Hear what happens when I replace the Fender neck on a "parts" strat with an aluminum neck from Alef Guitars (www.alefguitar...). Spoiler: It's dramatic! More info at bit.ly/3sfyIYZ.
My Alef neck completely changed the way I approach my sound and playing. It plays faster than most wood necks I've played, resonates longer, is clearer and has more bite than much else I've used, and adds a distinctive sheen which works great for the more aggressive style of music I play. It was the best guitar related purchase I've ever made.
I'd buy a neck of solid gold it made me sound anything like you sound Joe! ..lol.. Thanks for the comparison. I love reading about guitars built from alternative materials. I have been experimenting with aluminium nuts for a while now simply because I had some scraps lying around. I also built an aluminium saddle for an acoustic. I don't notice any difference from bone but then my ears aren't what they used to be either.
Geof karma, I really liked the tone I got when I put in a brass block in a rosewood Tele along with brass frets, nut and the Tele bridge made out of A brass ingot
Awesome, but to me the biggest advantage is no more trussrod and warping issues, it gets brutal where I live when seasons change and takes ages to reset all the guitars
Same here. I want to get a TB500, but sadly no money. Not sure if the guys at the successor Travis Bean company accept monthly payments since that's my only hope haha.
Fascinating how incredibly crisp, sparkling, and *defined* the aluminum neck is compared to the wood. Also interesting how the tonal characteristics are not masked by the fuzz, as I would have assumed them to be. I always found necks to have a huge impact on solidbody tone and feel. When I discovered deep-profile, massive baseball-bat neck profiles, I fell in love and vowed never to return to skinny necks. Great demo (And beautiful playing, as always).
Really well done review. Had been considering an aluminum neck and this outlined a lot more of the benefits of it sonically. I guess the other benefit is that it stays in tune better and you don't have to adjust the neck with the seasons? Thanks for taking the time to make this and think it out so thoroughly!
contrary to popular belief, aluminium necks can actually be worse for tuning than wooden necks in live scenarios. Aluminium contracts and expands drastically with temperature, so if you plan on gigging with one, let it acclimate to the room you'll be playing it in for at least 30 mins, or you'll constantly go out of tune for half your set. once it's ready though, they are VERY stable. Mastodon's Brent Hinds has an acrylic body Flying V with an aluminium neck made by Electrical Guitar Company, and he has stated a few times that it can be a hassle to get it to stay in tune on big tours. of course if you're just using it at home or in a studio this is a nonissue.
You play some absolutely beautiful stuff and I LOVE your videos! Everything you upload is so entertaining and I feel like I always leave with something new to think about or use in my own playing. Thank you so much for the amazing content
They aren't unusually high in this case. But these Alef necks are made to order, and mine was sized to suit my preferred action and string gauge. But I've had mass-produced aluminum necks in the past, and I didn't encounter string-height problems there either.
@@joe_gore Is it possible to order a neck that is suitable for a low string height? I keep them as low as possible, because I don't have much strength in my fingers
The one thing I noticed right away is that the clean tones are more sparkly and articulate. The distortion passages seem more "full frequencied". And, I also found out that Joe is still an awesome guitar player. I remember the other guitar player in my old band had an aluminum neck Kramer and I got to play it several times and there were interesting things about it: in Minnesota in the winter taking that thing out of a car trunk to gigs it was ice cold. And in the summer, searing hot. And the tuning would shift a little with extremes in termperature. You had to let it stabilize once inside a gig venue. But it did seem to have a sort of unusually silky action. Cool video!
