Bowed neck

[deathpanda]

Hi all, my dad recently sent my geddy lee sig off to a mate of his who has mate who does repairs and setups. Apparently he's an absolute perfectionist and knows exactly what he's on about but I hope he's not right in this case... so anyway, the neck is slightly bowed, which is apparently because of the type of neck, and even more generally, a fender. Apparently constantly slapping and popping on most fenders can lead to bowing? But apparently my Yamaha (which I've previously had set-up by this guy, and I must add he made it feel like a £1k+ bass) is perfectly suited for it. Could anyone explain, is it true?

I'm kind of excited to get the bass back, he's removing that horrible lacquer off the neck!

[JTUK]

Slightly bowed or has relief..?

[Dom in Dorset]

I have no idea if what he says is true but , if a neck becomes bowed (ie too much relief) it can be corrected by adjusting the truss rod.
The problems occur if the curve in the neck is unneven , this tends to be more of a probllem on cheaper basses. as far as I know this happens during production and not as a result of how the bass is played.

[OutToPlayJazz]

I think there are a couple of old wives tales going on there. Firstly, "popping and slapping" will not lead to a bowed neck.

The Geddy is manufactured with a very thin shaved neck to start with, so it's prone to the neck changing shape, anyway. My advice, having owned one in the past is to keep the string guages at either 45-105 or 40-100. Anything thinner causes the neck to be almost unadjustable on these basses. Sometimes 45-105 strings have too much tension for a neck this thin, so try changing to 40-100 and the neck will naturally go a little straighter. Otherwise, perhaps it needs a little truss rod adjustment.

I found that mine would change shape within weather changes, due to the extreme thinness. The thing to avoid to make sure your neck stays as stable as possible is never leave the bass leaning against a wall with the strings facing you. If you have to lean the bass, place it strings facing the wall, so the weight is pulling against the neck. But leaving in the case or on a stand is always the best method.

You should check out this guide. There should be a very slight curve to the neck to provide some relief for the strings to operate. If you have a huge curve in the neck, the action will be all over the place and the bass will be more difficult to play. The ideal is to have just the slightest curve from totally flat. Hope this helps.

[JTUK]

Agree... I have an ultra thin neck on a 5 string Sei and you have to respect movement and changes
I hang basses on a Herecules stand rather than a floor stand for any lenght of time. I support the bases from the body when lying flat.

I found only the blocky thicker necks...which I don't like, are the most stable.

The only bass that I had with a rock solid neck was a 70's MM... that would always come out of the case rock solid but I feel that was freakishly stable over the years.

Also used 40's gauge on that...but use 45-130 now. I don't know why I prefer the heavier gauge play-wise after my lay-off...??

[OutToPlayJazz]

[quote name='JTUK' post='804591' date='Apr 13 2010, 09:41 AM']Agree... I have an ultra thin neck on a 5 string Sei and you have to respect movement and changes
I hang basses on a Herecules stand rather than a floor stand for any lenght of time. I support the bases from the body when lying flat.

I found only the blocky thicker necks...which I don't like, are the most stable.

The only bass that I had with a rock solid neck was a 70's MM... that would always come out of the case rock solid but I feel that was freakishly stable over the years.

Also used 40's gauge on that...but use 45-130 now. I don't know why I prefer the heavier gauge play-wise after my lay-off...??[/quote]

Yes, my MM (which is now sold) has an amazingly stable neck, too. Also, my TRB-6 neck never moved either, but that may have been something to do with the twin truss rods!

By far the most stable necks I've had have been the graphite ones on Status basses. Barely any movement, ever.

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,have to agree about musicman necks and ricky,s as well,stable all the time.
Interestingly-Russ Ryan who techs for Geddy Lee said that the fenders were always moving about but the ricky that went on tour had no adjustment at all,I can back that up cause my ricky has had no need to adjust in 11 years same as my musicman in 7 years.

[deathpanda]

Thanks for the info guys, very appreciated. Stuff like this fuels my desire for a graphite neck even more...

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='deathpanda' post='804521' date='Apr 13 2010, 07:35 AM']Apparently he's an absolute perfectionist and knows exactly what he's on about..[/quote]

[quote name='deathpanda' post='804521' date='Apr 13 2010, 07:35 AM']...constantly slapping and popping on most fenders can lead to bowing?[/quote]
Apparently not!

[Davo-London]

Someone's pulling your plonker. Get your bass back and send it to a real techie, or better still do it yourself.

That said the Geddy Lee is one of the thinnest necks going.

Davo

[deathpanda]

[quote name='Davo-London' post='807689' date='Apr 15 2010, 09:43 PM']Someone's pulling your plonker. Get your bass back and send it to a real techie, or better still do it yourself.

That said the Geddy Lee is one of the thinnest necks going.

Davo[/quote]

As I said, he's done one of my basses before and made it feel a million dollars, I'm sure he's just mixed something up. Thanks for the clarification though guys.

[deathpanda]

just got the bass back this morning, and by god... the action is the lowest I've ever seen on a bass, and best of all, no fret buzz whatsoever... pots and everything were cleaned, neck straightened and new strings, and apparently there was something slightly off with the knobs so they were also fixed. not bad for £25, eh? he will also take the laquer off the neck if I want, so was just wondering, is it a good idea? I mean, I would prefer it, but it won't affect the stability of the neck or anything will it?

[OutToPlayJazz]

Glad you're happy with it now That's the sort of setup I do on Jazzes - Lowest possible action and a very slight bit of relief in the neck. As for taking the lacquer off, why would you want to do that? The Geddy has a lovely neck. It won't upset the stability, though. That shouldn't be a problem at all. Perhaps get the luthier to satin lacquer it instead of the gloss you have at the moment?

[deathpanda]

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='812212' date='Apr 20 2010, 08:41 AM']Glad you're happy with it now That's the sort of setup I do on Jazzes - Lowest possible action and a very slight bit of relief in the neck. As for taking the lacquer off, why would you want to do that? The Geddy has a lovely neck. It won't upset the stability, though. That shouldn't be a problem at all. Perhaps get the luthier to satin lacquer it instead of the gloss you have at the moment?[/quote]

not sure why I don't like it, but I prefer the neck on my RBX (not the shape, just the material). not sure if it's just because it's cheap, but it has a smooth mix of plastic and wood feel about it which is perfect for me. I wonder, is that what satin laquer is?