Tension Tension!

[spongebob]

I've had my Classic Vibe Precision for a few weeks now, and it plays lovely.

However, I'm sure the action has got a little higher around the 12th fret than before. It's really low at the other end of the fretboard, but I'm sure has gone up a bit around the 12th!

Whole thing seems a bit more rigid too, but I'm not sure if just imagining that!

Question is, does this sound like a tension issue? Something that a small turn of the truss rod would cure?

Trouble is, I've never touched a truss rod in my life, and the whole thing fills me with dread....is it a quick fix even I could do? Or will it throw out the complete set-up, as I go off crying to my local luthier with a blank cheque???

[gary mac]

Don't be afraid, it's a reasonably easy job. Just take your time.

Up until fairly recently I had never adjusted a truss rod or done a set up, but I've recently really got into it and have now done most of my basses.

There's a whole load of info on line. I can thoroughly recommend the Haynes Fender manual, I seem to refer to it most days.

[lettsguitars]

where was it made? something thats recently been built in a humid country that comes to live in blighty is gonna go through some changes. truss rods are no problem at all. this is what i do. get your action set so that the height is the same from the 12th up. there should be a minimal amount of upward bow in the neck. if the height decreases from the 12th, your saddles are too low and vice versa. to get the correct relief (upward bow), just turn the truss rod clockwise to tighten (back bow) and anti-clockwise to give more relief (ooh). the height at the nut/1st fret should be almost zero, actually about .010 to .020 (20 thousandths of an inch). when you have your neck relief and saddles set, you may have some fret buzz. to fix this, look at the neck relief and remove the strings. now, turn the rod in order to acheive the same amount of upward bow the neck had while strung up. find a very flat 6-8" 2" wide block of wood, or preferably buy a radius block matching the radius of the fretboard (ebay). with your 'leveling stick', and some 320 grit sandpaper, lightly go over the frets nice and evenly while constantly checking your work. what you are looking for is a very slight flat spot that is present on every fret. some frets may have larger flat spots due to them being the higher frets that were creating the buzz. clean up your board with a light rub over with a fine grit sanding pad, any gunk will need scraping off the fretboard with a razor blade, frets shouldn't need re-crowning after only a slight level, but if those flat spots dont dissapear after smoothing over with a sandingpad, you will need a crowning file and some other grits of sandpaper. the final step would be to mask off each fret (i use a metal fret protector which cost a few quid and makes polishing a breeze) and polish with wire wool. it sounds like a lot of work but if you try and visualise each step bfore you set off it really is a simple and enjoyable process that is only an hours job at the very most. whew, in fact typing all this sh*t took longer.

Edited January 30, 2011 by lettsguitars

[lettsguitars]

actually, having said all that, i'm going on my experience using nice quarter sawn mahogany. a stiff maple neck may take a little longer if you have to wait for the wood to respond to truss rod movement. they say quarter turns and 24 hour wait but i'm not so sure. just experiment and keep your eye on it and you'll figure it out.

[gary mac]

I tend to think the wait twenty four hours thing is nonsense.