Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Chippertheripper » Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:42 am

Ty Segall is mostly playing a tb live now, as his main guitar.
There is a company on reverb, hoxey, with aluminum bolt on necks for pretty reasonable money, as well as a company in New Hampshire making some (whose name I forget) that a couple dudes I know have gotten, for their setups.
They’re getting pretty trendy in the doom/stoner/psych/chaos metal world, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to try one myself.

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by fuzzjunkie » Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:52 am

ffffoureyes wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:25 am
Here's my '74 TB1000A, amongst others. A pretty.. okay guitar! Nothing special, bit weird. Flat radius is odd, pickups are hot as fuck. It's cooler than it is good.

Image
Nice looking group. Your observation reminded me of why I didn’t care for the Travis Bean I tried out. (Almost 20 years ago). The flat neck radius!

At the time all my guitars were pre-CBS Fenders and I was too used a vintage neck radius. I didn’t even plug it in, so can’t comment on the pickups.

On a side note: Does anyone remember those late ‘80s Bond guitars? They had a Kevlar neck or something? Actually the whole guitar might have been Kevlar? The frets were a sort of sawtooth shape, like a ramp with a hard scalloped edge. Mick Jones played one in Big Audio Dynamite and I remember The Edge had one too. He commented that the guitar didn’t need a whammy bar because the neck was “bendy and you could just shake it around.”

* I did a quick search before posting and The Electraglide was actually a Carbon fiber body with an aluminum neck, so it does belong here. Also the pickup selection, volume and tone controls were digital instead of analog. Lots of strange guitar ideas came out around then. Synths were big and digital so some manufacturers thought guitars needed a futuristic update.
The Bond Electraglide was a solid body carbon fibre electric guitar manufactured by the Bond Guitar Company from 1984 to 1986. The Electraglide is visually styled on the Gibson Melody Maker (with the 1962–onwards double cut-away), with a unique stepped anodized aluminum fingerboard instead of traditional frets.

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Mechanical Birds » Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:42 am

ffffoureyes wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:25 am
Here's my '74 TB1000A, amongst others. A pretty.. okay guitar! Nothing special, bit weird. Flat radius is odd, pickups are hot as fuck. It's cooler than it is good.

Image
Trade it to me!

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by fever606 » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:46 am

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 1:39 am
Nobody’s guessed my NGD yet
Even money: Kramer DMZ

12:1 odds: Kramer Duke because you are secretly Stretch Armstrong

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Dr Tony Balls » Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:41 am

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Fri Jan 20, 2023 5:30 pm
I’m buying my thing sight unseen and have my fingers crossed that it doesn’t have any dumb problems. I don’t really even know what to look for as far as that stuff goes, so if anybody would feel like posting about what common problems old Travis Bean, Kramer, Veleno, Wandre, etc. guitars manifest, I’m very thirsty for the knowledge :)
The problem that i've heard about with Kramers is neck bow. For weight relief they cut out hunks of aluminum on the back until the whole thing had kind of a T shape, then filled the voids with wood pieces. It works for weight relief but supposedly its just enough to allow for some neck bow, and there's of course no truss rod to correct that.

Image

NOW....given all that I can tell you I previously owned, and still kick myself for selling, a Kramer XL-8. If there was one Kramer instrument of the era that was gonna be prone to neck bow it would definitely be that one. Over the 10 years I owned it (about 20-30 years into its life) it was flat as a pancake. So....YMMV.

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Instagram: thetonyballs

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Zork » Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:54 pm

Dr Tony Balls wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:41 am
Image
:w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
(Quoted for awesomeness)

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Mechanical Birds » Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:15 am

Yeah, it’s a Kramer 350G, natural/dark wood finish. I asked around and heard the same thing about possible neck bow. I asked the seller if the frets were still in good shape and if he’d had any issues with the neck bow thing and he said no. We’ll see I guess. I’ve wanted to grab one of these (any aluminum Kramer, really) forever so I’m really excited to get my hands on it.

I assume this is common but I’d definitely prefer to get a Bean if I had the choice between one and any Kramer. They’re just way out of my price range, sadly. I have a dream build that’s a Peavey T-60 body/aluminum neck/Mastery bridge and trem, and then copy the pick guard to cover the top half of the guitar the same way it does on the bottom so I could take huge chunks of wood out of it and replace it with a delay and a fuzz - picture that prototype Bilt Tel, which might be the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen


I’ll post pics when it gets here.

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by X-Ray Spex » Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:03 am

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:15 am
Yeah, it’s a Kramer 350G, natural/dark wood finish. I asked around and heard the same thing about possible neck bow. I asked the seller if the frets were still in good shape and if he’d had any issues with the neck bow thing and he said no. We’ll see I guess. I’ve wanted to grab one of these (any aluminum Kramer, really) forever so I’m really excited to get my hands on it.

I assume this is common but I’d definitely prefer to get a Bean if I had the choice between one and any Kramer. They’re just way out of my price range, sadly. I have a dream build that’s a Peavey T-60 body/aluminum neck/Mastery bridge and trem, and then copy the pick guard to cover the top half of the guitar the same way it does on the bottom so I could take huge chunks of wood out of it and replace it with a delay and a fuzz - picture that prototype Bilt Tel, which might be the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen


I’ll post pics when it gets here.
I had a 350g, really cool guitars.

