FYI - Rickenbacker 4001 & 4003's are neck through basses. At least my 2015 4003 is. And yes, it has sustain forever, way more than the rest of my bolt on neck basses.

Let's go. This podcast is the best part of my Wednesday! A couple fellow bass nerds hanging out. Thanks guys

Rickenbackers (like 4001’s) were neck through. They were the first mass produced neck through basses, I think. I had a fireglow one where you could see the bodywings glued to the three piece neck on (only) the back of the body.

In case you haven’t yet recorded the fretless one. After listening to this I decided to have a look at the action on my fretless as I’ve always been a little disappointed that the notes don’t bloom in the way Scott described and demo-ed. I’d previously taken it to luthier who had a look at it, and said I’d already set it up where he would put it, so best to spend some money on a different string material (cobalt ones) and maybe dig in a bit more. The action looked on the high side - a little more than 3mm at the 17th fret on both the E and A strings. So I lowered it. I wasn’t really aiming for a particular action measurement, just using my ears until it sounded like the sound in my head but without any unpleasant buzz. The A string needed nearly 2 full turns of the saddle Allen bolts, the E just one. It now has the notes blooming. I also lowered the D string a touch, and left the G where it was (it had always bloomed). All told, including a bit of adjust, tune, listen, readjust, check in all fret positions it took about 20minutes. So I concluded: Action has a major influence on the sound of a fretless bass. It doesn’t take long to adjust the action. You don’t need to be too concerned about the measurement - it’s a guide. Use your ears. Your Luthier can’t hear the sound in your head, only you can do that. And they may not see too many fretless basses anyway. And a bonus one: Scott’s description of “blooming” is far more pleasing and descriptive of what the note does on a fretless than the oft quoted “mwah”

Please do a fretless episode 🤩 It's such a different instrument on its own.

Ok. I’m sold on the KZfaq version of the podcast. I had to jump over so I could see the various basses and watching you two is much more real and immersive and waaaaaay nerdier. Now I can’t go back to the trad podcast.

My neck-thru Alembic Essence 5 is anything but polite when I dig in ;-) It can be an absolute BEAST when I want it to. But true - the transient is totally different on Bolt-on basses vs neck-thru. Btw - who's the lamest singer with a removable neck? Michael Bolt-on.

I would love to hear a full episode on 6 string bass, and also one on amp modelling in the bass world. It's pretty common in guitar world these days but I don't hear many bass players talking about that.

Love this podcast guys, you two have perfect chemistry and an equal love for bass 🤩

I love my neck through bass. 9 piece bubinga, wenge , ebony stringers with a cocobolo body and fretboard. An absolute monster!

I think that bolt-on pop is something great for playing solo. But as soon as you record or play live, you'll probably use compression to reduce the lowered volume after that initial transient. So basically, a neck-through is like a built-in compressor.

Hey guys. My 1st neck-through bass was bought for me in 1977. It was a B C Rich Mockingbird with an EMG J bass PU in the bridge and EMG P bass in the back. I knew nothing about active stuff. I picked up the bass, went to a gig, and blew up 4 Altec 15s before playing a note by switching the passive to active deal. My SVT head just dump like 5000 watts across them. The cabs caught on fire. I remember 1977 for that, so there you go.

YES go fretless!! and yes to a fretless episode!!

Bill Lawrence, not Ken Lawrence pickups on the Ken Smith.

I really enjoy all your stuff, whether gear or talking to cool people. Keep it up

The second bass I bought myself was a Yamaha Attitude 5 string and I still say that was the widest 5 string neck on the market. It was a PJ setup and I never should have let that one go.

As a Veterinarian, I recommend Scott to check his bones and tendons checked by A DOCTOR!!!!!

Hi Ian and Scott. I would really like an episode on right hand technique. Love the podcast!

I would like to hear a discussion on song retention when you're working on different styles of music and learning so many different songs. How do you retain all of the music?

Ian - Just because neck throughs are more expensive, it doesn't make them better. Me - Whatever. Take my money Spector!!

