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Thread: Help me straighten my neck
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5th June 2008, 11:11 AM #1GOLD MEMBER
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Help me straighten my neck
I have a bass neck with a bit of a forward bow. It is more pronounced on one side than the other. I have removed the fingerboard, and want to get the neck straight before reattaching it. It is a neck through bass, so there is no way of removing it from the body. The headstock veneer is raised slightly above the level of the neck at the head end, and I would really like to be able to do this without removing the head veneer if possible. I was going to use my #5 plane to smooth it down, but I'm not sure if there is enough access for the plane at either end of the neck. What is my best approach?
Thanks
PeterThe other day I described to my daughter how to find something in the garage by saying "It's right near my big saw". A few minutes later she came back to ask: "Do you mean the black one, the green one, or the blue one?".
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5th June 2008, 12:01 PM #2SENIOR MEMBER
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could you expand on what you mean by forward bow? is it in the direction that could be corrected by the truss rod?
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5th June 2008, 12:48 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
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It could be corrected by the truss rod (rods in this case - there's two) but there is several mm even without strings on. Basically if you place a straightedge over the neck so that it touches at the nut location and the end of the neck, there is a gap between the middle of the neck and the straightedge. On one treble side of the neck it is quite a small gap. On the bass side it is a few mm. I know it is significant because when I had the instrument assembled I went to adjust the truss rods and snapped off the ends of them - the tension need to compensate for the neck bow and the string tension was too much for the rods.
Thanks
PeterThe other day I described to my daughter how to find something in the garage by saying "It's right near my big saw". A few minutes later she came back to ask: "Do you mean the black one, the green one, or the blue one?".
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5th June 2008, 01:16 PM #4
No Joy
Peter,
I doubt you will have any luck without first replacing the truss rods and it may be a major undertaking by the sound of what you have described.
Regards Mike
Ps a few pics may help in this case.
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5th June 2008, 01:38 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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The other day I described to my daughter how to find something in the garage by saying "It's right near my big saw". A few minutes later she came back to ask: "Do you mean the black one, the green one, or the blue one?".
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5th June 2008, 04:28 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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hmm, im not sure. that seems pretty bad, but i have no experience with warped stuff.
how old is the instrument?
what timber is the neck made from and is it laminated (probably not)?
one idea i can think of
what if you glued a thinnish piece of hardwood (something you would feel comfortable making a neck from) over the warped neck, and then planed it flat (or used a router mounted in a jig) to flatten the surface again. you could use the fingerboard that you removed as a pattern to ensure that the piece you glue on is the exact same size as the neck where it will be going.
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5th June 2008, 04:36 PM #7GOLD MEMBER
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This is a new build (my first) It was originally flattened on a really big jointer, but seems to have moved a bit as construction has progressed (it's been a long term on and off again project unfortunately. The neck is 5 laminations - 3 of maple and 2 of walnut. FB is ebony. I am hesitant to add to the thickness of the neck, mostly because the bridge is already pretty high. Adding to the neck may mean I need to shim the bridge higher or something. I guess if needs be I can hand sand it and check often. That sounds like a very long process but I'll do it if there's no better ideas.
PeterThe other day I described to my daughter how to find something in the garage by saying "It's right near my big saw". A few minutes later she came back to ask: "Do you mean the black one, the green one, or the blue one?".
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5th June 2008, 06:09 PM #8SENIOR MEMBER
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i was thinking of using the piece so that you could remove wood to the same height as before, and that extra piece would fill the spots where the neck would be too low, essentially making the height the same as before. the original timber would be removed from the ends, and leave the extra timber in the middle where there would be a gap. i'd use maple so it wouldnt show.
i'd suggest a jig to run the router along to create a flat surface. this way you can make sure it is flat to the body, by resting the body on a plane paralel to the plane which the router runs along. if you are confused by this, i can post a pic of the jig, which i use for all flat surfaces.
