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Bass Neck Thickness


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For a bass neck, do you follow the same basic guidelines as with a guitar neck for thickness? That is: 3/16"-1/4" under the truss rod at the 1st fret tapering slightly thicker as you go up. OR would you make it a little thicker because of higher tension/thicker strings?

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Personally I would just go with what's comfortable, and that would be similar to a guitar as far as thickness. There's a truss rod in there after all, so I wouldn't worry about "higher tension". If you're really concerned, consider using two truss rods or adding carbon fiber.

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Bass necks can be smaller and thinner than some guitar necks. Take a look at some of the higher end Ibanez SoundGear models.

The other extreme is pretty thick. Fender Precisions for example.

The Extended Range basses you'll find out there also can have a pretty thin profile, just so you can get your hand around the neck.

+1 on the carbon fiber, or double trussrods if you're concerned!

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A good neck has to possess two specific properties over all others - stability and adjustability. Stability is resistance against movement of the wood from both natural causes and that caused under tension in use. Adjustability allows you to counteract tension to achieve/maintain a specific shape. Balancing these two off will achieve your end. Other factors are icing on the cake in comparison.

A thick neck is less likely to move under tension (although it will) but will also require more force to adjust if (and when) it does. Warwick and big Fender necks are some of the bat-tiest necks out there that I have used, and they do seem to be very stable (despite the simplistic construction of Fender necks). As mentioned by Moth - SDGRs are very slender necks which are fast and slick. Building in stability from the outset through laminations or the use of QS woods can help achieve this and reduce the need for heavy counteracting adjustment.

That said, many necks are single-piece and use flatsawn woods and are fine. Think Fender Jazz or cheaper SDGRs. Also - have a look at the D'Addario string tension table (sorry, forgot the link) and work out how much the neck will be under. It'll perhaps illustrate it from a different angle. Given the option, I like to laminate a nice tonally complimentary wood into necks for both stability and for the purposes of sound. Wenge is one I return back to a lot.

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