All You Need to Know About Your Bass's Neck
Brian Running
A Brief History of Bass Necks and their Importance
When Carol Kaye invented the bass guitar in 1946, she was faced with an
essential design decision – should a bass guitar have a neck or not?
She opted for having a neck, which at first may seem surprising, but
consider the following:
A neck holds the headstock in place. If basses didn’t have necks, we’d
have to hold our headstocks in place by hand. While this would lend
itself to lightweight design, we would be limited to playing only open
notes!
Having a neck on your bass is a handy indicator of what “handed” you
are. Just remember this simple rule: If your neck points to the left,
you're right-handed. If your neck points to the right, you're
left-handed. This can be a real life-saver!
Basses without necks are almost impossible to distinguish from
autoharps, at least from a distance. You aren’t John Sebastian, this
isn’t 1964, and you want a bass that looks like a real instrument, not
something you got for Christmas when you were a little kid. Criminy!
So, I think Carol’s choice was the right one. Don’t you? Yes, you do.
Chapter Two
Making Bass Necks Work for Us
Now that we all have necks on our basses, we have to know what the heck
to do with them. Bass necks are a constant source of frustration, fear
and anguish for us bassists, but they needn’t be! Here’s a sampling of
excerpts from actual letters:
“Dear Smart-Ass-Know-It-All: Well – I followed your advice, and as a
result, I just finished picking up what was left of my bass’s neck from
my neighbors’ front lawn. I haven’t found the tuners yet, and I don’t
think I’ll ever get my cat back down from the top of the tree. You’ll
be hearing from my lawyer, soon!”
Well! There is simply no need for this kind of attitude! A lawyer!
Really! As if a lawyer would understand the technical aspects of necks
any better than I! Sheesh. Actually, how ‘bout we just skip the
letters, and move on to…
Chapter Three
A Brief but Frank Q&A on Homemade Fretless Conversions
Q: Should I remove all the frets from my bass?
A: Yes.
Chapter Four
Truss Rods
It has come to our attention that some people believe that some bass
necks contain something called a “truss rod.” Apparently, they believe
that these so-called truss rods apply some sort of pressure to the neck
to counteract the force of the strings – for what, I don’t know. Hey,
you tell me. More sustain? I don’t know. But I’ll tell you this,
here’s all you need to know – if there were such a rod in your bass
neck, it would apply compression to your bass, and one thing we know for
sure, compression is just a crutch for poor playing technique. Jaco
didn’t need compression, neither do you. Even out your plucking, and
let’s just put this whole truss rod myth to bed for good, okay?
Chapter Four
Neck Dive
Now, some players find that their neck is unbalanced, and causes
something called “neck dive.” The technical explanation for this is
that the neck… well, it dives. It goes down. All right, enough tech
talk, let’s figure out how to avoid neck dive.
My experience shows that neck dive increases dramatically after people
install new tuners on their basses. This is not simple coincidence!
No! This is due to the inexperience of the installers, which leads to
over-tightening the nuts and screws on the tuners. Folks, there’s just
too many pounds of torque on those fasteners! I know, a couple pounds
of torque doesn’t seem like much, but remember, each of those five
tuners has a big nut on one side, and four screws on the other, that’s
twenty-five fasteners in all, so you could easily have 75 or 100 pounds
of excess torque out there on the headstock. Now, I don’t care what you
say, no strap is going to have enough grip to counteract that much
force! Just don’t twist that wrench so hard, big fella!
Chapter Five
Dead Spots
There’s a lot of talk out there about dead spots in necks, and what can
be done about them. It would be simpler if there were only one cause of
dead spots. I had a big problem with a dead spot once, and tried all
the usual cures that people are always recommending, you know, like
holding your fat finger on your head – I’m here to tell you, first of
all, I don’t think it really helped the dead spot at all, plus, it’s
really hard to play that way. Well, turns out it was caused by the set
list I had duct-taped to my bass at about the eighth fret, and how the
hell was I supposed to know that duct tape over your frets would muffle
the sound a little bit? You know, I think there was a little more
diplomatic way to suggest a remedy than what the drummer did, but… well,
let’s not go down that road. So, anyway, my point is, there are many
causes for dead spots, you just have to figure out what you’ve stuck to
your neck and how it might be wrapping around your frets. Sorry, you
just have to figure it out yourselves! What can I say, but I do suggest
not asking your drummer for advice with the problem.
