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Trussless Bass Neck.........


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Sounds like a good experiment, if a little expensive and with a high chance of irrevocable long term issues. If you're lucky in that it stays in the relief's "sweet spot" we'll no doubt have people vouching for trussless necks based on the exception as opposed to the rule though ;-)

The lack of predictability in service and over the seasons (and many seasons) is the biggest problem, so do let us know how yours fares in the face of these! Photos always make a big difference also :D

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Will add pics and these disclaimers:

This neck blank was scored for $9 USD. Not an expensive experiment at all.

2: I fully expect this neck to move eventually, and only blind LUCK got the neck to releive just right.

Oh, and I'll try to fix it with a truss rod , should it ever start to bow. The back of the neck is flat, so adding in a TR won't be an impossibility. just a pain in the ash.

I'll go take some pics now that the coffee is kicking in.

Warning : the following pics will be of an unfinished bass body, and a half-done neck. Nothing pretty to see here, just mad science..........

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O.k. ... ugly as they might be, here are some pics

IMG_0367.jpg

^^ thats the face. don't look like nothin out of the ordinary........

and here's a look down the side.....

IMG_0368.jpg

and an attempt to show the action/neck right now.......

IMG_0372.jpg

IMG_0374.jpg

and here's a quick, half-done shot of my new dovetail neck joint.....

IMG_0371.jpg

these pics are ugly, I know that. This work is not complete, this is just an attempt to show what happened so far...

my plans are now : remove the neck and sand/finish it. Complete the body and electronics, then reassemble the whole lot.

will do some before/after pics then........

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All my builds get them......

along with my guide fret. :D

I found this bit at the neck-wood page here :http://www.theguitarfiles.com/modules.php?name=AvantGo&file=print&sid=131

Macassar Ebony (Dispyrus macassar):

Stripped ebony, black with heavy striping, chocolate brown to gray. A beautiful wood for those wanting the feel and tone of ebony but a more exciting look. Primarily for fingerboard wood but sometimes available for solid necks. No finish required.

So ... maybe that can put some peoples mind at ease concerning its longevity. I will be finishing the neck with Watco's Teak-oil, which has proven so far to have great protection. According to the folks who have built thousands of necks, even unfinished will be o.k.

I'll still offer it whatever protection I can......

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maybe that can put some peoples mind at ease concerning its longevity

not really - but a truss rod would :D

also, judge the wood you have - which to me looks very pale for an ebony and that will inform finish choice... obviously you will get a better idea of that once its smoothed out

here is my mac ebony neck - sanded to a crazy high grit with a little danish oil applied somewhere along the way

neck4.jpg

for the record - warmoth say certain woods dont require a finish. IMHO this is misleading. the fact they dont require any kind of finish doesnt mean they wont benefit from one, and i suspect they say it to make things seem easier to their customers - a large number of who are going specifically with warmoth because they want things easy!

as an example i had a Goncalo Alves neck from warmoth to work on last year. They say it requires no finish. It felt and looked dry to me, and that is how it had come from warmoth. I gave it a good soaking in danish oil, i rubbed it all back with 0000 wire wool and buffed it out with a cloth. So not a heavy finish, but something. the improvement was vast, smooth, slinky and warmer in colour... just what i really want from a 'raw' wood neck

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When Warmoth says finish, they mean a hard coating like lacquer, poly, etc.

Even though danish oil and the like make a good finish in certain applications, it does not meet their warranty requirements, unless they say specifically in their catalog that a particular wood "needs no finish."

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