Aluminum-Necked Bass VI Build

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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wproffitt
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Re: Aluminum-Necked Bass VI Build

Post by wproffitt » Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:26 pm

Interesting. It seems like the aluminum necked instruments I’ve read about often have shallow neck profiles. I guess If you can get the action crazy-low with no buzzing, this would probably be a dream to play. Are you adjusting to it pretty well or is this what you’re used to?

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WillPhistre
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Re: Aluminum-Necked Bass VI Build

Post by WillPhistre » Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:34 am

wproffitt wrote:
Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:26 pm
Interesting. It seems like the aluminum necked instruments I’ve read about often have shallow neck profiles. I guess If you can get the action crazy-low with no buzzing, this would probably be a dream to play. Are you adjusting to it pretty well or is this what you’re used to?
Honestly this is what I've dreamed about. At it's thinnest point, the Squier VI neck wasn't much thicker than this, but it was extremely difficult to get the action as low as I wanted it — and when I could, the neck would shift slowly over time, leading me to believe my playing was just getting worse (which might be true too I guess lol). The frets on the Squier neck were also not great, so low, buzz-free action was kind of a fantasy. I'd get the action to someplace sweet, but then find out that if I fretted the A string above the third fret, there would be strange buzzing or whatever, and I'd have to start over.

This has stayed stable since it was installed, and I can get the action even lower. It's extremely playable. It's not so thin that your hands cramp up either, it's just easy and fast.

It's only really limited by the fact that it needs a neck heel. Which brings me to the next dream — I don't know if you've seen any EGCs up close, but due to being neck-thru, they can run that thin-ass neck right up to the body, which means fretting chords above the 12th fret will be easier for my meatball hands! They can't do the SUPER thin necks on guitars above 28" scale though — they have to do their hollow necks like they do on the basses — but I think they're pretty much exactly like this one on my VI.

Here's what the neck heel looks like on a EGC series 1 I borrowed from a friend last year:

https://imgur.com/a/ISeu4in

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BTL
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Re: Aluminum-Necked Bass VI Build

Post by BTL » Fri Feb 01, 2019 7:39 pm

WillPhistre wrote:
Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:00 pm
BeeTL wrote:
Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:00 pm
That's really cool!

What's the story on the neck, and what's the scale length?
I put some info at the imgur link, but here's a bunch more:


-----SPECS-----

- Solid 6061 T6 Aluminum
- Scale - 30" = 762mm
- Round Heel (Fits Fender© / Squier© Bass VI Pockets)
- FB Radius - 9.5"
- Nut Width - 1.650" = 42mm
- Aluminum Nut
- Thickness - 0.750" = 19mm all the way - No taper
- 21 Jescar Stainless Steel frets
- Tuners - Gotoh SG360-07
- 2mm black side dots on both sides
That's really something special...nice!
Owner, Lowe Custom Guitars

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