Two of the guitars I have owned in the past were fantastic instruments that were afflicted with horrendous neck dive, and I mean horrendous.
The first was a usa semi hollow hamer artist which had tone for days, let go of the neck and the headstock was bouncing off the carpet.The second was a stunning Yamaha sg2000 to shame a historic Gibson.I can't emphasize enough how horrifically it hung on a strap, it wanted to roll away from you and bounce the headstock off the carpet at the same time.
Never p!ayed one but the Chapman ghost guitar looks like a seriously unbalanced pig, what neck heavy divers have you owned, do you still have them ? I sold both of mine.
Comments
Gone...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Eastwood Sidejack and a Brian May Red Special. Both wrecked my shoulder due to being so incredibly uncomfortable to play standing up. Went a long way to proving my argument that a perfectly balanced heavy guitar will cause far less discomfort that a badly balanced featherweight one. My Tokai LP being a prime example. Nearly 11lbs but vanishes on a strap.
My best memory of this bass was the day I bought it. My train home pulled into the station and there were about 150 punks on the platform, obviously all off to some big event. I got off with bass in hand (no case) and they all cheered!
Here's one (not mine).
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j155/sunburstlp/1970%20Martin%2000-28C/1978%20Guild%20B301%20wh/1978GuildB-301BassWhite035.jpg
My 1969 Sg Special (with a huge neck) balanced perfectly on a strap.
This told me that there are no rules except for the rule that you must take a strap when you are looking at any Sg.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/tmge/313960.jpg
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My SG doesn't neck dive (again, on a cotton strap) but it did when I briefly put Grovers on it - it's worth considering the weight of your tuners on anything that's just a fraction neck-divey.
Co-incidentally I thought of neck dive when Graham @gspbasses recently posted about the qualities of Obeche for guitar bodies. A school friend made a Strat body from Obeche and it was incredibly light and sounded nice but the completed guitar was very neck-heavy. Is there a solution to this?
Never again, I found neck diving a deal breaker, it's put me off anything like a 335 for instance, just something I'll never even risk having to deal with again.
Eastman El Rey - *totally* great sounding and playing guitar but dove like a bitch. There's an Eastman dealer in the US who get their El Rey stock without the backs attached and they put in a little weight near the bottom strap button which counteracts the dive. Wish my guitar had come from there.
A Tokai SG. Not only had massive neck dive problems but also that "falling forward" thing that some SG's and 335's have. I stuck a Bigsby on it which stopped the dive but made the falling forward worse.
Peerless Songbird. Shame as it was a really good guitar. Body was mega mega light.
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