I've seen Stephen O'Malley from sunn O))) and Steve Albini with shellac in the same venue the same year, they both play Travis Bean, but they sound huge in very different ways
Great clip Joe, I like the headstock on that aluminum neck a lot and it sounds great, lot's of tasty sustain. They do come at a cost, but as they say " you get what you pay for ". Last time I have seen anything in person like this was in the 80's and it was Keith Levine's Travis Bean
@@joe_gore KL played it in LA with PIL at the Olympic Auditorium show in 1980. I knew nothing about the guitar at the time, it was only when I was I was invited to John Lydon's house around 1986/87 that I saw the guitar in John's basement ( pre cell phone era, no pics ) Yeah The Edge, what can I say that hasn't been said already ... lol
@@joe_gore blessings from Dublin, Joe and listeners. Levine is a treasure, Edge merely a sonic nuisance ... great to see your posts again sir. How you like those lipsticks compared to classic strat? Ever tried the Wilde Ken Lawrence strat p'ups?
Wrist appears none the worse for breakage. Hope it’s feeling good too! The aluminum neck is super consistent tonally as you play up & down it. I got to play a Bean for maybe 15 minutes long ago and noticed the same thing. I can imagine really liking that for some things and not so much for others. Good reason to get another guitar!
They both sound great thanks to the Duh and your hands, Joe. Personally I don't like the look of the traditional maple neck on that guitar but the aluminum neck looks fantastic, the headstock looks oddly fitting too. Can we call it a Gorecaster?
Glad u are back!! Best real guitar channel ever! I have a question, can u put strat pups or jazzmaster pups on a hollowbody? Nobody does that...(probably for a good reason)
I got an aluminum neck coming to put on my 62 Jazzmaster. It would be cool to find a polished aluminum pickguard to put on there but can’t seem to find one. Anyone have any idea where I can get a polished aluminum Jazzmaster pickguard?
@@joe_gore Nice! thanks you very much for the link! Helps a lot! Yes, I will definitely post a pic once the neck is finished here in about 3-4 weeks! Hopefully my Jazzmaster turns out as nice as your Strat!!
@@joe_gore - I guess in the sun it would heat up and go out of tune. A pal has a Steinberger and in the cold or hot sun it's unbearable to touch the neck.... But it stays in tune.
3 года назад
The way you describe the feel and benefits it makes me think it's similar to the graphite neck on my old Steinberger. It's also very bright and sustain-y compared to a wood neck and of course very smooth.
3 года назад
@@joe_gore true, and mine now has a couple of bare knuckle rail humbuckers so it sounds very, very different from lipstick single coils.
Thanks for doing a legit side by side... I had come across these years ago and freaked out at the "clarity" for lack of a better word. I then forgot about them until the past few days and now that I've heard them side by side there is no comparison to my ears... The aluminum wins hands down for me and I can't even explain why (but I'm gunna try ) The tone is just SO pleasant. If I had to guess it has to to with the speed of sound through aluminum vs maple... the string doesn't have to "fight" anything sonically in the aluminum neck, no undertones... no overtones... no added tone. The speed of sound through aluminum and metal guitar strings would be practically identical vs wood being slightly more resistant/slower. Basically you get to hear the whole string at the same time vs the sound that travels back down a wooden neck would arrive just slightly out of time by comparison. Whats strange is how you can still hear the individual notes/strings of the chords with the aluminum neck long after the strum. Either way enough ranting! Thank you for putting this together, this is EXACTLY what I wanted to see and hear. Great job! Subscribed!
I wonder how it would tolerate MT weather - in 1980-81 our lead singer had one of those Kramers with the wood inlaid aluminum neck, and when he brought it into the bar the neck would take an hour to acclimate, requiring periodic retuning as it warmed up during the first set. The only metal I know of that doesn't expand or contract with temperature is platinum, whose possibilities as a guitar neck rival those of cooked okra.
Like wood, aluminum needs to acclimate to the environment. It takes about 15 minutes with the guitar out of the case. The difference is once it acclimated, it’s pretty much set - wood continues to fluctuate long after & is more sensitive & variable.
@@joe_gore Oh, and I too am from SoCal, but grew up in MT. Always hated the cold, and will always cherish the 12 years I lived in Venezuela and Panama.