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5th June 2008, 06:28 PM #9
Is the neck actually bowed or is it twisted? There is a big difference!
Check the plane of your headstock against the plane of the body to see if it is in the same ballpark. Remember the neck is 3D so it may well be twisted in the middle and causing the fretboard bow. Does that make sense???
Put higher frets in at the low spotCheers!Mongrel
Some inspirational words:
"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." -Stephen King.
Besides being a guitar player, I'm a big fan of the guitar. I love that damn instrument. -Steve Vai"Save me Jeebus!" -Homer Simpson
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5th June 2008, 09:16 PM #10
Maybe
Peter
The truss rods you mention should be capable of pulling the neck down and pushing up the middle third with the complete movement being about eight mill on an unloaded neck. Most loaded necks have a just perceptable upward curve in them, and when unloaded are almost dead flat. We have two Fender bass guitars here which have seen a lot of work, and to this day still exhibits as I have mentioned, the curve being very slightly upward when loaded. There are charts on the internet which describe the measurements in detail and how to achieve this.
Are they fitted into channel which is deeper in the middle section than the ends? Do you think the truss rods work as they are supposed to? I understand what you are saying but do not have an answer for you other than as suggested adding another piece and using the piece to square up your build. The neck with five laminates should be ok but as you have mooted something has changed with time. I am sorry I cannot be of more assistance.
Regards Mike
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5th June 2008, 09:44 PM #11Guitarzzz
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A variaton on adding a laminate under the fretboard on the lower side, and to avoid planing/sanding down the high side of the neck... is it possible to plane back one side of the fretboard a little. Since it is not on the bass at the moment, surely this would be easier. Perhapse not the ultimate solution, but it might work (well, in my head it is).
Also, I just thought this up in my head as well, but is it in any way possible to add moisture to the neck and apply a lot of tension lengthways and let the timber dry again. That might be a bit of a dream, I don't know if its possible or not, but think of it like a bendy piece of wire you want to get straight. You put one end in a vice, pliers on the other end, and pull it out straight! Not quite as simple as straightening a wire, and probably a stupid idea, but an idea none the less.
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5th June 2008, 11:12 PM #12
Where in Brisbane are you located Peter?
I'm thinking your best bet might be a beam of timber thats perfectly flat and the length of the fretboard with 80 grit sandpaper on it would be the best. Sand the neck down until its flat then measure up if you need to add layers of veneer between the neck and f'board to compensate for height.
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6th June 2008, 11:23 AM #13GOLD MEMBER
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Phil, I'm at Mansfield. The warp that I have described is on the unloaded neck. Once the strings are on it gets worse. I know for sure that the truss rods can't compenstae adequately because they broke when trying it (somebody told me that the bend wasn't pronounced enough to worry about - just fix it with the truss rods. They were wrong). I like the idea of a long flat beam with sandpaper. It will be slow, but with all the work I've put into this I think that slow is probably best - don't want to overdo it and create a new problem. I have a jointer so making a flat beam should be doable. removing a bit from the neck shouldn't be too big a worry - the bridge is very high and could stand lowering a bit anyway.
I will try a bit over the long weekend and see what happens.
Thanks
PeterThe other day I described to my daughter how to find something in the garage by saying "It's right near my big saw". A few minutes later she came back to ask: "Do you mean the black one, the green one, or the blue one?".
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6th June 2008, 12:36 PM #14Senior Member
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Something isn't right here.
You've got TWO truss rods, and broken them BOTH. Its not easy to break one, let alone two.
If they are dual action rods, well, they will move a neck a considerable amount before breaking.
If they are single action rods, I'd say they weren't installed correctly in the first place. Maybe no angle, or curve in the rods?
Pictures would help, otherwise the advice isn't much help.
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6th June 2008, 01:00 PM #15SENIOR MEMBER
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one thought is that if they were dual truss rods, you may have been adjusting them unevenly, making them work against each other.
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