Is a set neck construction strong enough?

[grass903]

Is a set-neck joint strong enough?
 
Although I already have an Alembic Excel bass that was builted as a set-neck in 94 and it doesn't show or make any problem, sometimes I wonder if this would hold forever.
 
A through-neck construction gives a confidential relief for its look of the stright wood comes from the headstock to the end of the body.
 
A bolt on construction, which I hate, somehow seems fine.
 
However, as you know, an acoustic guitar's bridge comes off from the body naturally because of the string tension. and sometimes a neck heel-body glue joint breaks too.
This makes me concerned about gluing in a bass guitar's neck into the body.
 
I want to know what people who are experienced think about it.
 
I'm sincerely worried.

[southpaw]

Do not worry, your Excel neck will never come apart from normal use. There is a huge difference between an acoustic bridge and a set neck. The acoustic bridge is a small piece of wood that is constaningly being pulled by the strings.  Your Excel neck joint is not being pulled at all. The force of the strings are from the headstock to the bridge, in fact the string tension is pulling the neck joint together. I may not be explaining it well, perhaps someone else can say it better.  Mica explained to me that the set necks are actually stronger than the actual wood once they are glued in place. I have a set neck Orion for several years now, trust me the set necks are not going to come apart. Just sit back and enjoy your bass and leave the construction to Alembic, they know what they are doing!

[David Houck]

I don't recall reading here of anyone having a problem with the neck joint of an Alembic set-neck bass; and the first of these were made fifteen years ago.

[bassilisk]

grass903 - Just to highlight something about neck-thru's for you.
Last year I bought a used C64 Rickenbacker bass off ebay, seller said it was all good, action was a little high but could be adjusted to suit the buyer - everything worked. At the time I was interested in getting one of these and bought it. The action was fine until about the 9th fret after which it got high quickly, with the bridge bottomed out too. In looking at the bass it became clear that the neck had started bending forward at a point past the fingerboard, so the truss rods were useless for it. It was just a bad piece of wood and short of doing some very dramatic fixes to it (a refret and planing of the fingerboard or grinding down the bridge saddles - each temporary at best) it was basically firewood to me. Fortunately the seller (who was local) refunded everything including shipping, picked up the bass - and promptly sold it overseas. Some poor guy got it....and Ric won't touch these unless they're under warranty.
 
Just an example that something I certainly wouldn't have expected from a recent bass made by an established brand can and did happen. Neck-thru isn't a guarantee and though it's not very common (thank goodness) it's not unheard of.  
 
As to set necks, I had a Zon many years ago and Joe Zon told me the same thing regarding the strength of the joint. It's stronger than the surrounding wood.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Agreed, not to worry.  I've played a few '53 Les Pauls, which are set necks & a bit more that 15 years old, & they were rock solid.  I also once got to play a New York Martin (1833-38) & it was also fine - but the owner was a top-notch luthier, so I couldn't swear that wasn't due to a reset.  I've also recorded a guy who plays an 18th (or maybe it's 17th) century violin, & while he did have technical problems, it wasn't due to a loose neck (Man, quoth he, you spend a million bucks on a fiddle and a two-dollar rosin bag doesn't work!)
 
Peter
 
(Message edited by cozmik_cowboy on July 31, 2009)

[rami]

I don't think there were any Excels built before 97.  What's the serial number?

[gtrguy]

I have seen more than one Musicman Bongo with a bent neck.
 
Dave

[lysosome]

After owning a neck-thru Alembic, I personally wouldn't want a bolt on or set neck, but that's just me. Carl Thompson has been making set neck basses and guitars since 1975 or so, and I've never heard of any of his instruments having to be fixed due to the neck joint being too weak. And while he's a fine guitar builder, you know that Alembic uses just as high quality - if not higher - woods and glues. Most of the woodworking glue that's made now-a-days has a higher strength rating than the wood it's used on. In theory, this means that the wood making up the neck and body joint would actually break before the glue weakens enough for the two to separate.
 
In short, as long as it's built by someone who cares enough to do it right, I wouldn't see any reason to worry.