Weight of neck vs weight of body

[MrWalker]

Hi!
I have recently built a Warmoth Jazz bass, using a chambered jazz body, with a swamp ash back and quilted maple top. It's coupled with an all brazilian ebony neck with steel rods. It's a fairly heavy neck, and the body is fairly light... as one would expect, the bass is slightly neck heavy, but manageable.

It is my first build, so I'm not very experienced with the weight of the various bodies and necks offered. For bodies, there is a weight given for each available body in the shop, but I can't seem to find a similar weight specification for the necks. The average weight for a swamp ash/maple body like mine is around 5 lbs. Whereas a solid body from some other woods could easily weigh around 6 lbs.

I was just wondering how much heavier my all brazilian ebony neck is compared to a more "regular" maple/maple or maple/rosewood neck. And if it would be worthwhile getting a heavier body for my heavy neck, and match the current body with a lighter neck, to get the balance to sit a little better.

Any opinions and experience on this? I could of course just add a little lead to the control compartment to emulate a heavier body and see how that would work out....

Thanks!

 

[TBurst Std]

I have an all Brazilian Ebony Tele neck that Cagey did some work on.  Cagey works on a lot of necks and he claims mine is the heaviest so far. 

 

[Cagey]

I don't do as many bass necks as guitar necks, so I don't have good numbers on those. But, for guitar necks, the average Rosewood over Maple neck weighs about a pound, give or take an ounce or two, while many of the exotic woods will run about 40%-50% heavier, with some freakishly so like Tburst's Brazilian Ebony neck that came in at 2.2lbs. Heaviest guitar neck I've ever handled. Pau Ferro and Bloodwood necks also show up surprisingly heavy due to their density.

With many guitars, it doesn't matter that much. The way the strap hangers are placed overbalance them to the rear, and an extra few ounces on an instrument that only weighs 6 or 7 pounds isn't noticeable. But, bass guitar necks are larger/longer, so you've got extra material plus the added leverage working against you.

For a very nice light wood, you might want to look at roasted Maple w/ whatever fretboard you want. Probably can't get much lighter than that and still hold up to string tension.

 

[MrWalker]

Thanks for very useful insight!

I don't know the exact weight of bass necks, but based on your experience, it will be 40-50% heavier, which is definitely significant.

Apparently coupling it with a chambered body was a huge mistake, as it obviously will skew the balance point way towards the neck. So, I should put something more lightweight on this body, and then figure out what to do with the neck. Might get another and heavier Warmoth body, or maybe even match it to something else than a J body. Maybe a Thunderbird body in stone would be a good match.  :laughing7:

Thanks!

Best regards,
Jon-Inge

 

[Cagey]

Fender's bass body designs are just barely balanced as it is (and not always), and their upper horn puts the hanger pretty far forward. I'm not sure what you could bolt a Brazilian Ebony neck to and not have serious neck dive. Maybe put something together dedicated to studio/recording or home practice where you usually sit down and don't have to worry about dive.

 

[MrWalker]

I was thinking along two lines. Either getting something custom made, with a different balance point. Or just increase the weight of the body by a similar percentage, to restore the weight balance at a higher point. And then the bass would *definitely* be a bass for seated playing only.

But if I could find a custom body with a balance point further up the neck, it could help, too.

Thanks