Neck heavy question

[adriansmith247]

Hi

This is something that has always bugged me but I have never done anything about. I have a couple of basses and both are or seem to be neck heavy. When I let go the headstock drops. This leads me to grip or support the bass neck.

What methods can I use to stop this happening other than change basses?

Basses are a frettless Wilkes 4 string ebony board and a 1980s Squire Jazz fiesta red 4 string fretted. I play mostly double bass now so have got very used to not having to support the neck

many thanks and happy Christmas to all

Adrian

[Legion]

Common options are:

Wide strap
Suede backed strap for better grip
Lighter tuners - hipshots etc

Uncommon options:

Extend the length of the strap button on the upper horn (particularly if its short like an SG or something)
Adding weights to the bridge end of a bass (hidden in control cavity or under ashtrays etc)

Personally I've always found lighter tuners to make a noticeable difference (on fender style basses)

Edited December 19, 2013 by Legion

[adriansmith247]

Thanks

I may try the lighter tuners.

[dmccombe7]

My Warwick thumb suffers from that a bit and i found suede backed strap the cheapest option and works pretty well.
Other options are moving strap buttons.
Did see someone who had a smaller strap attached to a normal belt style strap used for a 6 string bass ??

Dave

[jmchich]

You can get those straps (not sure what they're called) where there's a sort of harness thing the bass attaches to, stopping it moving

[Telebass]

Slinger strap.

[jcdlc72]

Greetings everyone, from way out across the pond!
I´d go for a combination of wide strap, not wearing the bass too far from the upper chest (I know, very un-rockstar look, but it has helped me with a couple neck divers!) and shifting the lower bout strap pin to an intermediate point, say, where the right elbow usually meets the bass´s body when playing. It changes the angle of the instrument and helps a lot with neck diving. It usually happens most whenever the upper "horn" (where the "upper" strap pin usually is) is "below" (as in closer to the bridge) the 12th fret mark, where it should be the middle balance point of the instrument (one of my basses has a 35" scale AND short horns, and does the neck diving quite easily. On this one I had to put a very wide strap, shift the lower bout strap pin position AND relocate the upper horn strap pin to the back of the body, right where the body and neck unite a-la Gibson SG -which is another neck diver in itself!-).

[Turk]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/213536-neck-dive-issue-sorted/page__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/213536-neck-dive-issue-sorted/page[/url]

[Dingus]

[quote name='adriansmith247' timestamp='1387438866' post='2311874']
Hi

This is something that has always bugged me but I have never done anything about. I have a couple of basses and both are or seem to be neck heavy. When I let go the headstock drops. This leads me to grip or support the bass neck.

What methods can I use to stop this happening other than change basses?

Basses are a frettless Wilkes 4 string ebony board and a 1980s Squire Jazz fiesta red 4 string fretted. I play mostly double bass now so have got very used to not having to support the neck

many thanks and happy Christmas to all

Adrian
[/quote]

There are a number of reasons why a bass may tend to neck- dive , and so the solution depends on what is causing the problem . As Legion points out , on a Fender style bass , lightweight tuners usually work wonders in alleviating the problem , but on some other basses ( such as a Warwick Thumb) the problem is caused by the positioning if the strap buttons on the bass and the relative position in the top horn of the body shape rather than just the weight of the tuners . As a rule of thumb ( no pun intended) the closer towards the twelfth fret the top horn strap button is , the more chance there is of the bass balancing properly on a strap.