I was taught that you don’t sell or give away stuff your family gets for you. My Warwick corvette was a gift from my mother who is deceased, I would never sell or give it away. Love your channel.

Really enjoyed this episode, and the ones on pickups. I appreciate the A/B comparing along with a description of what we are listening to. It's really hard to hear that stuff in a mix, especially when you don't know what to listen for. Looking forward to discussions on wood types (perhaps one episode on bodies and another on necks).

SBL member, but love the KZfaq’s to see you guys!

Flatwound show! Your favorite flatwound company! And round wounds on fretless Vs flats. And flats on fretted bass

Gibson/Epiphone Thunderbird bass is an example of an early neck through. Tony Franklin would be a cool person to talk to about fretless playing. He has almost exclusively played fretless throughout his career I believe. Dude is still killing it.

Great episode!! I have 2 custom basses a great buddy has a company called Area51 guitars, I wanted a neck through, from when I had my Warwick thumb5 NT and he recommended bolt on because if anything major happens it o the neck the bass will be in a bad situation at least bolt on you can take the neck off and repair it or replace it. Accidents do happen to instruments, I personally love neck through tho,

Glad you're still enjoying the Ken Smith, Ian.

loved this. I’ve recently started a 5 string short scale bass build (inspo from my go-to mustang, a serek 5, a mile bendy signature, and the voraskau 5) and have been heavily debating the neck attachment method. ofc , watching this they all sound so good 😭

The fretless episode will not help with my collecting and side eye from the girlfriend. But i'll still be listening ;) At least with a fretless, I can use the "Well, I have no other basses that are fretless" method since the last fretless I had was like 15 years ago ;)

Great episode, guys! Chatting over gear, interviewing great bass bass players, or talking about philosophical metaphysical whatever with such good vibe and care for the listeners/viewers, I am on it! If I may suggest a subject for a next episode, I wondered if you could talk about small gigs rigs and setups: amp, no amp, pedals, DI, IEM, stage monitors, etc. As I guess most of your audience starts playing out on this kind of venues (50-150 people), it'd great to listen to your tips. Cheers from Brazil!

IMHO, generally, glue in and neck through designs transfer sound slightly better. The worst bolt on method is wood screws. The best bolt on method is screw in threaded brass inserts with either brass or stainless steel machine screws.

More vibration transfer to the body would mean more energy loss via resonance. Neck joint rigidity reduces loss. Bolt-ons are more rigid. The stronger transit makes it sound like less sustain, but it's just that the transients and highs last longer. Removing wood from the center of the neck pocket can actually decrease losses because there joint can be more rigid, and there's less surface are transfer to the body.

I learnt on a Rickenbacker 4001; i have always preferred the cleaner more refined sound of a neckthrough. But that’s just me … there are some great bolt-ons out there nowadays

Love these hangs!

My “white whale” is a Höfner violin bass, but gimme a bolt on Squier any day.

Great episode, thanks guys. Would love a fretless vlog or/and an SBL course - just saying...

Great talk today. Love the variety of stuff on show, makes me want more even though I've no room left! Anyway, thoughts for another one. I'd love to get both your opinions on using compression vs not using it in a live environment. Both as an always on thing and as an effect to be kicked in on occasion. I don't use it, I've tried, with some nice pedals too, but never found it quite works for me. Would love to hear you guys talk about it. Thanks, great as always :)

Another great episode thanks. I’ve got a great fretless bass playing album recommendation for Scott in case he hasn’t heard it. It’s called ‘Amino Acid Flashback’ by Ohm. One of my favourites!

The graphics are awesome in this podcast 😂

One consideration is that bolt on necks are certainly easier to repair/replace. I looove my neck thru Peaveys (USA Cirrus and TL-5), but I’m always a little nervous to take them out on longer travel gigs or a stretch of gigs type of trip, because having the bass in lots of different environments (cold hotels, hot van trailers, etc.) is gonna possibly warp the neck and other than keeping the truss rod working, you may get to a point where having a bolt on bass is a plus when you can just pop on a new neck if it gets beyond fixable.

