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What does a bass with an aluminum neck sound like?

Note to those across the pond: In America and Canada, we spell this metal as aluminum, and in America pronounce it as in uh-loo-mih-numm. Yes, we know in other parts of the world it is spelled as aluminium and spoken as al-you-minn-ee-uhm or sometimes al-you-mih-neeyum. We don’t say or spell it that way. Deal with it.

Moving on… 🙂

YouTube user Thinkitis posted a video recently of a Kramer DMZ 5000 featuring an aluminum neck.

Over the course of Kramer’s early history, aluminum necks were produced for almost a full decade from 1976 to 1985. The “fork” headstock shape is very intentional not just for style but also for sustain reasons. It is ordinarily (but not always) true that wood inlays in the neck matches the body finish. The reason the wood is present in the neck is because of what Kramer called a “T” neck construction. The aluminum portion was forged to be shaped like a letter T, and the rest was literally filled in with wood inlays.

For the DMZ series specifically, that came into existence in 1979 and is named as such because of the use of DiMarzio pickups. Only the 5000 model has a P/J pickup configuration. The 4001 model had a P-Bass style pickup. The 4000 model, an oddball design to be sure, featured a miniature pick guard in the middle of the instrument that housed a P-Bass style pickup.

So, what does it sound like? Check it out:

What do you think of it? Do you think it’s good? Post a comment or two with your opinion.

24 thoughts on “What does a bass with an aluminum neck sound like?”

  1. Had one of these back in the day, it was well made, used it once, kept it in the collection, sold it to a collector many years later for a nice price!!!

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  2. I always liked the sound of these (and Travis Bean’s, too) but the weight- yikes! They made me shorter everytime I played one!

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  3. Had one some 30 years ago. Hated it, the neck weighted more than my car. It tipped over all the time. Glad I was able to sell it

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  4. I had one of these for a while, I thought it sounded cool at the time. believe it or not, these necks do eventually warp and there is no truss rod, just a hunk of aluminum billet. I dumped it once it started buzzing above the 7th or 8th fret. Not sure how you fix that, but I let the next gu worry about that.

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  5. I currently have an EGC bolt on, and I used to have a TB2000. I would say it’s less bright than a graphite neck, but a lot of the same advantages. Temperature stable, no dead spots, lots of overtone. I have heard people say that the necks are not temperature stable and that they warp due to temperature fluctuations, but I believe this to metallurgically unlikely, unless you are in a volcano. I have never had an issue with 2 Travis Beans and 2 Electrical Guitar Company instruments. But yes, they are heavy, but you can tune them however you want, put any gauge strings on them and not have to worry about the neck warping. I imagine the neck would suffer from a fall, but other than that I feel the warping claims are exaggerated, or I have just been tremendously lucky- pattfinn

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  6. I owned two of these years ago. Loved to play them. The first one was stock DiMarrzio. The second I nodded with an SD quarter pound and an EMG BTC control. The thing screamed! The only problem was if you went on break, the aluminum would expand or contract and the thing would go ridiculously out of tune! The last straw was when we played an outside beach gig, and in the middle of the set a huge cool breeze blew across the stage and it was like I was using a whammy bar! Traded it for a Guild Pilot… THAT was an awesome bass!

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  7. I’ve a 450 b ! What a sound! i’ve also a présicion 62 and a Marcus Miller and for my play it very cool to have a Kramer…

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  8. I have Kramer Vanguard bass (flying V like body) with the Al neck. I keep it in my collection mostly as a rarity, not for gigs (not of my sound).

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  9. My 1976 bubinga Kramer 450B doesnt sound at all like this DZ (mine has silver humbuckers). That said i think here the recording doesn’t do justice to owner’s one tone.

    YES it is full neck dive, full weight, and sensible to weather (it’s aluminium, don’t need a PHD to understand that you just have to check for no fast weather change situations; open the case 1/4 inch for 15 minutes then ok — i live in QBC so i know about weather changes.

    BUT :
    – nobody have MY rock sound, no Ric, PB, or whatever else
    – slap & pops like hell
    – infinite sustain
    – unbreakable (metal neck w. Bubinga inlays, ebonol fingerboard…) i’ve jump on, loose it, felt, hurt a metal machine – pufff, it was not even detune
    – neck never warped
    – an defense weapon when out of controls idiots jumps onstage to destroy (won’t do it again…)
    – clear coat is like 1/2 inch thick, still shinig

    I use it only for THE rock sounds.
    – people that saw & hear it years ago still remember it and talk to me today
    – Won’t ever sell it.

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  10. Mom and dad bought me my first one brand new in 80′ traded it a few years later… just got a great condition one on reverb, and let me tell you, other than the weight.. which is most definitely as advertised. This thing is a monster of tone, playability, and sustain to my admittedly biased 35 years of bass playing experience. I own a Rick, a T bird and several vintage and modern American Fender basses. The Kramer DMZ 4001 is a Go to recording studio bass.

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  11. My friend recently bought one (DMZ4000), but the black wire from the battery connector is loose and it results in it being too quiet to play it in our rehearsal space. After all it is 40+ years old, no wonder something’s broken. Anyone willing to take a picture of wiring so that I can fix that? Thank you guys.

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  12. With fresh Roto-sounds it sounded like a Steinway concert grand. Yes it was heavey, yes it crept sharp when it warmed up, but it sounded great. I had the factory “press” the neck back in to true a few times. Does anyone know who still does this?

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  13. I have had my ’85ish Stagemaster bass for several years. It has a P bass style PU toward the neck and two J bass style PU’s side to side in the rear. Electronics are a PU selector F/B/R and a three way switch that only works on the rear PU. Up is both J bass PU’s in series, middle is both in parallel, and down is both J bass PU’s split to E, A strings are sensed by the forward J bass PU and the D, G are sensed by the rear J bass PU, like a tiny P bass PU. Also, active bass/ treble stacked knob with two volumes for both PU’s. As said, no dead spots and a huge twang factor. The main problem with the bass it I try to become John Entwistle, even if I don’t want to. 🙂

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  14. I bought mine in the 90s. I walked into the store determined to buy an Explorer or maybe a Thunderbird but they were just not right. I walked to the door disappointed and saw a black Flying V with an aluminium neck hanging on the wall. I had to have it.
    The downside was the neck dive but this came with three strap buttons so a bit of fiddling and it’s ok.
    Also the reason it fell out of tune turned out to be that the machine heads were located by small steel pegs which had all snapped off. A little work with a drill and a bit of thread cutting and they are fixed in place with Allen bolts now.
    It’s the easiest neck I’ve played ( 32” scale) and has a punchy active sound with the single EMG pickup.
    If I could only own one bass this wouldn’t be the one, but I’m glad it’s in my small collection and every time I bring it out people go “WTF is that? It’s so cool!”

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