it fell off!!???!!??!!

[kay]

Hi all,

I appreciate any guidance you guys might have to offer me with my truss rod "experience".
Now I needed to apply more bow to my neck, in a U shape under the strings because they buzzed around the middle of the fretboard. *So I turn that screw inside the headstock COUNTER clockwise to loosen it to apply more relief (readings say counter clockwise applies relief..)

So in a first effort I turn the screw with an allen wrench countercw. It doens't move, and resists with slight sounds that are nothing alarming, just the sign of aging wood (20 years) resisting to change.
I apply a little more effort and -hahaaaaaaaa!- it unscrews beautifully.
After 1/2 a turn (in two steps), I look down the neck and don't really see a major change, but when I play, it does seem to buzz a little less.
So I say to myself I need slightly more. And here is the weird part: I continue unbolting, and I discover that it suddenly gets too loose. I thought I broke it but I continue and soon discover that the allen bolt is fully loose and falls off from the top of the rod!!! I look inside the whole where the bolt fell from, and I see the top of the rod in there..

So what now? I wanted to bow the neck in a way that is at least visible when I look down the neck, and here there is no detectable difference!! Did I really apply releif? so that means that I got the U shape under the strings that I was looking for???? so when the bolt is off, there is no pressure, and the neck gets its natural shape which is a U?? I *would have tought that a
pressuring factor would get the neck to make the U shape..

Thanks for any suggestions guys really I am lost..
Tony

P.S: my guitar is not an Ibanez, it's a Yamaha, I hope this forum is not only for Ibanez (first time)

[Two hands31]

Quote: from kay on 5:29 pm on Aug. 20, 2001

P.S: my guitar is not an Ibanez, it's a Yamaha, I hope this forum is not only for Ibanez (first time)

Don't worry, it's not an Ibanez-only forum. *

When I first saw your topic, I thought the worst: *Headstock, bridge, nut, frets, various body parts. lol

As for the U-shape, I have very little (read "no") neck adjustment experience so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the neck is naturally straight, so releasing all pressure makes it straight, and the truss rod is to counter the string tension. *But I'm probably wrong. *Wait for a second oppinion. lol

[Rich]

You've applied as much relief as possible, there is absolutely no truss stress on the neck right now. Of course I would recomend you screw the nut back on. Give the neck a few days to 'feel' the strings, unless it's a baseball bat it should start moving. If it doesn't and you still want/need more relief you can put heavy guage strings on it to force it to react. leave them on for a few weeks and switch back to whatever guage you normally use.

[jemsite]

if thicker strings doesn't work (it isn't a perfect fix but can work - i'd simply throw a low-E in place of the high-E to even tension across the board)... you might have to have the neck clamped to restore the relief at a local luthier.

What you've described is a very annoying problem that can happen on electric guitars... glen