Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: robinc on June 05, 2008, 12:41:23 AM
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I think it would be neat to see what everyone's favorite neck recipes are, be it on your own instrument or any other. I know there are some wild ones out there! I'm going to kick things off with this:
http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/40001.html?1212441779 (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8610)
I can't get enough of all those colors!
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and this from last month's featured custome:
http://www.alembic.com/info/featured_custom.html (http://www.alembic.com/info/featured_custom.html)
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and of course this:
http://www.alembic.com/info/8string.html (http://www.alembic.com/info/8string.html)
and this:
http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_ragingbass.html (http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_ragingbass.html)
ok time for bed now :-P
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To a large degree, one's favorite neck recipe, especially on a neck through, is directly related to tone. Since on a neck through, the neck woods contribute to tone much more so than the body woods, the woods you choose for the neck go a long way to determining your instrument's tone. Of course neck stability is also important, and is why only certain woods are appropriate for necks.
The four woods I see the shop using most often for basses recently seem to be Maple, Mahogany, Purpleheart and Ebony. The following generalizations are what I recall reading here on the forum; others may have better knowledge. Maple is the standard for the lower priced basses. Maple provides attack and high end clarity. Mahogany is a neutral wood, and recently is showing up in more and more custom orders. Purpleheart adds strength and sustain; Maple with Purpleheart laminates is the standard for the higher priced basses, and it's kinda the classic look. Ebony adds strength and sustain, and supports the fundamental of the note.
Of course, appearance is also a consideration, and all of these woods, and others such as Walnut and Vermilion, are used as accents between the major laminates.
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Dave,
Can a Mahogany neck handle the stress over time?
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I would expect mahogany to hold up just fine as it is part of the neck recipe for the classic brown bass.
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Last time I played my buddy's '53 Les Paul, the mahogony neck was holding up just fine - and that's a one-piece. Likewise the New York Martin I once was privilged to pick briefly - and Martin left NY in, IIRC, 1848. Mahogony handles the stress quite well.
Peter
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Does a bass have considerable more stress due to the increased length and string tension?
Do woods such as Mahogany, Paduak and Koa hold up in bass necks?
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FJJ,
As I implied in my previous update mahogany has been used in the brown bass (i.e. the Stanley Clarke bass) neck for years. If it wasn't up to the task you would not still be seeing it used. As a matter of fact it is still used due to its tone qualities. Trust me when I say Susan would just say No if it was not good to use in the necks of their instruments.
I also have a '67' Hagstrom 8 string bass that is all mahogany and it is as good today as when I bought in 1970. And if you want to talk about tension on a short scale bass the Hagstrom would be the one to use.
To take a tangent the brown bass has a neck wood that surprised me and that is birch. So I guess any number of woods will work for a neck depending upon the tone you are looking for.
Keith
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Tootin' my own horn... but I love the neck on my Distillate. It is rather unusual in that it is almost all purpleheart with 4 maple pinstripes.
1132587739(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/52469.jpg)
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Maple and mahogany have been used in more electric (not sure about all the historical materials used in acoustic) guitar and bass necks than any other woods. In my limited experience, I've seen maple necks and mahogany necks that went bad. In the course of these events I've talked to a lot of people who build and repair necks, too. As I understand it, maple is a bit harder and stronger than mahogany. Maple necks tend to warp more than break. Mahogany is plenty strong enough to sustain bass string tension (particularly considering truss rods and other reinforcements not uncommon in bass necks). Over time, mahogany tends to dry and gets prone to breaking. Many Gibson mahogany EBO necks and headstocks have busted, split, sheared off - you name it. On the other hand, mahogany is not as prone to warping as maple. Bottom line, they both work. I happen to love the sound of mahogany necks, but I'm a little more cautious with my mahogany basses than the others.
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Is not the Brown Bass (Stanley Clarke bass) a short scale?
I am asking about Mahogany for long scale bass necks (I am curious because I play six-string basses)
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Yes the brown bass is a short scale.
If you really want to talk about neck recipes and such you might want to call Alembic. They can go over pretty much everything they've built and tell you the results. If I were to ever get another long scale bass I would have no problems with mahogany if that is the tone I was going after.
Keith
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Thanks
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I'm a hardcore sustain-aholic. I wanted ultimate sustain and fundamental with this:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/52488.jpg)
The entire Bass is made of Ebony and Purpleheart exclusively. With its 36 scale, the tone is just incredible.
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Rami, every time I see that bass my jaw drops. You don't happen to have any sound samples lying around do you?
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Very nice! I second that motion, sound samples please!
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Here's shot of my Tribute.(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/52507.jpg)
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That's a really cool Distillate!
Another important consideration here is that, as a generalization, multi-laminate necks are much less prone to warping. So, even in an all Maple Alembic neck, there will be at least three lams and the orientation of the middle laminate will be opposite the outer lams.
Mark's (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8731) long scale six string features Mahogany lams, as does Charles' Dragonfly (http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_dragonfly.html) five string.
(Message edited by davehouck on June 07, 2008)
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I'm more than pleased with my maple + 2 purpleheart stripes + 1 ebony stripe. That seems to be a fairly popular one right now.