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Why Aluminum necks didn't catch on
- Thread starter KramerDon
- Start date
There's the Normandy ones too (aluminum bodies, maple necks):
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Rick Toone was mentioned earlier in the thread for his truss rod replacement, but he is also ramping up a production model instrument featuring his " exoskeleton " aluminum neck..
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Had my alu Kramer DMZ 5000 since the eighties. Yes, it's badly balanced. Small body, heavy heck.
Sadly it has developed a neck bow. The string height has become a nuisance.
But, with the right strings it's the best sounding bass I've played. Can't say if it's because of the alu neck tho.
Sadly it has developed a neck bow. The string height has become a nuisance.
But, with the right strings it's the best sounding bass I've played. Can't say if it's because of the alu neck tho.
Kramer back in the mid-80s owned a woodworking shop here in Connecticut in the next town over. I went in and talked with them and convinced them to donate a bass to the church I was attending. Very nice of them.
Biggest issue came in the winter. The pastor was monomaniacal about skrimping and saving and generally didn't turn the heat on in the chapel until just before the service (he would even partially unscrew a number of the light bulbs in the overhead fixtures, and ruined a copier by trying to reuse waste toner). I'd go up to play with the band, and it was like holding a fretted icicle. The thickly painted neck was uncomfortable anyway, but add to that the way it would hold onto the cold, and it remains in my mind one of the basses I have the least fond memories of.
Biggest issue came in the winter. The pastor was monomaniacal about skrimping and saving and generally didn't turn the heat on in the chapel until just before the service (he would even partially unscrew a number of the light bulbs in the overhead fixtures, and ruined a copier by trying to reuse waste toner). I'd go up to play with the band, and it was like holding a fretted icicle. The thickly painted neck was uncomfortable anyway, but add to that the way it would hold onto the cold, and it remains in my mind one of the basses I have the least fond memories of.
