Opinions from experts - truss rod

[Canadian Mark]

I'm hoping some of the tech gurus can help me out here. I while ago I bought a cheap Jackson ($50) that had the truss rod nut snapped off. I thought I would use it for a cheap practice run at trying a truss rod replacement then I could dump the guitar and maybe make a couple of bucks at it.

The guy that owned it before seemed to be pretty clueless and I thought that he got a little carried away with the truss rod adjustment, causing it to snap. I pulled the fretboard off and pulled the truss rod out only to discover that the neck has a pretty serious bow in it (I'm guessing the guy was cranking on the truss rod to get rid of some of the bow which is why it snapped).

I'm attaching pics of the neck without the fret board. In your infinite wisdom, do you folks think a new truss rod can eliminate this bow or will I have to replace the neck with one of the $100 Mighty Mites off the bay?

Thanks

[Rich]

I've had plenty Ibanez necks with 3mm relief, as they make sure no neck will fail spec for being in backbow.

[Canadian Mark]

Thanks for the input Rich.

I bought a truss rod for it from LMI before I realized the extent of the relief. Since I already have the truss rod, I will probably give it a go. I've got nothing to lose.

[stratoskier]

There's a tutorial out there (don't have the link, but if you can't find it, PM me when you're ready) from Dan Erlewine in which he describes what to do if the truss rod can't make the correction by itself. Basically, you rig up a simple clamp system in which the clamps force the neck straight and then you tighten the truss to hold it there. I had to do this recently on a seriously bowed neck for which the truss wouldn't turn any more and I thought I was about to snap it. With Erlewine's system, it immediately went straight, stayed there, and it now plays great.

Cheers,
Bert

[Canadian Mark]

Hey, thanks Bert. Now that you mention it, that sounds like a good idea and would be a simple jig to build. I can picture a setup similar to how Rich repairs locking nut cracks in his tech sections to pull some of the bow out.

http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/crack_neck.htm

[PumpkinPie]

I recently steamed a neck straight, although I'm not sure what others would think of that method. I clamped the neck to a plank so that it was counter-bent the other way (middle frets higher than 1st and 24th) and then filled a basin up with boilung water and suspended the neck, covering it with cloths and aluminium foil to keep the steam in, I checked after 2 hours and it was near perfect, had about 2mm relief with no tension on the truss.

[littlephil]

Originally Posted by PumpkinPie

I recently steamed a neck straight, although I'm not sure what others would think of that method. I clamped the neck to a plank so that it was counter-bent the other way (middle frets higher than 1st and 24th) and then filled a basin up with boilung water and suspended the neck, covering it with cloths and aluminium foil to keep the steam in, I checked after 2 hours and it was near perfect, had about 2mm relief with no tension on the truss.

I've heard of that being done before, seems like a pretty good way to fix a bent neck.
Only worry I'd have about steaming it is the moisture getting into the neck.

[Canadian Mark]

Interesting.

Did you take off the fretboard before you steamed it? Would steaming the neck with a fretboard on compromise the glue at all? The reason why I ask is this is because I used a steam iron to soften the glue to pull the fretboard off.

[ryanb]

The heat will soften the glue joint and allow it to slip slightly. The result is that the fretboard partially helps hold the neck in the desired position. Build a form or jig to hold the neck in the desired position (with a little overbend) while it cools -- and use it when installing the fretboard too. You should be able to get pretty close to start, and tweak it with the truss rod from there.

[PumpkinPie]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mark

Interesting.

Did you take off the fretboard before you steamed it? Would steaming the neck with a fretboard on compromise the glue at all? The reason why I ask is this is because I used a steam iron to soften the glue to pull the fretboard off.

I had no problems with the glue softening on the fretboard (that I noticed), I had the fretboard side of the neck clamped against the plank anyhow because the neck had too much relief so that probably helped to hold the fretboard steady.