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Thread: Neck dive and pulling to the left

  1. Default Neck dive and pulling to the left

    Looking to get some general opinions... bought a new bass, like the sound, build quality, feel of the neck, pretty much everything. The problem being it is not comfortable to play standing up. The neck dives down and to the left, meaning unless i support it with my right fore-arm / left hand, the neck ends up close to horizontal and since it also pulls to the left the low register frets are parallel or even behind my left shoulder.

    I really like the bass, but feel it's unplayable with neck diving. I'm torn between trying to fix it (via something like the gruv gear strap / moving the strap buttons), and just giving up on it and selling it.

    If it was just horizontal neck dive I would be more optimistic that I could rectify the issue, with it also diving to the left thou I'm thinking man maybe this bass and my body just aren't made for one another.

    A couple of things I've already tried: different straps, tried 2 thick suede straps - didn't make much difference; put some rolled up quarters in the back panel - again no real difference; hooking my strap thru my belt - this worked the best but isn't that comfortable and think I'd go thru too many pairs of pants!

    Any thoughts / experience with neck dive, especially dive combined with the bass pulling to the left?

    Thanks!
    Last edited by NickTDot; 07-30-2014 at 05:36 PM.

  2. #2

    Default

    What kind of bass is it, Nick? Some techniques work better with different brands/models. My white Ibanez has more neck dive because it has a small upper bout instead of a longer horn.

    I've been reading up on neck dive, and find a lot of solutions are brand specific.


    - low life -

  3. Default

    It is a Reverend Fellowship, it has a pretty normal sized horn, but the body is fairly light. I think it might just be that some basses don't fit certain people, I've mostly played fender jazz basses it the past and they've hung OK on me. It's primarily the left rotation that I most think is going to make things difficult to fix for me, u can see in the picture below that a large amount of the bass isn't sitting on my body.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #4

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    I read of a guy who filled a small nylon bag with BBs. He then put a protective pad over the electronics in the back cavity, and laid the bag of BBs on top. He said it brings down the back end of a top-heavy bass.

    You could also try getting one of those crossover double shoulder strap rigs that puts support over both shoulders. They kind of freeze the position of the bass based on the adjustment of the two straps, and also serve to reduce the discomfort of wearing a heavy bass for long periods of time.

    Anybody else?


    - low life -

  5. #5
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    Default

    I've read a couple of reviews of the Reverend Fellowship and they do mention that the body is light, but the neck and the tuners on it, are heavy, leading to neck dive.

    It looks in the photo like you play lefty, but I'm not getting that from your writeup. When you say it moves to the left, are you meaning that the neck wants to move back, towards your elbow.

    I have played a bass that had serious neck dive (smaller, light wood body, so the horn was short) and a heavy, maple neck. There wasn't much I could do to correct it, except not let go of the neck.

    I'm trying to think through why it would move one direction or another when you let go of the neck. I'm wondering about the strap pin location on the upper horn. Might there be a way to move it somewhat to put the weight of the bass more on the back side of the pin, making the natural balance to push the neck away instead of towards you? Have you talked to a luthier about what might be done?
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  6. Default

    Yes exactly, the neck wants to move towards my elbow... sry about the photo, taken in a mirror which is probably what caused the lefty confusion, I'm a righty thou!

    I might mess around with the strap length, couple of people have suggested that, and bringing it to a decent service shop is a good idea to see if they have any ideas about what might be done.

    Thanks for the suggestion Elmeaux and Tobias!

  7. #7

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    I have limited experience in this area, but the best result I have achieved with neck dive issues was by putting a gel strap pad on the strap. I tried non-gel pads and they did not work nearly as well. I positioned the pad so it curved around the top of my shoulder and with the weight of the gel and the curve shape it formed a kind of anchor and kept everything in place. Good luck with a solution.

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