10 said:
IMO, that would only be because there's more fenders out there than anyone else's..

i disagree with you. IME, ever since i started working on fender basses in 1972, it's very rare that one had a twist in it, and i've worked on & serviced 10's of thousands of them, both as an independent and an authorized fender service center. IMO, the extremely few that did have a twist issue, was not due to the design or cut of the neck, it was due to it being one of thousands of individual pieces of wood that never 'wanted' to end up being a bass neck.
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Lol do a search on warped necks. Now if they just took that one piece and put it with 2 others there wouldn't be a problem. Kinda hit the nail on the head " since I started working on fender basses in 72".
 
#31
As far as bass necks are concerned I say the stiffer the better, particularly in the context of a 5 string bass. As far as quartersawn vs flat sawn, I think quarter sawn wood looks prettier.

IMO, Fender does just fine with their necks, I would guess that the actual percentage of defective necks is quite low based on overall sales. Fender cranks out an @$$load of bass necks.
 
#32
lowphatbass said:
As far as bass necks are concerned I say the stiffer the better, particularly in the context of a 5 string bass. As far as quartersawn vs flat sawn, I think quarter sawn wood looks prettier.

IMO, Fender does just fine with their necks, I would guess that the actual percentage of defective necks is quite low based on overall sales. Fender cranks out an @$$load of bass necks.
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Check out esp, shecter, and ibanez, they don't seem to have those problems. Fender is happy to sell junk as long as people keep buying it and thinking "its ok , so and so makes a fix for this".
 
#33
grendle said:
Lol do a search on warped necks. Now if they just took that one piece and put it with 2 others there wouldn't be a problem. Kinda hit the nail on the head " since I started working on fender basses in 72".
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there's no need for me to do a search. i have plenty of hands on experience and i've worked on every brand of bass imaginable.

...and okay. we get it. you don't like fender basses. to each his own.

grendle said:
Check out esp, shecter, and ibanez, they don't seem to have those problems. Fender is happy to sell junk as long as people keep buying it and thinking "its ok , so and so makes a fix for this".
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i've worked on lots of ibanez, schecter and esp basses, and they DO have just as many neck issues as any fender.
 
#34
johnk_10 said:
there's no need for me to do a search. i have plenty of hands on experience and i've worked on every brand of bass imaginable.

...and okay. we get it. you don't like fender basses. to each his own.

i've worked on lots of ibanez, schecter and esp basses, and they DO have just as many neck issues as any fender.
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Not that I don't like them, they tend to sound fine, and when you find a good one , its good. Their quality control is pretty much non existent but has gotten better since about 08. If your the originator of a design you should be building your bass better than someone else's cheap copy. They don't .
The original question of single piece necks, from my playing experience over the years , single piece necks can be done well. But most aren't and end up with non fixable issues (twist) over the years. Fender being the biggest offender fme.
 
#35
Oh for crying out loud, this argument again? A good, single, seasoned piece of hardwood will do the job just fine. Low quality wood that is laminated can still cause problems, warp, split, and twist even with those wonderfully strong glue joints. I saw this happen more than once in my days working in a furniture factory. Buy from a company with high quality standards and you won't have to worry whether it's single piece or laminated.
 
#37
Not being a luthier, I submit that it's likely due to economics that more necks are multi piece than ever. My common sense tells me that a good one piece neck should "sound" better. Science tells me that a multipiece neck should be more stable, and stiffer, and maybe even sounds more consistent. The news reports of the scarcity of hardwoods leads me to believe that it's a lot easier to find smaller "ok" pieces of wood, and laminate them, as opposed to trying to find a really good piece to make a neck from. And besides, the public will think it's pretty and may be willing to pay more for it. As for the cost of the extra steps, a large manufacturer will laminate bunches of wood together at one time, for a bunch of neck blanks. Small handmade builders will do one at a time. Factories build dozens at a time with CNC machines. The good news is, you can still buy a great sounding bass of either type for not much coin.
 
#38
grendle said:
Not that I don't like them, they tend to sound fine, and when you find a good one , its good. Their quality control is pretty much non existent but has gotten better since about 08. If your the originator of a design you should be building your bass better than someone else's cheap copy. They don't (twist) over the years.
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the biggest problem that i have with your statement is that it's 'in your opinion' (and maybe it's 'fact' to you), but as a luthier for more than 40 years, i haven't found that to be the case at all.
 

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