krispn Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 It removes dead spots but what about bum notes? If it does I’m buying a laminate neck! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDC484950 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 2 hours ago, Cuzzie said: 51 years is not test of longevity - it better not have a skunk stripe from truss rod insertion, the laminate crew will be claiming that! A single piece neck, again seasoned properly without knots or deficiencies and tested for the right moisture content should remain stable for a very long time. Many manufacturers use a single piece neck* without any issues. The original purpose of lamination was to reduce or preclude dead spots - because each laminate has a different resonant frequency, summing them would hopefully cancel out any noticeable dead spot (e.g the common 7th fret area on some older Fenders). The only other obvious use case for lamination (other than purely visual appeal) is a very wide neck with thin depth. A single piece of maple might be a bit more prone to movement a the headstock end. * I’m leaving fingerboards out of the equation to make life simpler. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Except that laminate is not necessarily more expensive as you can use one block of wood multiple times by ripping strips out of it, whereas you to get 1 piece you need 1 big block. Once you have cut the requisite sizes, gluing a laminate is not that labour intensive - you can bet the big firms will have it nailed down, may well be different for a single handed luthier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 3 minutes ago, FDC484950 said: A single piece neck, again seasoned properly without knots or deficiencies and tested for the right moisture content should remain stable for a very long time. Many manufacturers use a single piece neck* without any issues. The original purpose of lamination was to reduce or preclude dead spots - because each laminate has a different resonant frequency, summing them would hopefully cancel out any noticeable dead spot (e.g the common 7th fret area on some older Fenders). The only other obvious use case for lamination (other than purely visual appeal) is a very wide neck with thin depth. A single piece of maple might be a bit more prone to movement a the headstock end. * I’m leaving fingerboards out of the equation to make life simpler. Totally agree its in all in the seasoning and preparation of the wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Doctor J said: From Alembic's site And if you really enjoy cans of worms... http://www.alembic.com/info/wood_neck.html 😁 Made for interesting reading, thanks! They certainly back up the importance of the neck: "single most important wood decision you make about your custom built Alembic is the neck, for the neck is the foundation of the sound." The reference quote to "magic minimum number" you made was in relation to 3 piece maple necks with opposing grain on either side on their Signature Standard Bass. Exactly what Spector are doing with some of their Euro 5LX, including my own, and from an aesthetic perspective it's relatively subtle in appearance and fits so well with the neck through design. I guess I'm coming to increasingly appreciate just how carefully and well designed Spector basses are, the more I get to know about them! Edited February 10, 2021 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Spector are high end long established basses - they wouldn’t be anything else but great well designed instruments - So good Hans Wilfred ‘may’ have been influenced, not copied of course......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 6 minutes ago, FDC484950 said: A single piece neck, again seasoned properly without knots or deficiencies and tested for the right moisture content should remain stable for a very long time. Many manufacturers use a single piece neck* without any issues. The original purpose of lamination was to reduce or preclude dead spots - because each laminate has a different resonant frequency, summing them would hopefully cancel out any noticeable dead spot (e.g the common 7th fret area on some older Fenders). The only other obvious use case for lamination (other than purely visual appeal) is a very wide neck with thin depth. A single piece of maple might be a bit more prone to movement a the headstock end. * I’m leaving fingerboards out of the equation to make life simpler. I read about a study that Fender did regarding the 7th Fret deadspot and if I remember rightly, the result was that the deadspot was caused a a number of things. These included 4 inline machine heads on a long headstock, and bolt on necks, Not surprisingly the report was never actioned for obvious reasons. The conclusion was that the ideal bass had a set neck or neck though and headless. So Ned Steinberger got it right it seems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, Al Krow said: Made for interesting reading, thanks! They certainly back up the importance of the neck: "single most important wood decision you make about your custom built Alembic is the neck, for the neck is the foundation of the sound." The reference quote to "magic minimum number" you made was in relation to 3 piece maple necks with opposing grain on either side on their Signature Standard Bass. Exactly what Spector are doing with some of their Euro 5LX, including my own, and from an aesthetic perspective it's relatively subtle in appearance and fits so well with the neck through design. I guess I'm coming to increasingly appreciate just how carefully and well designed Spector basses are, the more I get to know about them! It's common enough, especially on non-Fender clone Japanese basses, in my experience. L-R Godlyke, Ibanez, Bacchus The Ibanez is a 91 SB900 but my two 89 SRs have three piece necks too, though the black paint stops one seeing it 😁 Ibanez were doing it a long time before that, however. Edited February 10, 2021 by Doctor J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ltsal Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 I once had a bass with a Graphite neck and the neck moved reacted a lot to temperature changes. Opening the window on a cold day for a few minutes was enough for it to move. However my old Squier P doesn’t really care for temperature changes. I only touch the trust rod when changing setups and that is every other year. I’ve never had much trouble with my wooden necks moving much or at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ltsal Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 And tone wise my guess is that a one piece or a 2-3 piece laminated neck adds more to the overall sound, than a neck with like 6-8 piece with several different kind of timbers. Mixing two or tree different kinds of woods can work lovely, but anything more doesn’t really add to the sound. It may is nice to look at and sure it’s good for the stability but that’s it. But that’s just how I see it and probably is a bit of a “hot take”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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