Bending notes with the neck.

Billy Sheehan(bassist) does this a lot.

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.

Remember though... A maple neck is strong... but in that center pointthere is only maybe a quarter inch of wood on either side keeping the truss in the neck... I just tried it on my Jackson and it sounds cool but... I can get the same exact vibrato with my finger on the string without the risking my neck :P

I've pushed up on my headstock, but it's not something I do a lot. I really have had much better success by pulling my headstock and body against my chest. So it is the opposite of the whammy bar, this raises the pitch.

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.