Weather change in London - all my basse's neck mooved...

[lg71]

Amazing what happened over the last few days; I swap basses through the day and I notice that their necks have moved, so obviously, the action and tuning as changed... What a pain! Its getting colder over here.

[tbrannon]

double post
 
(Message edited by tbrannon on October 04, 2006)

[tbrannon]

Sorry to say, but I am very glad to see the weather changing- as you cool down, we're warming up!  =) Nothing prettier (or more finicky) than Springtime in NZ!!
 
BTW:  My new (to me) Rogue traveled from Georgia to New Zealand and when it came out of the case, it was perfectly in tune.  I don't keep my basses in the case and after a week of playing and being out in the air the neck has shown zero movement.

[series_iii]

The weather in denver is generally more extreme than it is in seattle.  the bass room would react like thus:
 
steinberger XL-2 - won't go outta tune even if knocked out of the stand.
'76 fretless series 1 - maybe a little, but tuning is kinda relative on a fretless anyway.  so unless i'm playing a lot of open strings or it's a BIG climate change i won't notice it.
'77 series I short scale (no longer mine) - wouldn't budge.  neck solid as a rock.
'01 Martin B1 ABG - has to be retuned any time i play it so it's hard to tell if it's the weather or what.
'97 series II 5 string - like a friggin' barometer.  i can always tell somethings up when this one goes outta tune.  i haven't been able to corelate sharp vs. flat drift to high vs. low pressure change.  as rigid as the neck is on this one, it sure is tempermental.
'03 spyder - haven't had it long enough to tell.

[811952]

This is just off the top of my head, for reference...
 
Steinberger XL-2A - For some reason, needed subtle retuning nearly every time I picked it up (but never more than a few cents).  Nice grinding tone, especially when the batteries were about to fail.  Handy as a (defensive) baseball bat when bar fights would erupt.
 
Conklin Groove Tools 7-string - Never needed re-tuning.  Period.  And sounded great too.  The Tendonitis Machine.
 
Lakland Skyline 5-string - Hardly ever needs tuning.  I've never adjusted the neck and the action is the lowest of anything I've ever owned.  Doesn't seem to care that there IS weather.  Deserves Alembic guts at some juncture.
 
Dean Rhapsody 12-string - often doesn't need tuning, and never very far.  Neat for a few tunes a night.  These days it's tuned BEAD, which required a *bit* of setup adjustment, as it will in a month or so (and the air gets good and dry) and again next spring (when it's humid again).
 
Carvin 5-string fretless - Usually just a gentle nudge when pulling it out of the case.  The Gotoh tuners were a bit on the loose end of the scale.  Good bass that sounded ever-so-slightly different as the weather changed through extremes, but never seemed to need adjustment.  More mid-rangy in high humidity, possibly absorbing water through the fingerboard??
 
Alembic Series 1.5 - almost always in tune when I pull it out of the case, but tuning drifts and needs tweaking throughout the night because I play kind of hard.  Seems to not give a rat's a55 about the weather or climate, as it's spent a lot of time in different parts of the US, and a lot of time in transit during extremes and has always behaved this well for me.  I think my brother may have had a neck issue when he owned it briefly, but I don't recall any of the specifics.  At any rate, it's always been fine for me.  The neck gets the occasional 1/4-turn or less on the truss rods  when I change string brands or gauges, but only then.  Still the best sounding bass I've ever played, bar none.  I wish it were a 5-string...
 
John

[lg71]

Very interesting... I guess you're lucky then.  
 
Thanks for the feedback,
LG

[rogertvr]

The neck on my Dragon's Wing moves with every slightest change in the weather (which in the UK can be with every passing hour).  It's a problem that's been well-documented by me elsewhere in this club.
 
