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Bass neck


Joebuscus217

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So I have a squier CL 70s pbass and I had it laid across my lap as I bet forward to adjust something on my amp. Anyway, one of the strings was vibrating and the bass slid down my leg and I caught it before it hit the ground. But I noticed that the vibrating string stopped vibrating when that happened. So I latest the neck across my leg and let the body hang over and recreated it. Apparently the weight of the basswood body is enough to bend the neck enough so that the strings touch. And my action is pretty high so it must have bent quite a bit. Is this normal? If it isn't could it be due to my set up? I have a really bad eye so I'm not sure if the neck is straight or not but I'm pretty sure it is. Also I noticed that while actually holding the bass, I could pull the headstock back with my hands and bend it enough for the strings to touch the frets too. And I'm not very strong

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I'm not familiar with your particular bass, so I can't say if it's normal, but guitar and bass necks are and always have been flexible to some extent. I play with a guitarist who flexes the neck of his Gibson SG for vibrato. On the other hand, I've tried it with my Rickenbacker basses, and it hasn't worked for me. I don't know if it's my technique or if the Ric neck is just stiffer.

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What you likely did was shift the neck.

 

The neck is only bolted to the body and an action like that involving allot of centrifugal force can "shift" the neck angle depending on how tight the screws are holding the neck in place.

 

I suggest you look down the beck from the bridge end and make sure the outside strings align with the edges of the neck and the inside strings align with the center dots or markers. What happens when you get a jolt is the neck can shift throwing all the strings to one side.

What you want to do is shift the neck joint to align the strings then tighten the screws so the neck cant move on its own easily.

 

I should note this is a very common issue when carrying a fender guitar in a case. The weight of the body can shift the neck joint when transporting.

 

What I do on my own guitars to prevent this is to use two small drops of crazy glue between the neck and body. This is enough to prevent the neck shifting without permanently gluing the neck in place. You can break the bond after removing the screws with a gentle tap.

 

Double sided tape should do the same thing. You just want to prevent two lacquered surfaces from sliding. The screws alone don't do the job so well because wood tends to expand and contract with temp changes and eventually loosens with string vibration.

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What you've described is normal for the Squier basses I've had or worked on. They tend to use flat sawn maple that isn't very rigid.

 

Aside from making sure the truss rod is not fully loose there's not much to be done. You could upgrade the neck with a Warmoth or similar, but I'd suggest upgrading the bass when you can justify that.

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No, I think you should re-read what happened.

 

He specifically said,

 

as I bent forward to adjust something on my amp. Anyway, one of the strings was vibrating and the bass slid down my leg and I caught it before it hit the ground. But I noticed that the vibrating string stopped vibrating when that happened.

 

He seems to be stating the quick jerk on the bass changed something. To me that sounds like the neck shifted. It might also explain why the strings are fretting out afterwards. If the high spot of the fret board may no longer be under the center strings.

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