Likelihood of neck dive on an 8lb P Bass?

[Mylkinut]

Might not be a real answer to this, but I'm planning an 8lb P Bass build using a '79 neck and original tuners (neck makes up 2.5lb of the weight). Is this asking for neck dive or should I be OK?

 

I haven't ordered the body yet so I'm checking before I do!

 

Cheers

 

 

[wateroftyne]

Potentially. I’ve got a 7.2lbs P which balances perfectly, but it has Ultralites on it.

[jrixn1]

I've had 7lb 11oz and 7lb 2oz P basses which didn't have neck dive.  They too also had Ultralites.

[Downunderwonder]

Make it the original prototype "Boner P".

[Andyjr1515]

Almost certainly will be fine - and on the strap, absolutely.

[Bassfinger]

Depends very much on your build and how high/low you wear it. The broader you are and the higher you wear it the less it is prone to dive. 

 

If you're a 5'4" punk player that wears it round you're knees you'd be more likely to have hassles than me with a 53" chest and accordingly wide shoulders wearing it moderately high up.

[JPJ]

My 8 3/4 lb fretless P suffered from mild neck dive until I removed the D tuner. Now she sits perfectly wherever you place her. For reference, the D tuner weighed 180 grams and the replacement 70's reissue tuner weight 100 grams. 

[Stub Mandrel]

I can say neck dive is not a thing if you choose a decent strap.

 

The Lekato neoprene straps on Amazon will prevent any trace of neck dive on any bass, and they make >10lb basses comfy as well.

[fleabag]

A decent strap is a must.  My beast is a 4"  Italia Leather,  and very expensive. There are other 4" bass straps available far cheaper.

Wide straps make a bass seem light.  I had a 10LB  Aria Pro ll SB900 in the past, and that Italia strap made it seem way lighter.

 

Make sure the inside of the strap is grippy.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by fleabag

[Waddo Soqable]

Or employ a (possibly scantily clad) slave/assistant to support the end (of your bass) 

[fretmeister]

18 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I can say neck dive is not a thing if you choose a decent strap.

 

The Lekato neoprene straps on Amazon will prevent any trace of neck dive on any bass, and they make >10lb basses comfy as well.

 

 

That's just not true. A grippy strap can fix neck dive but it's still an unbalanced neck heavy instrument.

I have some of those straps and I've had basses where the neck still dived.

 

A properly designed and built bass shouldn't have any neck dive even if the strap being used is super slippy silk dipped in lube.

 

Old large plate tuners are a culprit. Swapping to Ultralites or similar can lower total bass weigh by as much as half a pound on a 4 string bass, but what is more important is the position of that weight loss. The loss is all at the end of a long lever so the effect on neck dive and general comfort is quite amazing.

 

It's simple fulcrum physics. Sticking a couple of pounds of metal at the end of a long bit of wood was always going to be a design flaw. It's just a seesaw with a prop forward at one end.