Stiff, stable neck...stiffening rods?

[ardgedee]

In the violin world centuries ago, it was discovered quarter sawn wood for the neck, bellies and back stood up much better than other cuts against warping, sunken arching, necks twisting, etc. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for a bass. it's also no accident that violin family bridges are all quarter sawn, too.

Centuries ago, aluminum and carbon fiber didn't exist as such (aluminum wasn't refined until the 19th century), but that's no reason why we can't use stiffening rods now.

I'm curious why instrument builders back in the day weren't building necks out of multiple pieces, which would have allowed them to exploit the wood's instability against itself.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

In the violin world centuries ago, it was discovered quarter sawn wood for the neck, bellies and back stood up much better than other cuts against warping, sunken arching, necks twisting, etc. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for a bass. it's also no accident that violin family bridges are all quarter sawn, too.

It wasn't that quartersawn wood didn't warp. They just figured out that if you align the rings and grain in particular directions, the warping would happen in directions that didn't matter as much. Because violin family necks have no truss rods, a neck that bows forward or backward is a real problem. The fingerboard surface has to be re-planed to fix it. But if the neck bent sideways, or twisted a little bit, that wasn't a show-stopper.

Same thing with body tops and bridges. They cut the wood to align the rings and grain in the best direction to allow for the wood's movement.

Quartersawn wood isn't some different special species. It's the same wood, rotated in a particular way.

In electric bass necks, we build in adjustable truss rods to take care of small amounts of fore-back movement. Because of that, the old-time reasons for aligning the rings one-piece quartersawn don't make as much sense. It's better to align the rings so the movement is fore-back, and adjust it out with the truss rod.

That's why we prefer to build bass necks one-piece flatsawn, or multi-piece with the rings symmetrical and facing up.

It's not about stopping the wood from moving, it's about making it move in a direction that you can work with.

 

[Gary_M]

It wasn't that quartersawn wood didn't warp. They just figured out that if you align the rings and grain in particular directions, the warping would happen in directions that didn't matter as much. Because violin family necks have no truss rods, a neck that bows forward or backward is a real problem. The fingerboard surface has to be re-planed to fix it. But if the neck bent sideways, or twisted a little bit, that wasn't a show-stopper.

Same thing with body tops and bridges. They cut the wood to align the rings and grain in the best direction to allow for the wood's movement.

Quartersawn wood isn't some different special species. It's the same wood, rotated in a particular way.

In electric bass necks, we build in adjustable truss rods to take care of small amounts of fore-back movement. Because of that, the old-time reasons for aligning the rings one-piece quartersawn don't make as much sense. It's better to align the rings so the movement is fore-back, and adjust it out with the truss rod.

That's why we prefer to build bass necks one-piece flatsawn, or multi-piece with the rings symmetrical and facing up.

It's not about stopping the wood from moving, it's about making it move in a direction that you can work with.

Excellent summary.