Sonically I was surprised it was not worlds apart from the maple neck, but with a little brighter sound and attack. I bet it feels great though, and looks spectacular.
3:52 rad that you showed the difference of a sample between the two guitars in a frequency curve. Complex topic, results exhibited in the most conducive method arguably for the simplest visual understanding. Ie making complex sh*t scientific and simple to understand. Rock on man.
I have an alimunium-titanium alloy bridge on a lapsteel and it sounds very glassy, like Tusq or other artificial bone, also Gretsch-style floating bridge on semi-acoustic, equally wonderful (though a bit soft, strings dig in too much, Al-Ti alloy is better and more resonant. I think the name of the alloy is D16T. Use rolled blanks, rather than porous cast ones.
@@joe_gore I am very bad with names, awful really, so you gonna have to deduce it from clues: there's an Americana band, Something brothers, they are not brothers, they have the same last name, both guitar virtuosos. The younger guy was on That Pedal Show once or twice. He always plays open tunings, mostly with a slide. Anyhow, he couldn't shut up about how great his one piece aluminium TOM style bridge sounded, but he couldn't use it with open tunings, all the intonation offsets are wrong.
Bit more scoop, and a bit warmer as a result in the slightest of ways but enough to pull you in one direction of taste. Tasty, as always Joe. Sorry to see you had a broken paw. I broke my arm and wrist which severely disadvantaged me as a teenager in the 80’s as I lost all strength in my crab clawing fret hand on all those skinny necks from the period. I was never able to play a bar chord till I got my hand on the fat neck of a 40’s Gibson carve way later on in the 00’s. It allowed me to build up enough strength to sweat it out on the skinnier necks. But an interesting thing happened-I discovered Fahey, fingerpicking and alternate tunings soon after the break and found a joy playing despite not going down the usual haunts of guitar. Very interesting experiment. Goes to show how much brightness is in those maple necks. I definitely think mass has an affect, not necessarily weight although in this case it may be a combination of both. I preferred the aluminum neck. Maple was quicker in response. I’m building my second tele and I’m using a one piece light maple neck. I would love to experiment between that and a rosewood slab. Hope you healed well and I have to say, I always love it when you check in. You are still the most interesting guitarist on the tube.
Hey I have a serious doubt .. do these aluminium necks needs any sort of rod/truss rod ? How is the action ? Do they have any relief I mean do you build them directly with a certain degree of relief so that it may not buzz or the string tension automatically gives a neck relief !??? Over all my doubt is..is aluminium strong enough to hold the string tension through out the years without getting bend?? Please answer 😟😟😟
Nice! I wonder how much difference the EGC/Bean one-piece neck through construction makes, since the strings anchor to the same piece of aluminum? I'm a huge fan of those Albini and Duane Denison tones from way back, but even back when I was a young player a Bean was unusually expensive.
Great tones all around! Just bought a Cult, high hopes as always! you've been an inspiration since I read your first gp coumnn, thanks for all of your output! PS do a something on the tones of "To bring you my love", puhleees? , esp wth is going on in the title track 😂
Very instructional. I wonder how well a neck like this would combine with an evertune bridge to become a "double tracker" setup for dummies... like me. Someday!
The Old Modulus Graphite necks are just as slick but Modulus is refusing to sell Just Necks any longer to curb substandard Guitars from Using them and not to ruin or risk their reputation
I remember trying out some old Kramers with aluminum necks in the 80s when they were on the used wall at a local shop in L.A. I used to frequent. Nobody wanted them in those days, especially in a trendy guitar market like L.A. They were going for nothing. Now they'd go for thousands. Same with Dan Armstrong guitars. Nobody wanted them in 1987. Today? They go for thousands. Joe Perry was one of the only guys playing one in the 80s. But Perry always played what he wanted, which is cool. Never cared about what was in or not. I have to say in the demo I like the sound of both necks. But I lean more in favor of the maple.