After several months of weather monitoring, I cannot fathom a pattern to either/some/all of humidity, temperature, barometric pressure...it's temperamental to the point that I have pretty much given-up on trying to get it set-up the way I like my basses.  The action is now the highest of any of my basses, it's the only way I can be sure that it will be playable when I want to play it.  Consequently, because I don't really like playing basses the way it is currently set-up, I don't play it much these days.
 
If it wasn't so gorgeous to look at, I'd have sold it ages ago.  I'm a patient person by nature but it's worn me down.

[foth]

It's cool and wet in northern California right now, and my '02 rogue is losing all of it's summer-earned relief.  My '84 series I hasn't moved in years.

[811952]

It might well be as Mica said in the Dragon's Wing thread (at least I think it was there), that it might take a few years before a neck realizes it's not a tree anymore...
 
John (who feels like one of the lucky ones as the seasons change)

[bigredbass]

Admittedly, the 'newest' bass I own is a '92, the BigRedBass.  I check the neck every 6 months or so just for practice:  The action has not appreciably moved (and this is checking it with feeler guages) in 3 or 4 years, except for my recent change in string sets.  I adjusted for that and foresee more of the same.  I settle on one set/brand and run with them for a long time.
 
A 'trick' I use that may be helpful:  Just like you always tune up to pitch, never down, I always tighten the truss rods up to where I want them.  I never loosen truss rods to where I think they need to be.  I'll go past downwards, then work the torque upwards only.
 
But wood varies . . . I once had a five-string that had a built in whammy bar, but not the usual tailpiece affair:  Just push on the back of the head and I could SEE the strings rising and falling off the fingerboard slightly.
Instead of ash, it was obviously made out of firewood!
 
J o e y

[0vid]

Conklin Groove Tools 7-string - Never needed re-tuning. Period. And sounded great too. The Tendonitis Machine.  
 
I have a lefty version of one of these, and I concur it stay in tune very very well. Actually the strings that came with it are pretty good, ... stays bright and ringy for v long.
 
My graphite neck basses also hold their tuning extremely well.

[georgie_boy]

Report from Scotland.
My 1976 Series 1 has never budged and we have REAL crap weather. My Cort Curbow has never budged (2004 model), and my Danelectro Pro 56 has never budged either!!??. I keep my living room window open fractionally all year round. Today, the humidity level is 78%! I wish I REALLY understood why some instruments go Ape while others don't (I even bend 3 semi tones at a time on a regular basis).
Hope everything settles down nice for you LG
George

[georgie_boy]

Report from Scotland.
My 1976 Series 1 has never budged (and I've just changed up to a higher gauge string) and we have REAL crap weather. My Cort Curbow has never budged (2004 model), and my Danelectro Pro 56 has never budged either!!??. I keep my living room window open fractionally all year round. Today, the humidity level is 78%! I wish I REALLY understood why some instruments go Ape while others don't (I even bend 3 semi tones at a time on a regular basis).Moder Dave has tried to explain lots to me but I just don't get the drift why some do and others don't!
Hope everything settles down nice for you LG
George (the confused one)

[lg71]

well, I don't have have time right now to res-set all my instruments, so I am doing something silly; I am experimenting with lower action! LOL Really, I am being lazy... it takes me so long to set up my basses every-time, I never rush it, in fact, the truss cover is rarely attached. But I'll take a little break for now.  
 
I don't know if the age of the wood is responsible for its stiffness, because my basses are from early 80s and the wood is good, the action + feel is amazing as well, so I couldn't say that because a neck move, it makes it an inferior instruments.
 
I also oil my necks regularly, so that could be a reason why they moved more easily than some necks who haven't been oiled for a while... I am serious about oiling my necks, I apply three different oil over few days when I do it, and it works well for me. My necks are flexible LOL and they feel good, they are happy necks, well treated and cared f or.

[bassdr]

Report from Michigan- we get alot of humidity and temperature swings here, often in the same day! My '93 Flame Koa Essence is solid as a rock, thank God. I have not had to adjust anything in more then a year as it just doesn't change. My good luck.