Toughts on Graphite/carbon fiber necks

[bigbass]

Over the years, I have owned, played and recorded with many graphite necked basses. The experience has narrowed my opinion. Unless the fingerboard is made of real wood, I  find the sterile emission of sound repugnant. Amongst my weaponry, I still find use for an Alembi-sized fretless Modulus six with a rosewood board and a fretted Series I Graphite with a ebony board. There is nothing that sonically sounds like these instruments.

[1stbass]

Thanks guys,
The reason i started thinking about this is i have a jazz bass i like it but the neck moves around a lot. It lives right next to my alembics and they do fine so its the fender neck. I took a look at the Moses stuff and was thinking maybe a graphite replacement.
 
BIGBASS
can you fell the joint where the graphite and the ebony meet?

[davekoch]

Here's my $.02 worth. I bought my Modulus M-92 5-string (pre-Sweet Spot) in 1993. Right out of the box, I loved it. Great action and fat notes. Without a truss rod, the neck has never moved. Totally even response because there are no dead spots that I'm aware of. I've never had to even tweak the neck. It  dramatically changed my playing and sound. I played Fenders for years. To accomodate their various dead spots, I had to play the sympathic octave to ensure the dead spot notes sounded even with other notes. That's was a drag. Yes, they do sound not quite as warm as wood. But to me the trade-off of even repsonse and fatter notes - it's a no-brainer and I never looked back to wood.    
   
I found a great deal on a Modulus VJ (I always loved playing Jazz basses). I did notice some softer notes or dead spots on it, but have since discovered it had to do more with the stock Bart pups/pre and the Eden 410T cab. I've sinced swapped out the Bart rig with SD Pro-Active pups and a J-Retro pre and it now sings all over the neck. In fact it was actually so hot with the Eden in the upper mids/highs, that I suspected dead spots again in the lower register. But with my Schroeder 410, the response is very even across the spectrum. It was not the bass neck.    
   
I did find a great deal on a G&L ASAT fretless a while back, which are considered by many to be a very hot sounding bass with their pups/pre. The sound is wimpy and stark sounding compared to my Modulus basses, but yes, it does sound warmer.  ;-)    
   
I'll take a bass sound that cuts through on stage everyday over a beautifully warm, boutique, studio bass sound that's doesn't cut through on stage. I think the warm vs. sterile rap depends on the rest of your rig, and is usually overblown. On stage, they  easily cut through the mix. For studio work, you can use a warmer sounding bass. Fenders worked great in the limited studio settings I had. I played a 1960 stacked-knob Jazz for 17 years and it sounded so nice in the studio (without ANY tweaking), but didn't cut through on stage. But with all the advances in basses these days, there are probably a lot of wood-neck basses out there that have hot, fat notes without dead spots. But I suspect that they will probably need tweaking due to the weather changes.
 
(Message edited by davekoch on January 27, 2005)

[rogertvr]

To 1stbass - you can get replacement graphite necks for Fenders from Status Graphite.

[bigbass]

1stbass: I believe you mean 'can I FEEL the joint at the point where the graphite and ebony meet?' With that question, the answer is yes! As the seasons change, so does the shrinkage and expansion of my fingerboard. It's not a lot. But I do notice it.
 
I do hope that was what you were referring to.

[1stbass]

Thanks Bigbass,
My spelling is not the best first thing in the morning.
 
Doug