This was a great episode. If you talk about fretless you have to discuss fretless Wals and the amazing contribution they made to a lot of 80s music (Aria Pro II as well) I don't see anyway to leave Mick Karn out of the discussion.

This is interesting, and everyone has their own opinion. For me It's not so much about neck through or bolt on but what woods are used. I've owned 3 neck through warwicks and the SS1 streamer I had brought the least sustain made from maple neck, ebony fretboard, zebrano body. My SC thumb medium sustain with swamp ash body, bubinga top, maple neck, ebony fretboard. My other thumb is afzelia body, ebony fretboard, wenge/afzelia neck that thing sings...

Thanks guys always good to see / hear you ! Yes fretless would be very cool. l'd like to see the differing styles, ie : Jaco, fast & funky vs the slower mwah mwah tone, but also Les Claypool's slap & tap tone. Ah hum - pleeeease.

Oh, man, Ian's Ken Smith with the single coils sounds so good!

Bolt on is better simply because it can be replaced. I've had several necks go bad on me with the insane New England weather and the ability to swap in another neck outweighs any tonal preference you could have for neck through.

Hope Ian is working his Spector connection to make them produce a Korean neck-through fretless 😜

Excellent podcast guys, btw my first proper bass was an Aria pro2 sb700 (neck through) late seventies! i now have an Ibanez bolt on as my main bass and also a bass i made myself modeled after John Entwistle's status Buzzard but fretless! what was i thinking ha ha. Love to hear more stuff about amps,pedals and gear in general.Thanks.

I'm dying to hear more bass players using the Boss SL-2 Slicer. I haven't yet been able to make it to Sweetwater to check one out and demo it with multiple basses and other pedals like a chorus and or distortion/fuzz/overdrive pedal. With Ian's love of syth-bass I'm surprised I haven't seen him put out a video with one. Thank you for this video, I learned quite a bit and enjoyed it.

Did you already do an episode on strings? If not, that would be amazing!

Can we have an episode covering reinforced necks? Like, titanium or graphite reinforced construction.

Please talk about how you dress when playing! No, I’m serious. Dressing to get a gig, dressing at a gig, how you dress for a wedding/corporate/church gig. How does what you wear affect how you play? Etc.

Yamaha BBNE2, thru neck gets real spanky when you play it hard. In some ways the ultimate jazz bass without really sounding like a passive Fender.

Someone needs to build three IDENTICAL basses with the only difference being neck attachment (bolt on, set neck, neck through) and then see if they actually sound any different.

Fun one! Really excited about this album! When will it be available more or less??? One thing that I was wondering recently is usind a DI/preamp pedal as the main thing. The reviews on the new Amped DI really surprised me as love the B-15 vibe and was wondering how to use such a pedal. For recording ok, straight in audio interface. But for rehearsals, home practice, live performance? I own an old 75W Randall combo with 15" speaker. Should I plug this in to the effects loop return, to use just the power amp section? Should I invest in a seperate power amp and a proper bass cab? What about the cab sim if I'm using an actual cab? Or when I'm on stage I1d like to have the cab sim on my signal to front of house, but not on the stage monitor amp, right? Sorry long question... Keep up Dudes!

i wish i was as enthusiastic about anything in life as ian is about bass rock on brother

Billy Sheehan has a Mitre Joint. The neck is called "bolt-through" which Brubaker Basses also does. Yamaha BBP basses also have the Mitre Joint.

Depending on the year up until mid 80's Ricks are neck-through

Brubaker has a BOLT-THROUGH hybrid...it is EPIC!!!

Drinking game with "block"... Cheers!

Peter Hook's Yamaha signature has a similar vibe (neck connection-wise) to the Billy Sheehan but with four bolts.

Hi guys, I enjoy yout podcast. I would love for you two to talk about how to practice because I see a lot of people just wasting time.

The Yamaha BB's, at least the higher end ones, have the six-bolt neck where the two end bolts are angled to pull the neck into the pocket.

So funny how shreddy Scott is compared to Ian. Great info in this one.

I went to the spector site to look at their custom shop stuff. And there is a short video with Ian.

lil' Willis: mini Willie?

