• Ernie Ball
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tonemachine1

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May 11, 2014
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7
I called Ernie Ball and they have not heard of anybody doing this.

I would be interested in making the neck shallower by shaving off some of the back of the neck on my two maple-necked Stingray 5's. I am not concerned about de-valuing the basses as they are keepers, just interested in making them a little more easily handled by my old hands but without ruining the integrity of the basses.

Does anybody have any input on the cons of doing this or has anyone seen this executed with good results? Please state if you have experience or are just guessing!

Thanks,
Tony
 

Lou

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Jan 23, 2003
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Can be done but you risk exposing the truss rod and the structural integrity of the neck. I've seen examples of this on guitars.
 

kestrou

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Feb 6, 2013
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Danville, IL
I've seen guitar necks shaved too, but never a bass...

Question for somebody that knows (meaning "not me"): Is a bass guitar truss rod under less stress because the strings are at lower tension? That might make this actually safer to do than on a guitar?!

Just me wild guessing - but bringing up a point I hope somebody can answer...

Kevin
 

Spudmurphy

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Aug 23, 2005
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have I done it? - no!

have I seen it done yes - but not on an EB guitar!! I saw a catastrophe happen too, as the truss rod was really close - not enough meat in the neck to do it. have you thought about going the route of an asymmetric shaped neck? Asymmetric neck shapes | Käppi Guitars
Do bass guitars have less tension - man I thought that it would be greater - because of the greater guage? I'll leave that to Dr Kev to consider as I haven't enough time to do calculations using a "String Tension" application - there's a few on the net.
 
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