Chapter Six
Wood or Graphite?
I am not the least bit afraid of modern technology. I do object to
outright fraud, though, and I’m especially sensitive to frauds being
perpetrated on bass players, because… how do I say this… aw, hell, look…
bass players aren’t always real bright, okay? Sometimes, it’s easier to
take advantage of them than, say, keyboardists.
So, I’m going to make this very simple: People, graphite is what pencil
leads are made out of! You do the math! Enough said! Jeez!
Chapter Seven
Neck Adjustments
We were going to include a full chapter, maybe two if I was in the right
mood that day, about neck adjustments. However, my publisher has
received a “cease and desist” letter from the “American Board of
Chiropractic” or some such other doggone thing, telling me – Me! – that
I can’t give advice to the public on neck adjustments anymore. You
know, I’m a little worried about the future of this country, when you’ve
got people too cheap to go to a doctor, sit at home and search the
internet for medical advice, and then can’t tell the difference between
a bass neck and their own! I kid you not, and I’m not happy about this,
not one little bit. Look, for all I know, if you crown the frets on old
Uncle Norm’s neck, you just might cure the tingling in his left elbow,
how the hell would I know? Go ahead and try it, but don’t come crying
to me if instead his right elbow starts tingling, too. Anyway, until
the lawyers get this straight, you’re on your own for neck adjustments.
As far as I’m concerned, the farther you keep lawyers away from bass
playing, the better off we all are.
Happy playing, everyone! Remember, no relief for your necks, keep
playing them hard!
coreybenson
I just want to send a great big "Thank You!" to Mr. Running. Taking
the time to compile all of this information in one easily digestible
form is wonderful.
Well, first you have to print it on edible paper, but then... yes, eat
it. I know I feel I have a MUCH better understanding now that I've
begun digesting it!
Mmmm... feel the knowledge spreading through my body...
Corey
Javier González Nicolini
I did that and, after a short while of reflecting over it, dropped a
condensed form of this guide. A FAQ, if you will.
CS
> Chapter One
> A Brief History of Bass Necks and their Importance
>
> When Carol Kaye invented the bass guitar in 1946,
red sauce off my computer....
Tahank You!
cc
Let me say that I am very appreciative of your treatise on the bass
guitar.
I do hope you are planning a second installment on the more subtle
aspects of this instrument.
Such as:
Pickups.. Both four wheeled and two legged.
Nuts.. (See A.G.B. membership list)
Bridges.. Or should we just cross those later..
With utmost sincerity.
Cc
Susan
<snip>
> Chapter Seven
> Neck Adjustments
>
> We were going to include a full chapter, maybe two if I was in the right
> mood that day, about neck adjustments. However, my publisher has
> received a “cease and desist” letter from the “American Board of
> Chiropractic” or some such other doggone thing, telling me – Me! – that
> I can’t give advice to the public on neck adjustments anymore. You
> know, I’m a little worried about the future of this country, when you’ve
> got people too cheap to go to a doctor, sit at home and search the
> internet for medical advice, and then can’t tell the difference between
> a bass neck and their own! I kid you not, and I’m not happy about this,
> not one little bit. Look, for all I know, if you crown the frets on old
> Uncle Norm’s neck, you just might cure the tingling in his left elbow,
> how the hell would I know? Go ahead and try it, but don’t come crying
> to me if instead his right elbow starts tingling, too. Anyway, until
> the lawyers get this straight, you’re on your own for neck adjustments.
> As far as I’m concerned, the farther you keep lawyers away from bass
> playing, the better off we all are.
>
> Happy playing, everyone! Remember, no relief for your necks, keep
> playing them hard!
My chiropractor plays in a band. I'm starting to worry.
Pt
> A Brief History of Bass Necks and their Importance
About this post….
Terminate with extreme predigest.
Pt
Benj
> Chapter One
> A Brief History of Bass Necks and their Importance
>
Hey Brian,
Ain't it amazing what a nice fat advance from Mel Bay can do to get
the old creative juices flowing?
Ian Hayward
outside the Magic Circle how the lady is sawn in half. Do you want our
status (pun intended) to be reduced to that of mere artisans? May I ask if
your tongue is in close proximity to any other part of your anatomy right
now?
"Brian Running" <brun...@XXameritechXX.net> wrote in message
news:qWXqk.7485$np7....@flpi149.ffdc.sbc.com...