Havent heard referance to tension free neck in years. They failed the first two times a mfg tried making and selling tension free neck basses. A large cost of the instruments being the neck design with the wood pretty much being just decoration and something to wrap your hand around. All tension being in the semi hallow neck inards where aluminum I think rods lived. You adjusted these via allen wrench inserted thru a few holes in the neck wood.
They had two problems imo. First high price from new unheard of bass maker who relied on the claims about this new type neck design which cost a lot to make. 2nd, they lacked the tone one gets from good wood neck. Cause after all, the sound vibrations stayed mainly down the inner metal contraption and missed the neck wood. Or somehow otherwise had dead sounding necks. No organicness to their sound as far as neck woods go. The claims about necks advantages where over something that really didnt matter to most. Since those problems didnt exist anyway in upper end basses necks. And their price tag certainly made them that.
They had two problems imo. First high price from new unheard of bass maker who relied on the claims about this new type neck design which cost a lot to make. 2nd, they lacked the tone one gets from good wood neck. Cause after all, the sound vibrations stayed mainly down the inner metal contraption and missed the neck wood. Or somehow otherwise had dead sounding necks. No organicness to their sound as far as neck woods go. The claims about necks advantages where over something that really didnt matter to most. Since those problems didnt exist anyway in upper end basses necks. And their price tag certainly made them that.
