Truss rod question

[Jayster]

On only one of guitars(bass) that I've owned, I've had a bit of an issue with the truss rod(I'm hoping). The action @ the 15th fret is unacceptable. I've tried adjusting the truss rod, to no avail. It feels as if its functioning properly, threads and un threads. However I'm not able to get the desired relief out of it. I've even tried shimming the neck pocket some, but nothing seems to work.

@ the 15th fret it's easily a 1/2" off the board, whereas the 1st fret is 1/8"-1/4" off and matched at the bridge.

Any thoughts???

[jdr94]

sounds like what you need to do is give the neck a slight back bow and raise the trem. that should do it without any shimming

[Jayster]

yeah that's what I tried first, then slight shimming of the neck pocket. Its still out of my spec liking. It's got a similar bridge to the Gotoh standard bass bridge witch is flush mount. I've been hesitant to try and plane the back pocket area of the neck, I feel as though its an angle problem with the neck pocket seat and the neck cavity.

I can post some pics tomorrow.

[Jayster]

Ok, some pics ~ 1st fret
21st fret
middle of the neck
another middle of the neck
I'm gonna lower the bridge some more, until I bottom out the pup's.

It almost seems like neck may have a warp in it as well, any thoughts?????

[warlok]

So I understand correctly, the neck has upbow that doesn't straighten when adjustion the trussrod? like you can't get the neck straight or close to straight?

[Jayster]

So I understand correctly, the neck has upbow that doesn't straighten when adjustion the trussrod? like you can't get the neck straight or close to straight?

Yes, that about sums it up nicely.

[Spivonious]

15th fret shouldn't be too affected by the truss rod. Sounds warped.

[Tommie]

Press down at the first and last frets, so the strings are essentially giving you a straightedge to compare the neck to, and report back how much clearance there is between underside of the highest and lowest strings and the 7th fret. Then we can see where to go next.

[Jayster]

Press down at the first and last frets, so the strings are essentially giving you a straightedge to compare the neck to, and report back how much clearance there is between underside of the highest and lowest strings and the 7th fret. Then we can see where to go next.

On the E string it's about 1/4", and on the G string it's about 5/16". Is this correctable?

[toejam]

I'd try to tighten the rod as much as possible and see what happens, maybe put on lighter gauge strings. Give it a couple days and see if it moves at all.

[warlok]

That is a TON of relief.. And if your bridge is pretty even on the saddles, a 1/8" difference between E-G is a pretty decent twist, but may not be that bad on a bass. You're not looking for Soloist action anyway. Do like toejam said ^^ maybe have someone hold it fretted at the 1st and last frets and watch if anything is happening at all when you tighten the trussrod. If it starts to change, go a bit more, give it a day, go more, repeat till it's where you want it. If it's just turning away and no change in the bow, You went way past my paygrade..

[Tommie]

If the trussrod nut is tight, and you fear overdoing it, then loosen the strings before adjusting it further. This stops the string tension working against the neck's ability to straighten and you may be able to get a little more movement out of it. The relief as measured is certainly way more than what you need but also sounds like the bridge needs to be lowered a bit (and or the neck shimmed in the pocket) too.

[warlok]

With 1/4" to 5/16" of relief, it won't matter where the bridge is or the shimming of the neck. Even if he gets the string height good at the last fret, it will still be ridiculously high in the middle and will be barely (if at all) playable.

[straycat]

Tommie is right try that first.Basses are bad for that.Lots of string tension is why.

[Jayster]

Awesome, thanks for all the replies y'all!

I've tried traditional truss movement(hadn't tried with slackening the strings though). I've even bought and put on lighter gauge strings, and shimmed the neck pocket. I believe the bridge can be lowered some. I was starting to think about removing the neck and trying to use a press(evenly distributed of course). Believe it or not, it's still somewhat playable(I'm not the bassist ).

It is nice to have everything in as close as 100% condition as possible though. I seldomly play the electric bass though, I've an acoustic bass in the house for just working on ideas.