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Old 03-10-2011, 05:47 PM
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Brian Hewett Brian Hewett is offline
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Join Date: 02-10-2010
Location: Columbus Ohio
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Default burner neck dive - Using 2 straps worked well for me

Hello Adrian, I played a Smith Burner very similar to yours for quite a few years. I think a they are great basses and I like the shorter horns for a number of reasons. In particular I like the way the entire bass hangs bit more left on my body which allows me easier upper fret access whereas with a longer horn I have to kind of switch holding positions if I really need to access that area completely comfortably. Of course though, any bass with a shorter horn will have less leverage to support the neck so the "neck dive" issue can arise.

Anyway, something I did that worked well for me was using two straps. One was a Smith strap with the strap locks and the other was a suede strap. The Smith strap was, and is, very comfortable. The suede strap provided some extra grip. I generally kept them separated a bit around my shoulder which spread the weight over a larger surface area. It took some effort to get both straps adjusted to lengths that worked well for me. It wasn't as simple as making them the exact same length. I had to go through some trial and error to get it just right but once I got them adjusted for the best fit on me then that worked great to help keep the neck from diving.

Also, if you have never played a bass with a shorter horn then you may need to get accustomed to using the technique of resting your right arm on the top back of the body and using a bit of downward pressure to keep the neck where you like it. Of course that technique becomes more difficult if you prefer to wear your bass very low.

Seeing that this post is not exactly new and that a couple of other people suggested using your right arm, I imagine you are already getting used to doing that.

Best wishes
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