The object is to play your bass with both wrists as straight as possible. They really have a unlvlieeabbe chemistry. A slight bend is OK, but a severe bend can lead to trouble. . In November 1996, Jerome displayed the Torzal at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History. I came up with a method for cutting the fret slots using my existing fret slot templates and a pair of saw guides which index on the templates. And Jerome has offered to field a phone call from Mark, if needed. This means that you will have to take your face plate off. This week we took in a 1960’s Fender P-Bass for a refret that had a severely warped neck. I could use something like this in a 5 string. The girl seems so awesome, she really makes it all! The twist is designed to alleviate flexion (bending) in the wrists. Good luck! For hardware, it features one of the first production sets of the new Toone & Townsend individual string bridges (I helped beta test the prototypes), Hipshot Ultralight tuners, Nordstrand Fat Stack pickups and an Audere preamp with individual coil tap switches for each pickup. Jerome Little designs guitars at Little Guitar Works. Check out more of his work at Little Guitar Works, Bass of the Week: Rob’s Left-handed Warmoth Build, ’60s era-correct NP4v pickup from Nordstrand. On this bass,the neck is wenge and flame maple, with a killer zircote fingerboard. I’ve been building custom orders for several years now–4 string, 5 string, headless, fretless, carbon fiber–you name it! This way I got jaw dropping shots of my amazing fiance! I constantly feel the pressure in my wrists. Jerome Little earned a bachelor’s degree in music and acoustics from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Thank you so much for sharing your work, I am voraciously eager for more, it’s scrumptious stuff. Thanks for including me in your blog, Justin. (With Jerome’s permission of course). Holmes seems to have used Kfcrzinger as a major resource so I have assumed that Holmes gave all the fragments that Kfcrzinger did. It’s the bent wrists which put undo strain on the tendons, and when the tendons become inflamed in the carpal tunnel of the wrist, it pinches the Median Nerve, which is a big bummer for a bass player. The neck blank sat on a table which could be raised incrementally for successive passes of the cutter. Jerome Little of Torzal Guitars makes instruments with a purposely twisted neck. Who knew!!! After some time he emerges…with two black eyes It startles people in hospital waiting rooms. If someone came into my shop looking for any sort of repair done to it I’d have to respectfully decline. As far as playing goes, you’d be surprised how easy it is to get used to–feels more strange to go back to a straight bass. How to Adjust the Truss Rod to Counteract Twist And Yaw. The patented Natural Twist design exhibits a radical departure from traditional guitar design by twisting the neck, bringing the strings toward a more natural hand position at each end of the instrument. Worse comes to worst, I’ll send it back to Jerome for a tune-up. Over the 50 years that I have played bass, I have had several instruments that developed a twist in the neck. This trusty guy will fix your guitar neck. . If you’re interested, contact Justin at justin@bestbassgear.com. This is what the strings are doing, and the fretboard follows that geometry such that the playing action is the same as a regular bass, and the relief is adjustable with a truss rod, just as on a regular bass. There is also an Italian work on Papias which is supposed to be top notch, but I haven’t looked at that either. I got rid of everyone of them. I have a bass with a twisted neck made by Jerome, and it really doesn’t take any adjustment to get used to, even less so than a fan-fret instrument. I have 2 of Jerome’s basses, a J-bird 5 string “straight” neck and a 5 string J with a bolt-on twisted neck. I think where you position your bass is the critical factor in avoiding carpal tunnel problems. How do you go about it? I am planning on working on my German over the next 12 months so I hope that I can go back and revisit many of the German resources. They’re pterty simple though it’s mostly a matter of gluing everything together, waiting for it to cure, then sticking the lights in the back. He was always very passionate about this. Check out more of his work at Little Guitar Works, Want to share your bass work, custom builds, or tips and tricks with the eBass community? The Torzal neck does require a little “getting use to”, but plays really well, and I can slap, tap and do anything else that I can do on my “normal” basses. This radiusing on the top and back is done with a router and fixture. Genius Work!! I can’t wait to buy one. Here’s the fretboard against a … This fanned fret 4-string is based on my Torzal “Standard” model, which is a neck-through construction with a 35° twist in the neck. The twisted neck allows for a more natural position for a player’s hands. Ways to Fix a Warped And Twisted Neck On most bass guitars, the truss rod will be behind a plastic cover on the neck, just behind the nut. I know that we’ve all come to believe that a twisted neck is bad, and if it wasn’t design to be twisted in the first place, then it usually is. I can understand it would seem intimidating at first, but they really function like any other bass. But the Torzal works. What a lucky guy Thanks for the good work we truly appreciate! But as far as repairs go, I see your point. It’s right where it should be to avoid any problems. From the “zero” plane of the body, that total twist consists of 20° downward rotation at the nut and 15° upward rotation at the bridge. Jerome makes beautiful, very, very playable instruments. had I inherited a little brain damage?.. If you haven’t heard of the Torzal twist before, it’s something I’ve been quietly working on for the last 15 years or so. I build straight basses too. This kind of thing never crossed my mind until I hit the age of….well a few years ago. Just like the multi scale bass I believe a lot of could benefit from this design but quite a bit cannot afford a custom made bass guuitar. Yes I’ve heard of it but have not looked at it mseylf, my German is not good. Ralph Novak patented the fanned fret concept in 1989 (the patent has expired), and although I’ve been a fan (no pun intended) of his work and Sheldon Dingwall and others who’ve employed the concept, I had never done it myself. You know what? We are looking for guest blog posts. Yes, these basses are for sale. The neck simply would not straighten out, no matter what we did with the truss rod – even with the truss rod completely loose, the neck had a severe back bow. Never under any circumstance turn more than a quarter turn at a time. Do you have any trouble adjusting the neck? Want to Find Out if This Will Work with Your Bass. A slight bend is OK, but a severe bend can lead to trouble. ,.. The customer specifically requested some of the lighter sap wood edge of the board to be used, which goes well with the exotic figure of the maple top. I could see me playing this kind of bass because I do feel the pressure on my wrist using the standard fret broad. Once the neck blank is cut, I route and install the truss rod, profile the neck, and glue on the fingerboard in two laminated pieces (so it will bend more easily). I’ll see what I can do, but I think the poor guy is traumatized.