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Tell me about thin, flat, wide-nutted necks (...she said)

lossfizzle

lossfizzle

Jul 8, 2013
224
80
#1
I'm still trying to find a 4-string bass neck that reaches can't-put-the-thing-down levels of inspiring for me. On a guitar, that usually means:

- Thin as possible from front to back
- A near-flat C/D profile (I like a wide pseudo-flat support area for my LH thumb)
- Nearly flat (12-15") fingerboard radius
- A wide nut (I don't know if I need 1.75"+, but I definitely like 'em wider than a trad J neck)

Think "classical guitar-ish" and you'll be on the right track.

Making it worse, I'm simply not much of a fan of post-1990 Ibanez in general, nor am I into pointy anything. I like the look of traditional J and P basses a great deal; I just don't particularly like their necks.

What are some mass-production 4-banger basses you've played that you think might come as close as possible to my obnoxiously hard-to-meet neck dreams?
 
#14
Thanks for the input so far - just so it's clear, I don't necessarily HAVE to have recs that are attached to traditional-looking basses. It's a bonus if they are, granted, but...

VanillaThundah said:
The one that a boutique builder will make for you :smug:
Click to expand...

...part of the reason why I'm asking is because I'm beginning to suspect I will want to have a custom neck made, but before I do that I want to make sure that what I think I want is really what I want. At this stage I know what works for me with guitars far better than I do with basses (to the point where I ended up ordering a custom Tele neck similarly) and I'd like to have the experience of playing on something "in the neighborhood" before I throw several hundred bucks at getting it made.

Also, one thing I'm really not sure of is how thin a bass neck can really be and still hold up to the tension. My custom Tele neck is about .7" at the first fret; I chose those dimensions based on a factory neck, and the builder and I both chose to go with additional support rods to make sure it would stay straight (as the factory original we modeled upon had the same add'l support). I'm not convinced the same general specs will work longterm on a bass.

I have a friend who has a Frankenbass with an early 80s G&L neck (believe it's an L-1500 neck, if I ain't got that wrong). It is definitely a very nice neck, but it doesn't meet my specs above (radius has got to be at least 9.5 if not 7.25, nut closer to a J). I doubt I will have many opportunities to try out early L-2000s around here but I will certainly be looking.
 
#17
Don't know if you can find them, Been looking for years and came up with 3 at this point.

Peavey Dyna Unity early 90s

15" radius, 1.65 nut

My Brice 5 string short scale has the same dimensions
That is as flat as I have handled. Very comfortable for my hands
 
#18
Ken J said:
Don't know if you can find them, Been looking for years and came up with 3 at this point.

Peavey Dyna Unity early 80s

15" radius, 1.65 nut
Click to expand...

Interesting. I have had a bunch of USA Peaveys, including an early 90s Dynabass that I recently sold - great sleeper axes but, save for the T-40, all the ones I've owned have J-style necks / skinny nut widths. I've picked up a couple of 5- and 6-string Axcelerators that have nice neck shapes and seemingly flatter boards but the string spacing still seems narrow. I haven't seen a Unity in person. Thanks for the tip.
 
#19
lossfizzle said:
Interesting. I have had a bunch of USA Peaveys, including an early 90s Dynabass that I recently sold - great sleeper axes but, save for the T-40, all the ones I've owned have J-style necks / skinny nut widths. I've picked up a couple of 5- and 6-string Axcelerators that have nice neck shapes and seemingly flatter boards but the string spacing still seems narrow. I haven't seen a Unity in person. Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...

This is one of my baby's
Factory fretless D-tuner with Bartolini pickups
The KOA wood smells earthy like Norwegian Wood if you know what I mean
 

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#20
Ken J said:
This is one of my baby's
Factory fretless D-tuner with Bartolini pickups
The KOA wood smells earthy like Norwegian Wood if you know what I mean
Click to expand...

Wow. That thing is stunning. Congrats man.

So what is the contour of the neck like? I always felt like the C profile of my Foundation and Dyna was too deep / pronounced, not nearly enough flatness in the middle for me. They are skinny / very easy to play necks, but between the narrow nut and the profile, up there around the cowboy zone it always felt a little like gently choking a toothpick.
 

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