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Anyone in a metal band ?


edstraker123
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Yes it's mine...

[url=http://borntorock.com/gallery.html]Piggy[/url] was the Voivod guitarist who used the F4C guitar version.

Tetsu from L'Arc En Ceil has a very early model bass.

The "neck support" takes up the tension of the strings, so that the bass doesn't need a truss rod. It's an ingenious design, the working of which is quite difficult to describe (even the Born To Rock web site doesn't do a very good job of it), but is blindingly obvious once you see the instrument "in the flesh". It's not actually in the way at all.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have about this bass, although it might be worth having a look at [url=http://basschat.co.uk/topic/32239-aluminium-part-3/]this first[/url].

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1361880048' post='1992250']
The "neck support" takes up the tension of the strings, so that the bass doesn't need a truss rod. It's an ingenious design, the working of which is quite difficult to describe (even the Born To Rock web site doesn't do a very good job of it), but is blindingly obvious once you see the instrument "in the flesh". It's not actually in the way at all.
[/quote]

Aha, should have read the ad!

so if you wanted to play with a slide, you wouldn't need the neck at all?

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[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1361881326' post='1992285']
so if you wanted to play with a slide, you wouldn't need the neck at all?
[/quote]

Unfortunately not, as both the nut and bridge are part of the neck assembly.

Think of the bass as being two pieces. The first is the body including the machine heads (but not the bridge), the arm and the string anchors at the end of the neck. The second piece is the neck from the nut attached to the plate that holds the pickups and the bridge. This is completely separate from the body assembly and is only in contact with it at two pivot points, one beneath the bridge and the other behind the nut. It is held in place by solely by the tension of the strings pressing down at the bridge and nut. All the pulling tension of the strings which is normally counteracted by the neck construction and truss rod is taken up by the arm connecting the string anchors at the top of the bass to the body. If you look at the various photos of the bass it should make sense.

Because the neck isn't under any pulling tension from the strings, it doesn't have factor that extra strength into its construction, so it can be very shallow back to front (mine is 16-17 mm, or even made out of almost any material - the early Born To Rock instruments had perspex necks.

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[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1361883391' post='1992342']
So the fretboard is metal? Can any luthier do a refret job?
[/quote]

If you look at the photo of the side of the neck, you'll see that the "frets" are actually stainless steel rods glued into slots in the aluminium fingerboard/neck. Any luthier with metal-working skills should be able to replace them. However this bass is getting on for being 20 years old and the fret wear is still minimal. It will be a long time until a re-fret becomes an issue.

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[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1361885061' post='1992399']
Pathetic as it may seem, the thing that struck me most about this was that it seems to be strung with La Bella FLs.
[/quote]

Are you sure about that?

[IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Selling/DSC02201_zpsef99aa9f.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1362254444' post='1997705']
Sorry I don't understand. It's not really any harder or easier than any other bass.
[/quote]
I was only thinking when looking at the listing that it looked easier to tune than a conventional bass.

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1362271181' post='1997912']
Coincidentally at the LBGS there is a company with a modern take on the same concept, the Square One Bass:http://www.londonbassguitarshow.com/square-one-guitars-confirmed-for-2013-show/
[/quote]

From what I've seen on the website, the two instruments have very little in common in the concept. The Square One Bass appears to be a fairly conventional bolt-on neck headless design that just happens to use some aluminium tubing in the body construction. The Born To Rock Bass is all about eliminating the need for a truss rod and its design and construction are entirely centred around that. The only that that looked interesting about the Square One was that it might have a moveable pickup, but even that doesn't seem to be the case.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1362309579' post='1998098']
The Square One Bass appears to be a fairly conventional bolt-on neck headless design that just happens to use some aluminium tubing in the body construction.
[/quote]

The bit about "Sound travels faster in aluminium than hardwoods so the attack of a note is faster in a Square One bass" sounds a bit iffy to me... unless you play the bass by knocking on the body rather than plucking the strings..?

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[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1362310351' post='1998126']
The bit about "Sound travels faster in aluminium than hardwoods so the attack of a note is faster in a Square One bass" sounds a bit iffy to me... unless you play the bass by knocking on the body rather than plucking the strings..?
[/quote]

I took the Born To Rock to a Bass Bash a few years ago. One of the comments was how "woody" it sounded when amplified. Acoustically it's got quite a bright metallic tone (as you might expect), but once that's been filtered through the pickup and amp, it sounds very much like other basses with a P-style pickup. It's got a bit more top end than most but the body of the sound is very much influenced by the pickup type.

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