Feel the transitions between neck laminates?

[briant]

I own two Alembics.  My JPJ has a neck that is sleek, fast, and smooth as you can possibly imagine.  My Rogue 5 has a fairly deep neck (front to back) and I can actually feel the transitions between the maple, purpleheart, and ebony.
 
Anyone else?

[terryc]

I can just slightly feel the maple/walnut pinstripes on the body/neck interface on MK 93
Could be shrinkage due to age???

[kungfusheriff]

From what I understand, maple loses moisture faster and therefore shrinks quicker than purpleheart -- the laminates in my '82's neck are not flush with the maple either.
Considering how quickly untreated ebony dries out when exposed to the elements, I imagine necks with ebony laminates will show shrink even quicker.

[jazzyvee]

I feel the same on my basses but it's never been a distraction whilst playing.
 
jazzyvee

[briant]

My Rogue has been this way since day 1 so it isn't something that has developed over time.

[mike1762]

I noticed that on my SC.  It has a 3 piece maple neck (no other laminates).  I don't feel it on my Spoiler (also 3 piece maple) or SI (2 PH laminates).

[3rd_ray]

I've noticed this on my '02 Essence and '08 Excel, but it's never bothered me. On the Essence I can also feel it where the top and accent woods meet the body in some spots.
 
Mike

[dela217]

I've noticed that the feel of the laminates is much more pronounced with the polyester finish.  On the old Polane urethane finished Alembics I cannot feel any transitions at all.

[5stringho]

How ironic. I was going to bring this very subject up sometime. I just never got around to it, now Brian has! My recently completed Signature 5 has a very pronounced transition on the Ebony Lam, all the way through the body. Maybe it's just me, but, unfortunately, I do find in somewhat disheartening. Not so much on the body, but on the neck. There is a little difference between the Maple and Purpleheart lam's also, but this seems to be pretty much confined to the body. I imagine if it becomes too much of a issue it would be a warranty item, and I'm curious if anyone has had this rectified under warranty. BTW, my bass has the Satin finish neck/ Gloss polyester body.  
Thanks, Mike.....
 
(Message edited by 5stringho on November 28, 2008)

[keith_h]

I don't notice any ridges on my Brown Bass which has an oil finish though I can feel a difference in the wood grains. I don't feel anything on my all maple and pinstriped neck Orions. They have the flat polyester finish.  
 
Keith

[sjhoffma]

I feel the walnut laminates on my Rogue 4. Doesn't bother me, or concern me at all. Im sure it has to do with the hardness of the wood or something along those lines.

[tbrannon]

Mike,
 
It's still early days for my new Elan, but I can't feel any difference between the ebony and maple in my neck.  Perhaps things will change over the course of a winter, but for now it's perfect.
 
Toby

[keurosix]

Back in '04 when I bought my 6 string Europa, I noticed this unevenness along the back of the neck and body between the maple and purple heart laminations, and sent Mica an email requesting info. She sent me this response:
 
 The back of the neck sounds like it has some shinkage where the different woods have
moved at different rates. If the feel doesn't bother you, don't worry about it - it's very
unlikely that it's actually delaminating (only have I ever seen this once). To repair, you'd
need to send the bass here for a new top coat and rub out. We can leave the neck glossy
or make a nice satin finish on it. Top coat and rubout isn't cheap at $550, but the bass
will appear as new, and will likely not shrink as much in the future. You may want to wait a couple years before doing this, since it may have a little shrinking left to do. We wish we could keep every bass here for ten years then retop coat. It seems to take almost that long to convince those trees they want to be basses
 
I elected not to retop coat the bass, and am happy to report that no actual delaminations ever occurred. It seems that this phenomena is most noticable where the dissimilar wood types are adjacent to each other and move (shrink) at a different rate. I am not exactly sure if the wood has actually shrank away from the surface, or if the outer finish is absorbed into the wood. But I am not worried about it.
Kris

[white_cloud]

This is just one of those things you have to live with when you have a multi wood laminated neck. You can harvest wood, air dry it for many years, kiln dry it, craft it etc but certain species just keep on moving and adapting to their conditions/environments!
 
Wood is a living material and all serious woodworkers know how to understand, and allow for, this phenomenon in their designs - be it furniture , instruments etc!
 
Of course, some species are much much stabler than others...another essential for the professional craftsman is to know how each individual species will generally react but this is never an exact science as each individual piece will have its own quirks from time to time!  
 
Shrinkage and movement will always occur to some degree in any bass, guitar, violin etc etc for many years after it has been constructed. The reason certain old Fenders are desirable does not only come from the kudos that comes from age - but also from the stability that their 30+ yr old maple necks have attained!
 
I would strongly recommend that any one who wished to have their Alembic neck laminates re-finished to perfect smoothness would wait for as long as possible...it would be an awful shame to go to that kind of expense to find the same problem re-occur at a later date due to FURTHER movement!
 
John.

[pclifton2004]

Yeah I only had this once, on a used 88 Series II but it did bug me - nice to know there is a solution, however costly!