musikraft neck weight

[vtpcnk]

i recently bought a musikraft tele neck - maple/pau ferro. kluson tuners.

was surprised by its weight.

when ordering had specified the single acting truss rod. hope that's the one they put in it - any way to confirm this?

facing neck heaviness issues with the tele now.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Musikraft do only carry the standard truss rod, in both single acting and dual acting (no particular difference in weight or sound between the two). They don't carry a double thingy like Warmoth does. That's the one which causes real weight (and tone) issues, for me.

Musikraft's necks do tend to be heavier just by virtue of them generally making their necks thicker. If you look at all the profiles that Warmoth, Musikraft and USACG offer, Warmoth tend to go slightly flatter and thinner than the neck they copy/compare to, Musikraft tend to go for rounder and thicker and USACG go for direct copies of existing necks. So the 'medium C' that Musikraft offers, for instance, is considerably more wood than a Warmoth Standard. Obviously, more wood = more weight.

The Klusons that they will install for you are also a touch heavier than most cheap Kluson copies that you may be used to.

There's also the simple fact that some pieces of wood are going to weigh more or less than others. It may just be that you got a particularly dense piece of maple. For what it's worth, I got a one-piece, 1"-thick rosewood neck from them with an oversized Jazzmaster headstock and the Warmoth Thinline body that I put it on balances perfectly; if anything, the body manages to be heavier, still. Luck of the draw is a big element of it. I believe this is one of the main bonuses of the 'baked maple' option that Musikraft have begun offering, as it makes maple lighter without reducing stability.

Also, Musikraft are very quick at responding to any questions and this is a Warmoth forum. Should really just shoot Musikraft an e-mail with questions about their products, you'll get a quicker and more useful response!

 

[vtpcnk]

ace, thanks for the reply.

so musikraft's dual acting truss rod is not similar to the warmoth one and not as heavy?

i wrote to musikraft about this but did not get any reply.

i have bought necks from all three - warmoth, usacg and now musikraft.

in my opinion, warmoth necks are actually thicker/more substantial than the other two.

usacg necks are light as air. a tele neck i bought from them has no neck heavy issues even with a thinline body i have.

if i lucked out it is really a pity. i am really jealous that you got a light one

the neck's playability is great. but the constant struggle to keep the neck up is a pain.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Yup, Musikraft's truss rods are just like every other standard truss rod. There's one version which can only be turned in one direction (and only adjusted at the heel) and one that can be adjusted in either direction (adjusted at either the heel or the neck, you get to choose). Single action is normal for 'vintage' builds, while the dual action style is the normal truss rod you get on virtually all guitars made in the last few decades.
The truss rod that Warmoth use in their 'Pro Construction' necks (and 24.75" conversion scale) isn't just a dual truss rod in the sense that it can be turned both ways (like other dual truss rods), but also because it's much bigger, for all intents and purposes being like having two truss rods. You get less wood and a whole lot more metal. In theory this gives you more sustain and a clearer tone, but in practice I find that it murders the attack of the note too much and you can't feel the neck resonating with the note as you can with a Vintage Modern neck (which has a standard dual-acting truss rod, just like most guitars have). This is the primary reason why I still exclusively buy Warmoth bodies but when it comes to necks my orders are divided between Warmoth (for 25.5" Vintage Modern) and Musikraft (for 24.75" conversion).

Warmoth's common Standard Thin neck is 0.8"-085" from the first to 12th frets, while Musikraft's common Medium C is 0.83"-0.95" from first to 12th :icon_thumright:

 

[vtpcnk]

>Single action is normal for 'vintage' builds, while the dual action style is the normal truss rod you get on >virtually all guitars made in the last few decades.

i confused musikraft trussrods with warmoth and went in for the single action one. hmm where i currently live is quite near the equator and wonder if the double one would have served me better.

regarding your observations on tone of the warmoth pro necks, i can affirm this. while usacg's single truss rod necks have an warm airy tone, the warmoth pro necks have a kind of metallic tone with too much treble/brightness.

>Warmoth's common Standard Thin neck is 0.8"-085" from the first to 12th frets, while Musikraft's common >Medium C is 0.83"-0.95" from first to 12th

but inspite of this i find warmoth standard thin necks to be a good handful than the musikraft medium C (are their 'C' shapes different?). and for some reason i can't get a grip on usacg necks at all. it is my feeling that their C shape necks lacks shoulder - but then there are so many people (on the web) who seem very satisfied with them.  :icon_scratch:

for playbility i love warmoth necks. for the tone it is usacg. musikraft is somewhere in between - but then it is still early days for me with musikraft and i might change my mind after a while. but i do wish that i had got a lighter neck which would have ended my 5 year search for a playable conversion neck once and for all.

and regarding musikraft's 'roasted maple' - will the wood survive in the long run?

appreciate your insights.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Haven't tried the roasted maple myself, yet. Will be doing so soon. In theory it would be tougher than normal maple with a regular finish.

The reason you may feel the Warmoth is a thicker neck is because the shape Warmoth uses isn't a consistent curve like the other brands, it's flatter towards the middle and slopes off more drastically at the sides. This gives it higher shoulders; the edges of the neck can feel thicker, even though the neck is actually, overall, thinner.

As for the single action and dual action truss rods, there's no difference in stability. The only difference is which way you can turn them; a single action truss rod is just as stable as a dual action truss rod. The Warmoth double truss is more stable but it does come with that brighter, modern tone. Regardless, you shouldn't have an issue. The only problem with single truss rods that are also single-action (i.e. only turn one way) is you may have a harder time adjusting everything if you subject the guitar to drastic changes in temperature and humidity. If you're about to go on a world tour then this is a big problem, but if you're not then you shouldn't need to worry about it. Just don't leave your guitar in a freezer or in an oven! :icon_biggrin: