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Aluminium necks on bass?


barrycreed

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Probably considered a fad by some, but am considering, crazily so maybe, something like this, but not with an aluminium body. Comes in a 30" or 34" scale. 30" would be fantastic I think.

No love for aluminium necks on here I would think? Heresy!?. There are vids of P basses online with aluminium neck conversions and they sound really crisp and clear. I guess with no truss rod, you never have to worry about necks warping and so on. I have an alu neck guitar on the way next year.

image.png.f0b971bde03fb98d5323ff83c6db9c08.png

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6 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

I'd have a Tokai Talbo in an instant,  but they're the other way around; Alu body and wooden neck. 

...just like alusonic.

Some aluminium neck manufacturers: Burke, Wandré, Travis Bean, Kramer, Hartke (by Vaccaro), EGC, Baguley, Bastin, Aluminati...

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I've owned a fair number of basses with aluminium necks and/or bodies -

Born To Rock F4B
Hartke XL4
Hondo Alien (Kramer The Duke copy)
Kramer 450B
Kramer XKB10
Tokai Talbo Bass (2000 re-issue)

Anything in particular you want to know?

BTW IME the going out of tune thing is not a problem so long as you don't subject them to extreme changes in temperature and expect them to stay in tune (a bit like a wooden bass really).

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@BigRedX Thanks for feedback. Curious about weight, neck dive. I am tempted to plump for a Tides, similar to the original post, a bit of an expense when I'm not gigging but ready for when I am able to gig (is my excuse).

From just videos I've seen, I really like the bell like crisp sound they can produce in general. Not a huge fan of the trebly pick distorted sound, which I suppose they are famous for though I would mainly be a pick player for anything remotely heavier or rockier...

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39 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

@BigRedX Thanks for feedback. Curious about weight, neck dive. I am tempted to plump for a Tides, similar to the original post, a bit of an expense when I'm not gigging but ready for when I am able to gig (is my excuse).

From just videos I've seen, I really like the bell like crisp sound they can produce in general. Not a huge fan of the trebly pick distorted sound, which I suppose they are famous for though I would mainly be a pick player for anything remotely heavier or rockier...

IME the sound is very much down to the pickup and electronics than the materials used in the construction of the neck and body. 

The most radical of the aluminium basses I owned - the Born To Rock F4B was also the most conventional sounding on account of it having a P-bass pickup in close to the conventional P-bass position:

DSC02174.jpg

The Kramer basses were fitted with less conventional pickups on the early models and consequently had a more unique sound.

No problem with neck dive on any of them except the Kramer XKB10, but that was down to the body shape rather than the aluminium neck. Both Kramers were fairly weighty but again due to the body woods used rather than the neck. The Tokai has a hollow body stuffed with foam so is about standard weight.

Edited by BigRedX
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