one-piece vs laminated necks

[muttley]

Is there any real advantage of a laminated neck over a single-piece one? I would have thought that a laminated neck would be more stable hence better overall but even manufacturers of quite expensive basses stick to single-piece designs. Thoughts?

[lettsguitars]

A single piece of quality well quarter sawn timber is the ideal material for guitar and bass necks. Single piece necks have better resonance but nicely quartered timber is more expensive. You can be less fussy with grain orientation when making a laminated neck and they look more interesting, especially with neck through's. Single piece mahogany necks are f'ing A.

[BigRedX]

Personally I've come to hate the cliché that is the laminated stripy neck. I won't have it on any future bass I buy unless it's going to be hidden under a layer of opaque paint.

[muttley]

[quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1336572590' post='1647715']
Single piece necks have better resonance but nicely quartered timber is more expensive. You can be less fussy with grain orientation when making a laminated neck and they look more interesting, especially with neck through's.
[/quote]

But surely resonance (in a solid body instrument) is not necessarily a good thing?

[chris_b]

That's why luthiers use the woods they use and in the combinations the do, because the objective is to make the instrument resonate in a good way.

[muttley]

We're slipping dangerously into a "tonewoods" discussion here, which was not the intention of my original question.

[lettsguitars]

Tonewoods=bollocks. The idea that you can engineer a certain and definate tone in an electric guitar is rubbish. Obviously you can point it in the right direction and hope for the best but that's about it.
I also do not want to start another tonewood debate cause it's all been said and done!
The fact is that resonance and tone are two different things. Strings resonate. The idea is to enhance the resonance of the strings. Certain woods will resonate at different frequencies encouraging the strings to resonate at the same frequency. A well made bass with tight fitting neck and quality 'tonewoods' will sound 'better' than an instrument made of cheap wood with poorly fitted fixtures. Pickups,amp and more importantly technique have a bigger impact on tone than all the other variables.
A one piece neck will resonate better than a laminated neck as a general rule, because there is no glue involved etc. You don't see too many acoustic instruments with laminated parts which says it all.

[Roland Rock]

Informative post, thanks Mr Letts. The way I read it, you say that you can use quality wood and fittings to enhance the tone, but it's not an exact science. Is that a fair conclusion? If that's the case, tonewoods=partially bollocks (not sure which part of the bollocks)

I was wondering where sustain comes into the equasion? Seems to me that the more resonant a wood, the more it will absorb the vibrations of the string, and therefore less sustain? ie some energy passes to the wood rather than staying in the string.

Sorry if this is too off topic

Edited May 10, 2012 by Roland Rock

[warwickhunt]

There are far too many variables to say whether single v laminate is 'best' (for starters what is 'best'; some might want a bass that rings for days yet others stick foam under the strings to stop sustain). I recently had a NT bass from a prominent UK manufacturer that was one piece neck and the flipping thing would go out of tune when you moved the bass from horizontal to vertical (it moved with the slightest pressure) yet I've got a 9 piece laminate Warwick neck that is as sold as a steel rod. I've also known basses where harmonics jump out or notes sustained and they could equally have been BO necked one piece necks as well as laminates.

In fact I restung my Sadowsky and Warwick bass yesterday and I'd be hard pushed to say if either had an advantage... the Sado needed a tweak on the truss rod (1 piece maple) whereas the laminated Warwick needed no fettling and both basses went from heavy to medium gauge strings!

I'm not sure if mention of glue is of any significance because even 1 piece necks (generally) have a fingerboard glued on or frets glued in and I'd have thought that the glue between neck laminates would be tighter and harder than the glue holding frets in. I've also read that sometimes a glued neck break is stronger than the wood itself so a thin smear of glue holding laminates shouldn't significantly impact on a bass; no more or less than a bridge fixing/material, neck screw tension, tuner materials, string mass, pup material/windings/height, amplifier, cabinet, cables, room acoustics... and so on.

[ikay]

Lam necks are the equivalent of go faster stripes IMO. Having said that, I do love my ACG

[Muzz]

[quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1336641439' post='1648686']
Tonewoods=bollocks. The idea that you can engineer a certain and definate tone in an electric guitar is rubbish. Obviously you can point it in the right direction and hope for the best but that's about it.
I also do not want to start another tonewood debate cause it's all been said and done!
The fact is that resonance and tone are two different things. Strings resonate. The idea is to enhance the resonance of the strings. Certain woods will resonate at different frequencies encouraging the strings to resonate at the same frequency. A well made bass with tight fitting neck and quality 'tonewoods' will sound 'better' than an instrument made of cheap wood with poorly fitted fixtures. Pickups,amp and more importantly technique have a bigger impact on tone than all the other variables.
A one piece neck will resonate better than a laminated neck as a general rule, because there is no glue involved etc. You don't see too many acoustic instruments with laminated parts which says it all.
[/quote]

Can we make this a sticky please? Perhaps a site banner?

[thisnameistaken]

In my ignorant mind I always thought laminate necks were used because they are stiffer and require less adjustment / provide better tuning stability. I didn't think 'tone' was a factor.

Good point above about laminates not being used on acoustic instruments.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Never been a consideration for me. Play bass, like bass, buy bass. I've never had any mechanical issues with any neck, One piece, laminated, neck-thru, bolt-on, glued, or monocoque. And the examples I have all sound fine (or I'd not have bought them)