How about set neck? Build quality and playability are more important. A bolt-on Ken Smith will be far superior to a neck through Washburn. Or my old Ric 4001 with the lifting bridge and separating fretboard.

is it possible to put time stamps where you actually talk about neck through vs bolt on?

About that fusion project. You should really listen to simon Phillips. Protocol V is great

You guys gotta bring a Carl Thompson one on the show !!

Rickenbackers were the first commercially available neck through basses

Mark King *everything*!

Leg warmers, in neon. Oh, and your bass has to either be a Wal mk1 or a Steinberger L2.

Ken Smith pickups are made by Kent Armstrong NOT Ken Lawrence. Good discussion in any case

I love you guys. Did I say that out loud?

How about bass guitar onboard preamps ? So many options now 🤪

What kind of Jazz bass is the red bass? You guys make my Wednesday!!

Suggestion for next topic: I would love to hear your point of view on preamps. Are they relevant? Is it “necessary” to have one? (Or more 😅) A good amp is more than enough? Preamp vs a good DI? Are tube preamps a scam? Can you consider a multieffect dsp a preamp? Why the modular application of preamp + power amp (like Scott’s Vanderkley) are not that common in the market?… The list goes on and on! 🤓

I started off on a Pedulla MVP 4 with a neck through 😂 48:27

Would love to know about your comments on neck through vs bolt on but where does that happen? It's a lot of small talk and giggly bromance which I know a lot of people like but I don't have time to sit through 90 minutes of it. If you could please make a 10 minute edit on the subject would be great. You seem like great guys and very knowledgeable but I skipped around to about 10 different places in the video and couldn't find any discussion on the actual topic.

I would love an episode on fretless.

A "sports" jacket is for outdoor sports like hunting, shooting, etc. You wouldn't play football in it. Though you could.

The bold on misses the fundamental frequency It’s has all the other frequencies but not the fundamental it sounds bigger because it has more frequencies than than the neck through The neck through sounds more clean and thinner because you have only the fundamental of the note and you miss the other harmonics So it’s the opposite of what Scott says actually

I really enjoy the podcast, generally in audio form, but every now and then I have to check these on the youtube to see them nice basses. BUT. Dudes. You_must_get_your_facts_together. That’s right I am talking to you mr. Allison. I know we’re supposed to respect the elderly (you’re about a year older than me…) but you simply cannot casually drop made up facts on the fly like that. People actually listen to these you know… So. Rickenbacker 4000 was the first mass-produced necktrough. In 1957. It hurts me to my soul when you two respectable bass nerds don’t sometimes have the historical facts together. There. Feels better now. But still, I love the podcast. Keep it up, cheers.

Schecter Stiletto Stealth-5 , it has 6 screws to hold the neck.

solid vs hollow body differences.

I want a SBL took

Guys, if you wanna learn how to pronounce Borlai Gergő's name properly, just give me a shout - you are absolutley murdering it 😂. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

80's neon lights dude

hahaha.. as you were saying it I was spanking my P bass

Rics and reverse Thunderbirds are neck through.

Doestoyevsky: “I am a sick man. I am a very sick man. I believe it’s my (wrist) but I can’t be sure, as I haven’t been to the doctor. I haven’t been to the doctor out of spite. I realize that I do not harm the doctor by not going, but if I haven’t gone, it is out of spite”… this, Mr Scott… 😎

SCott in just a waistcoat= shades of Dexie's Midnight Runners

Genuinely don't understand why you don't use your sig overwater fretless for the recording of you want a fretless vibe without using the Willis bass. Do you not have them anymore? Regardless of that though, if you wanna use the bass then use the fucking bass! They're not gonna give a shit about it so you shouldn't either. The only thing that matters is if it's the right bass for the gig. THAT'S IT!

Neck thru on my Thunderbird ! But Bolt on the P ..... No answer

Gibsons are so sick

Same way with the doctors scott. Dont even.use aspirin or any sorts

Wearing a waist coat was a late 70's thing

I’m all for the fretless episode!

Rickenbackers

Give me a bolt on any day.