truss rod prob on JS - Why does it all happen to me?

julio · #1 01-07-2002, 06:47 AM

Hi everyone!
I'm not around lately as I dont have a phone line in the new house. Hopefully this should be sorted soon..

Thing is I have got my JS90 out and this is what I see.
i get fret buzz at frets 5 to 10 aprox specially low E. So I check bow. Not enough bow. So I loosen truss rod.
Problem: not sufficient bow and rod is completely loose. What do I do? Is it shagged?
Next prob:
high E fret 2 buzzes. 1 and 3 dont. If I bend string, buzz goes. Terrible, as if string was catching somewhere.

HELP PLEASE
Or do I just bin it!!!!!!

Thanks

julio

Anil Sahal · #2 01-07-2002, 09:28 AM

Perhaps your frets are slightly uneven and require a levelling by a luthier? *Apparently it's quite common on new guitars, even PRS's and of course frets can shift position in all guitars!

Anil

Rich · #3 01-07-2002, 02:17 PM

Check it carfully for backbow from 3 to the nut. It may have been sitting in backbow for awhile. Let it sit with the truss slack for a couple days and see if it moves more. If not slap on some heavies with the truss still slack and let the extra pressure pull some bow back in it. It's a slow process if you want it to stay. Another alternative is to find a luthier with a neck heater, made for putting front bow back in.

julio · #4 01-08-2002, 05:52 AM

Thanks guys

ibanez otaku · #5 01-11-2002, 08:58 PM

In a book I looked at in Borders two weeks ago (called something like "How To Get A Great Set-up On Your Guitar" ) the guy had solved this same problem by taking the neck off, laying it at the edge of a table and GENTLY tightening a PADDED G-clamp down on the neck while loosening off the truss rod. He called this "helping" the truss rod do its job.

I only looked it up because I'd been having minor truss trouble with my Xmas present to myself (M*lmst**n Str*t) and needed help. *I have no experience of this method being safe, and guys like Rich are geniuses compared to me when it comes to this stuff, but I found it more optimistic than the solution that involves giving the guitar away for a long period of time while a professional does something frightening to it in an oven. Besides, the guy doing the job in the book was one of those 55-year-old men who seems to have been setting up guitars for all time.

Ced777 · #6 01-27-2002, 09:38 AM

Julio, let me say you , you have a big problem!!!

If your neck does not bow sufficiently with le truss rod completly loose, there is only two solutions:
- use harder strings : 9-42 to 10-46 or more. It is not very pleasant (if you are used to 9-42 for example) and, furthermore, the loose truss rod can vibrate because it is no longer tightened.

- Another alternative is to find a luthier with a neck heater, made for putting front bow back in as Rich said. I think it is the best solution but it is expensive and risky for the neck, incrustation etc.....

If it is a brand new guitar, send it back to the shop and ask for refunding immediately!
Believe me: the neck bow is the WORST problem a guitar may have.

Cedric

Rich · #7 01-27-2002, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Ced777 on 8:38 am on Jan. 27, 2002

- Another alternative is to find a luthier with a neck heater, made for putting front bow back in as Rich said. I think it is the best solution but it is expensive and risky for the neck, incrustation etc.....

Cedric

My local guy charges $25.