I also have played a Travis Bean at a local shop before and it was unreal, really surpassed the hype.

I used to own this which was great but too clangy for any of my projects viewtopic.php?t=119943

I currently only play aluminium neck guitars, this is my main one viewtopic.php?t=110415

I also have an EGC 500 with a Mahogany body that I have yet to do a NGD post for.
''It's not what you play, it's what you play'' - Troy Van Leeuwen

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by X-Ray Spex » Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:05 am

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:42 am
ffffoureyes wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:25 am
Here's my '74 TB1000A, amongst others. A pretty.. okay guitar! Nothing special, bit weird. Flat radius is odd, pickups are hot as fuck. It's cooler than it is good.

Image
Trade it to me!
Second on that list please ;)
''It's not what you play, it's what you play'' - Troy Van Leeuwen

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Mechanical Birds » Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:38 pm

X-Ray Spex wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:03 am
Mechanical Birds wrote:
Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:15 am
Yeah, it’s a Kramer 350G, natural/dark wood finish. I asked around and heard the same thing about possible neck bow. I asked the seller if the frets were still in good shape and if he’d had any issues with the neck bow thing and he said no. We’ll see I guess. I’ve wanted to grab one of these (any aluminum Kramer, really) forever so I’m really excited to get my hands on it.

I assume this is common but I’d definitely prefer to get a Bean if I had the choice between one and any Kramer. They’re just way out of my price range, sadly. I have a dream build that’s a Peavey T-60 body/aluminum neck/Mastery bridge and trem, and then copy the pick guard to cover the top half of the guitar the same way it does on the bottom so I could take huge chunks of wood out of it and replace it with a delay and a fuzz - picture that prototype Bilt Tel, which might be the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen


I’ll post pics when it gets here.
I had a 350g, really cool guitars.

I also have played a Travis Bean at a local shop before and it was unreal, really surpassed the hype.

I used to own this which was great but too clangy for any of my projects viewtopic.php?t=119943

I currently only play aluminium neck guitars, this is my main one viewtopic.php?t=110415

I also have an EGC 500 with a Mahogany body that I have yet to do a NGD post for.
Oh those are sick!

My thing finally showed up and it’s snowy here so it’s fucking freezing. I put it in bed and am letting it warm a little before really messing with it. Will post pics later today but it seems awesome

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by X-Ray Spex » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:13 am

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:38 pm
X-Ray Spex wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:03 am
Mechanical Birds wrote:
Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:15 am
Yeah, it’s a Kramer 350G, natural/dark wood finish. I asked around and heard the same thing about possible neck bow. I asked the seller if the frets were still in good shape and if he’d had any issues with the neck bow thing and he said no. We’ll see I guess. I’ve wanted to grab one of these (any aluminum Kramer, really) forever so I’m really excited to get my hands on it.

I assume this is common but I’d definitely prefer to get a Bean if I had the choice between one and any Kramer. They’re just way out of my price range, sadly. I have a dream build that’s a Peavey T-60 body/aluminum neck/Mastery bridge and trem, and then copy the pick guard to cover the top half of the guitar the same way it does on the bottom so I could take huge chunks of wood out of it and replace it with a delay and a fuzz - picture that prototype Bilt Tel, which might be the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen


I’ll post pics when it gets here.
I had a 350g, really cool guitars.

I also have played a Travis Bean at a local shop before and it was unreal, really surpassed the hype.

I used to own this which was great but too clangy for any of my projects viewtopic.php?t=119943

I currently only play aluminium neck guitars, this is my main one viewtopic.php?t=110415

I also have an EGC 500 with a Mahogany body that I have yet to do a NGD post for.
Oh those are sick!

My thing finally showed up and it’s snowy here so it’s fucking freezing. I put it in bed and am letting it warm a little before really messing with it. Will post pics later today but it seems awesome
I remember the pickups being really funky, kind've like a big Tele bridge pickup. I had to sell mine because the pickups were jacked up and it was before you had easy access to pickup rewinders.

You don't need to put them in bed or anything, it should warm up by itself naturally.
''It's not what you play, it's what you play'' - Troy Van Leeuwen

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by efiug » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:17 am

yes but it just looks so cozy tucked in.

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by X-Ray Spex » Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:07 am

efiug wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:17 am
yes but it just looks so cozy tucked in.
:D
''It's not what you play, it's what you play'' - Troy Van Leeuwen

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by Mechanical Birds » Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:58 am

Image

Image


Arrived pretty much as described. For some dumbass reason the tuners are secured using these small rivet things and one is missing on the D tuner so I’m not sure how to fix that. Seller disclosed this and said there weren’t any noticible problems because of it and so far that seems accurate. The e string is rubbing against the pickup/unplayable though and the height adjust screws for that saddle are kind of fucked up so I haven’t been able to raise it yet because none of my Allen wrenches fit them (which, what the fuck how?)

Flat/huge radius does feel weird. I’m really excited to put it thru its paces

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Re: Why is there no aluminum neck guitar thread? INCUMMING NGD

Post by estesNRB » Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:27 pm

That thing is rad, and probably like 6k cheaper than a Bean. I've got what i'd assume is the bass version of your guitar. I bought it at a garage sale for 5 bucks, it looks as though it fell down a flight of stairs but most of the parts are still there. One day i'll attempt to repair it.

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