https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 23:53:53 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175887 Tue, 09 May 2006 02:52:28 +0000
This kind of stuff is fun to do once in awhile, especially with feedback. You can get some real Hendrix type effects.

I've never broken a neck, but as I said, I don't do it very often.]]> Guitar Players Discussion Wes Inman https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175887 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175877 Tue, 09 May 2006 02:13:32 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Manitou https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175877 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175850 Mon, 08 May 2006 23:02:29 +0000
He said with his old Fender P bass, he loosened the neck joint so much that he had picks and blades in the neck pocket to stop it from moving


I dont think he ever broke the neck on his P bass doing bends, however he did have a non standard (thicker) neck on it, His newer basses(the yamaha signature ones) seem to be designed to be bent Billy Sheehan is from my home town (Buffalo, NY). He used to be in a popular band in the 80's called Talas then when on to David Lee Roth and of course Mr. Big. Great bassist! I used to watch him in the clubs as they were coming up the ranks. Too bad they broke up.]]> Guitar Players Discussion Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/paged/2/#post-175850 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-175849 Mon, 08 May 2006 22:46:38 +0000
He said with his old Fender P bass, he loosened the neck joint so much that he had picks and blades in the neck pocket to stop it from moving


I dont think he ever broke the neck on his P bass doing bends, however he did have a non standard (thicker) neck on it, His newer basses(the yamaha signature ones) seem to be designed to be bent]]> Guitar Players Discussion thedonutman https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-175849 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170145 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:01:16 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion gnease https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170145 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170108 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:41:29 +0000 http://upload4.postimage.org/127521/truss_rods_1.jpg
This is an image from the Warmoth website (I hope they don't mind me using it) of a traditional truss rod. The neck shape is being held in 3 places - at each end of the rod and in the middle, where it pushes against the curve of the truss rod channel. As long as you have strings on your guitar (tuned, of course), the truss rod is under stress.
Tightening the truss rod adds pressure to the rod channel, which is compensated by the middle of the neck coming forward (pushing it towards a more "convex" profile. Loosening the rod, reduces the pressure on the rod channel and allows the neck to flex under string tension, which causes the middle of the neck to move backwards, in relation to the ends.
Pushing the headstock, on the other hand, offers no compensaton for the additional pressure, exerted on the truss rod/curved rod channel. Thinking about it the rod will suffer very little. It's metal and isn't going to stretch, so the pressure has to go somewhere - most likely into compression of the wood on the apex of the curve of the truss rod channel.]]> Guitar Players Discussion greybeard https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170108 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170084 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:36:03 +0000
That is why in my post I I repeated said "slightest" and "minimal" pressure. It really does not take much. I'll bet fingering chords take more pressure than is needed to do this trick. I certainly hope you don't believe everything you read, Mike. The author is plain wrong -- a Strat neck is much tougher than that of that a real Gibson LP. The simplistic description of "thin" necks should be the tip off here. Wood type can be and often is far more significant to neck strength than is thickness. This is very obvious to those who have worked with woods, and especially clear in the case of maple and mahogany. Get pieces of each in similar dimensions and do some breakage experiments. Maple is the tough stuff. Go a bit further and explore the differences in headstock geometries: Cut "headstock" joints into each in the typical fashions done by Fender and Gibson, and see what it takes to break those. In a Fender maple neck at least some of the neck grain runs straight through the length of headstock because the headstock is parallel to the neck, and only partially offset. This makes a maple neck and headstock assembly very stiff and strong. Unfortunately, it is also the reason for needing string trees. A Gibson-style headstock has long been known to be vulnerable to breakage for a number of reasons. In terms of structure, it is weakened by the way the neck grain runs out in the headstock -- runout of all the neck grain occurs a couple inches of the nut, making this area of the neck/headstock very vulnerable to breakage. This is further exacerbated by the hole for the truss rod adjustment. There is a good reason other guitar makers using mahogany necks (Taylor, Ibanez) have decided to splice on tilt-back headstocks -- this eliminates the headstock grain runout issue. I suspect the famous Martin diamond volute on the back of some models may have been designed to compensate for headstock/neck weakness (but again, this is my speculation). Cheaper guitars also have spliced on headstocks for a very different reason -- piecing allows use of a thinner -- thus cheaper -- piece of wood to make a tilt-back headstock. Luckily, it also happens to make these less expensive structures stronger than a one-piece design. IIRC, your LP is an Agile, right? It's probably got a stronger neck/headstock construction than a Gibby LP.

Moreover, let's not confuse neck thickness with neck attachment. In the direction of flex considered here, a properly connected bolt-on does not suffer in comparision to a set neck -- jerking the neck "up and down" in the plane of the body is a different matter (and some idiots actually do this for vibrato, but not for long).

If you are going to use the neck flex technique for string bending, the safest method, is pulling back on the neck around the area of the first fret -- no stress on the headstock; no stress on the trad truss rod, nothing too stressful for a neck/body joint.]]> Guitar Players Discussion gnease https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170084 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170044 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:15:36 +0000 :shock:]]> Guitar Players Discussion Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170044 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170029 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 02:31:07 +0000 Mike, you say you would never do this with a Strat, but it's okay with a LP style guitar? You've got it completely backwards. Strat maple necks/headstocks are much tougher than mahogany necks. See if you can find anybody who's broken the headstock off of a Strat. Ask the same question about a mahogany-necked Gibby -- especially SG or LP. Again, get last month's issue of Guitar World. The instructor SPECIFICALLY said do not attempt with skinny necks and he mentioned strats. Strats have skinny necks...plus I don't think they are set necks (don't quote me on that) which in my opinion makes for a weaker neck. You may not break the headstock but it could break anywhere.

That is why in my post I I repeated said "slightest" and "minimal" pressure. It really does not take much. I'll bet fingering chords take more pressure than is needed to do this trick.]]> Guitar Players Discussion Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170029 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170026 Tue, 04 Apr 2006 02:12:46 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion dsparling https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/bending-notes-with-the-neck/#post-170026