Neck taken a reverse 'set'

[DaytonaRik]

I bought an old Cort headless flying vee bass as a restoration project but it seems that the previous owner had stored it unstrung but with compression still on the truss rod - the net effect is that the neck has no curve, in fact, it's probably bowed the wrong way! The truss rod is currently completely wound off and I have to pitch it to an F or Gb for it to be remotely playable. It's a through neck so swapping a neck isn't an option.

Has anyone come across this issue and if so is it salvagable? I was wondering about shaving/sanding the neck to reduce the bulk or whether a luthier has access to arcane knowledge/black arts to restore the curve.

Comments/advice appreciated.

Edited November 29, 2013 by DaytonaRik

[steve-bbb]

do you know roughly how long it was unstrung and tensioned?

and how long since you strung it up?

[DaytonaRik]

I've no idea how long it was stored - I'm guessing years rather than months. The previous owner had stripped the electronics out and started to sand the body back then abandoned it. I've had it strung for a good 12 months at least...maybe longer.

Edited November 29, 2013 by DaytonaRik

[steve-bbb]

oh right if youve had it strung that long it should have found its way back to some sort of playing position

there is a thread in repairs on here somehwere about truss rods with no adjustment left in them - just having a search

edit - this be the one

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/97682-truss-rod-maxxd-out"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/97682-truss-rod-maxxd-out[/url]

but the pics seem to have gone unfortunately

Edited November 29, 2013 by steve-bbb

[DaytonaRik]

This problem is the other way around - even with NO tension on the truss rod (ie completely wound off) there is insufficient tension in the strings to put a positive curve into the neck unless it's over-pitched

[Muzz]

I had exactly this issue with a neck, and in the absence of any cheap options, I strung it up (I didn't have a body at the time, so it went onto a 3x2 plank with a bridge bodged on ) with some D'Addarios I had lying around (high tension strings anyway) and tuned it up to F#-ish, then left it for a looong time (IIRC it was about 18 months) upstairs. I checked it every few months, and after a good while it started to come back, so I was able to start to wind the truss rod back in, and eventually it settled down into a useable state. It's been fine since.

From a few discussions I had with luthiers, it's a pretty hit and miss method, tho, but at least it's cheap...

[DaytonaRik]

I'll keep checking then and see what (hopefully and safely) gives. In the meantime, I wonder if a light spray of hot water from a cleaning product/gardening 'atomiser' type bottle would soften the neck and speed up the process?

[essexbasscat]

[quote name='DaytonaRik' timestamp='1385732226' post='2291630']
I'll keep checking then and see what (hopefully and safely) gives. In the meantime, I wonder if a light spray of hot water from a cleaning product/gardening 'atomiser' type bottle would soften the neck and speed up the process?
[/quote]

General rule of thumb seems to be, keep water away at all costs. It may well just introduce a complicating factor instead of speeding things up.