Aluminum Necks

Fingerlick

The Thrill is Gone
Has anyone had any experience with aluminum necks. Electrical Guitars is promoting their Standard as the primo of all guitars. (Primo price at 4,301.00) One model is completely chrome plated on the front and looks very cool. It's also has an aluminum body. The specs show it as a straight through aluminum neck with a body moulded around it . Comes equipped with two humbuckers with respective knobs and selector switch. I can't get my head around a decent tone coming from all that metal and it seems to me static electricity might be a problem. I guess Ovation did the tone deal with plastic and we're one of the first to develop an aluminum neck.
Just wondering if anyone has played or heard one up close.
Dale
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
A friend of mine bought a V guitar back when we were in college. It wasn't really a V because the then butt end was not cut to a V but was more like a tepee or a filled V. Anyway, the neck had a lot of aluminum in it. It was very neck heavy. It was always falling down. Terrible guitar......
 
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Fingerlick

The Thrill is Gone
EG has a couple of flying v models but I just can't fathom an acceptable instrument from all aluminum construct. I'm rather set in my ways and not real thrilled with change but am willing to investigate out of curiosity and who knows maybe something has come down the pike that's worthy of at least inquiry. The prices on these guitars are very high and that's what got me too wondering if there's something to all this. First chance I get I'll take a ride on one.
Dale
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
Travis Bean and Kramer had aluminum necks back in the day. A guitarist friend had one and it was very sensitive to temperature changes. That's anecdotal but you can look for reviews.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
The local Grateful Dead tribute band, been playing Dead for 30 years, has a Travis Bean. It sounded pretty good the time I saw them.

Static isn't a problem with things that conduct electricity, just with things that don't.
 

johnc

systematic
My experience with ally necks depending on the playing environment they can feel quite cold in the fretting hand and a bit off putting for me personally. The guitar seemed nice enough otherwise. I thought it was a Charvel branded guitar that a friend of mine owned but don't know it was original with that ally neck.
 

jackderby52

Prehistoric blues knob (not newbie)
I had an aluminium neck and fret board on an old ovation... It was the worse guitar I ever had from a neck perspective..
 

Fingerlick

The Thrill is Gone
I had an aluminium neck and fret board on an old ovation... It was the worse guitar I ever had from a neck perspective..

I read about Ovation's early experiment with aluminum necks and soundboard and they met with little success initially. Later models were better and more acceptable. Ovation has always pushed the envelope as far as materials used to make guitars.
I guess the aluminum concept is the never ending quest to achieve absolute stability never to have a neck problem. When I have a stiff neck I use muscle relaxers.
 

jackderby52

Prehistoric blues knob (not newbie)
I read about Ovation's early experiment with aluminum necks and soundboard and they met with little success initially. Later models were better and more acceptable. Ovation has always pushed the envelope as far as materials used to make guitars.
I guess the aluminum concept is the never ending quest to achieve absolute stability never to have a neck problem. When I have a stiff neck I use muscle relaxers.
Until you do have an issue, then it become's an rut-oh... I can't adjust the neck that never requires adjustment?? Carbon-fiber is the new aluminum/envelope.. Again, hows that 65 year old martin wood neck holding up??
 

panther

Blues Newbie
049.jpg I was at a guitar show, in Costa Mesa California about a year ago. There was a guy promoting his all aluminum Guitars. They looked and sounded very nice. All CNC cut, so each one just the other.

Dan
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I just recalled. Back in the day, the Applause guitar had an Aluminium fret board and frets. I recall seeing little wear divots on the frets on a friends guitar. It also had a heavy neck. Maybe they have got the design and manufacturing process mo betta since when they were using Al back in the 80's.
 

Fingerlick

The Thrill is Gone
Until you do have an issue, then it become's an rut-oh... I can't adjust the neck that never requires adjustment?? Carbon-fiber is the new aluminum/envelope.. Again, hows that 65 year old martin wood neck holding up??

Martin neck is straight as a string Jack. I dearly love that guitar. Intonation is perfect! I thought the attraction might wear off but it hasn't. I finally had to buckle down and commit to playing my Strat and Fender acoustic a little bit every day.
Lola has a guitar with carbon fiber neck and loves it. She said the fretboard and entire neck is so smooth her hand just glides along it.
 

Fingerlick

The Thrill is Gone
View attachment 481 I was at a guitar show, in Costa Mesa California about a year ago. There was a guy promoting his all aluminum Guitars. They looked and sounded very nice. All CNC cut, so each one just the other.

Dan
I just recalled. Back in the day, the Applause guitar had an Aluminium fret board and frets. I recall seeing little wear divots on the frets on a friends guitar. It also had a heavy neck. Maybe they have got the design and manufacturing process mo betta since when they were using Al back in the 80's.


mtman, those guitars back then we're probably made from the rather soft aluminum of that age. I would think today's guitars would be made of anodized aluminum. I haven't seen any specs that support my notion but it makes sense as the aluminum is much harder and stronger now.
I really like the chrome plated style but I'll have to win the lottery before I can shell out 6 grand for a guitar.
Dale
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
I read an accident report once for a home-built helicopter that crashed. The NTSB traced the cause of the crash back to a control rod that snapped in two in mid-flight. The cause of the break was because the builder wanted it to look fancy so he had the aluminum linkage rod anodized to be gold or black or something. The anodizing process made the aluminum brittle, so when it was put under load it just snapped in two and caused the crash. I never knew it would do that, i thought it was just a surface treatment, but I guess I was wrong.

We were building small transformers to sense current in an electric meter. These transformers had to have a shield around them to focus the flux and prevent outside signals from interfering with the output. But the metal would change if you cut it or bent it making it non-linear. So we had to anneal it after cutting and bending it. This was done by placing it in a chamber at 400 degrees with the air replaced with nitrogen (I think) for like 8 hours.

Metal is some weird stuff. I will stick with wood, thank you!
 

artyman

Fareham UK
Remind me to buy some shares in Solvol Autosol polish if you're getting an aluminium one. Oh and just so we can get it correct it's pronounced (Al-U-Min- E- um ) :D
 
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