Faithless Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) So, I wanted to adjust my Ibanez GSR205's neck, and it seems that truss rod doesn't want to be tightened anymore- and there's still quite a lot of room to tighten the neck.. A guy in music store told me, that bass' neck could be too dry to adjust it. He also said, that there are some sort of humidifiers (normally used for acoustic guitars, not letting them to dry out), that could a bit of help to me. Anyone could give an advice, what should I do in this case? Thanks, Faith. Edited December 21, 2009 by Faithless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 [quote name='Faithless' post='690490' date='Dec 21 2009, 11:24 AM']So, I wanted to adjust my Ibanez GSR205's neck, and it seems that truss rod doesn't want to be tightened anymore- and there's still quite a lot of room to tighten the neck.. A guy in music store told me, that bass' neck could be too dry to adjust it. He also said, that there are some sort of humidifiers (normally used for acoustic guitars, not letting them to dry out), that could a bit of help to me. Anyone could give an advice, what should I do in this case? Thanks, Faith.[/quote] I'd say he was talking utter tosh. Probably a silly question... you have slackened the strings before trying to adjust it, haven't you? If you have, try loosening the truss rod first - could just be a bit sticky. Oh, & find another local tech. Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithless Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) Yep, I do loosen strings, when I want to adjust truss rod. But I haven't actually tried first loosening truss rod, before tightening it i'll try it. Edited December 21, 2009 by Faithless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzy73 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 (edited) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2HGn7c9_uo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2HGn7c9_uo[/url] this done the trick for me Edited December 22, 2009 by Fitzy73 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 [quote name='Bloodaxe' post='690519' date='Dec 21 2009, 11:50 AM']I'd say he was talking utter tosh. Oh, & find another local tech. Pete.[/quote] I agree with you on both counts. _____________________ DAN ERLEWINE IS THE MAN Seriously, grab hold of his DVD from Stew Mac or get one of his books (especially The Guitar Repair Guide). One thing that isn't mentioned on that YouTube clip is the recommendation to loosen the truss rod first. Undo the truss rod nut by turning to the left (lefty loosey, righty tighty helps me remember which way). If the truss rod nut loosens and comes out that's good. If the nut goes slack and then tightens up again [color="#FF0000"]STOP.[/color]. This means you have a bi-flex rod, a truss rod which works in both directions and if you carry on going you'll put a backbow into the neck. The nuts for these rods cannot be removed. If you have a regular truss rod and have removed the nut, blow into the truss rod hole to remove any dust and crud. Blow on the threads of the truss rod nut as well. Now put some vaseline on the threads in the nut and on the bearing surface, the face of the truss rod nut which goes in first. This makes any truss rod adjust better (and this is a Dan Erlewine tip as well!). Put the truss rod nut back in and make sure that the threads catch and that you're not crossthreaded. Now go back to the YouTube clip and use that method to get the neck straight. I've used that method many, many times (haven't seen that clip before though) and it works great. Just don't go overboard. A slight backbow is all you want. Tighten the rod snug again, the neck should hold the backbow and then loosen the rod to get it straight. Hold the strings at the first and last frets and use that for a straightedge. As long as you don't go mad and overtighten the truss rod you'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelk27 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Yip, loosen then tighten. And just make a minimal adjustment, retune, and then leave the thing to settle before making another adjustment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabson Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 great method! great vid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 [quote name='7string' post='692006' date='Dec 23 2009, 01:13 AM']Undo the truss rod nut by turning to the left (lefty loosey, righty tighty helps me remember which way).[/quote] ALMOST always correct (99%) [u]but[/u] watch out for the 1% that has the truss rod installed incorrectly or that works counter intuitively! I'm speaking from experience with some of the earliest Warwick rods (even a couple I owned from 1990) which were notorious for working the opposite to the 'righty- tighty, lefty-loostey' method, my Infinette has the rod installed the 'opposite/wrong' way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithless Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 So, as luthier told me, it seems that my bass truss rod has an injury, that actually came from factory - it's due to bad construction of neck and stuff... There's still quite a bow in the neck, but you can hardly tighten truss rod anymore, if you don't want to break it.. Shame, bass is fretless now, as I was dreaming of just [i]a bit[/i] of neck relief and very low action.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 [quote name='Faithless' post='696196' date='Dec 30 2009, 11:34 AM']So, as luthier told me, it seems that my bass truss rod has an injury, that actually came from factory - it's due to bad construction of neck and stuff...[/quote] Is the bass you are discussing one in your signature; Ibanez SR1005EWN Prestige or Ibanez GSR205 BK? Ibanez are normally pretty good for their QC and even on their cheapie basses I've not heard stories of basses leaving stores with duff T rods (always a first mind). Even if the bass has a duff rod your luthier should be able to sort it out, it's rare for a bass neck to be wrecked just because the T rod doesn't adjust (unless it's come through the fingerboard or badly deformed/twisted the neck). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithless Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 (edited) Ibanez BK - the cheapie one.. Well, there's something to do with the neck itself - it has some sort of injury, where it connects with the body. In other words, neck looks like an S letter, or, more like a [i]roller-coaster [/i] - one 'normal' bow in about the middle of the neck, then we go 'up', aaand, there's another little bow, about that place, where neck connects with body, as I've said.. But, anyway, it has little to do with truss rod.. Edited December 30, 2009 by Faithless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 When tightening a trussrod I make it's job a lot easier by putting my left foot behind the bottom of the bass body at the back and my left knee about where the neck body join would be. My right knee goes opposite my left foot holding the bass secure and my left hand gently tensions the neck while I adjust the rod to hold it in it's new position. This has in the past allowed adjustment when the rod is very stiff and can loosen it up a whole lot. Care needs to be taken not to force anything where it desn't want to go. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.