Great comparison, clear and thorough as we've come to expect. I'm seriously thinking about trying this out. (Apologies - this comment/question splurge got long ...) Three geeky questions: aluminum has a coefficient of thermal expansion about 50% greater than wood (at least from tables found online), but much greater thermal conductivity. How well does the Al neck stay in tune compared to the maple? Was wondering since you "said" that the neck heated up quickly from hand contact. My guess would be Al stays in tune better since the heat will spread more uniformly through the neck, so long as the Al is tempered (and so won't warp). It will expand, but less than one thousandth of an inch, so there should be no effect on overall pitch (true?). 2nd one: what do you think of the Al nut? Any issue with string binding? (Metal against metal...) 3rd and finally, does is there a finish or coating that prevents oxidation? How well does the finish hold up? Al will self-form a protective oxide layer, but salt (like from hand sweat) could affect it and cause corrosion that may show up over time.
@@joe_gore Thanks, Joe. For what it's worth, I continued down the aluminum rabbit hole and came across Aluminati, manufacturer of Al necks (maybe old news to you of guitar omniscience). They're hollow and light, and also have some options for carbon fiber fretboards and other whizzy things.
more sustain and a bit crisper on the initial attack of mids and highs, but the decay very similar, where i expected aluminum todecay longer and ring and created over tone. Not as post-punk 'clang' as I thought it would bring
@@joe_gore it sounds beastly, and looks even cooler. The only problem is the neck angle is too shallow, so I’ll have to shim it. Since the T-40 already weighed like 12 lbs, it’s now 14 lbs with the aluminum neck, but I love the heft, it just feels and sounds titanic
This is true. But on the other hand, when mixing and mastering guitar tones, especially in ensemble contexts, many of us tend to dial in a little extra high and clarify some mids around 400Hz or so. So you can also make a case that it’s a “pre-mixed” tone.
I might agree as a standalone sound. But the spectral changes of the metal neck (more highs, fewer low mids) corresponds to the EQ adjustments typically made in a mix.
Lipstick pups are super bright to start with....its like comparing what is more acidic: fresh squeezed lemon juice in an aluminum cup or in a wooden mug!?
@@joe_gore I meant it changes the tone. The strings have more space to elipse freely. More relief bigger the tone. For sound comparison I recommend similar relief. I am not confrontational with you. I love your work!!🙏🙏
People who’ve heard this are so divided on the topic! My take is, I really like the sound of good wood necks. But when I’m recording/producing/mixing, I almost always EQ guitars with a little extra brightness and low-mid openness, which is exactly what the aluminum neck adds. So to my ear, it’s sort of “pre-EQed.”
do you see how he is picking in a different place with each neck? there is no difference. Use whatever you want, if the material is good enough to do not vibrate with the notes, then it will do the work and sound fine no matter if its wood or iron or whatever
"...sound fine..." - If you want a " material good enough to not vibrate with the notes", you can NOT "use whatever you want". Wood is not iron. Rigidity is not resilience. - according to www.novaxguitars.com/technicallecture.html (and his experiences with a mechanical system strumming the string ... ) everything around the string would tend to characterize (in fact reduce) the timbre (= tension + weight + lenght of the string). This is what we call "the tone of the instrument". Conductance is an important key ; and position of hand is totally anecdotic for other reasons in this cool experience here. - so there is no surprise that : 1 aluminium neck gives mooooore definition and sustain than wood (but may transduce others harmonics too, as do springs in trem bridges / you decide what is "fine" for you or not), 2 any different material would not have the same result, moreover with woods ; maybe the difference wouldn't be "significant" in the case of two mahogany necks compared together ; not significant as the word "fine "is. So in summarize, stiffer the neck and the assembly with body, clearer and defined (or closer to timber and only affected by tension/play skills) the tone will be. Exactly what you tried to say, but accuracy is not precision ;-) PS sorry for my english, as it is not my mother language ;-P
