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moresound

Loud Sun Studios
I can't believe it but my Fender Jazz fret-less has developed a bow! and it's bowing a way from the strings at about 5th - 7th fret. I'll fix it myself but I can't remember should I loosen or tighten for a bow away from the strings?
Must be over 30 years ago that I've had to do this.

:facepalm:
 
Now from what I do remember is to not turn the truss rod's tension to much just a few turns and see what happens right? Then again the next day etc.
 
Go easy. Don't strip the truss rod thread. Let it back a full turn and drop a bit of light machine oil in there first. Especially if it's 30 years since the last tweak. Then have at it. Half a turn is OK if it turns easy. As it bites tight go slower.

Tighten the rod to pull the neck back. Slack it off to introduce neck relief.
 
Dang it! Now what do I do?

Lt. you say to loosen the rod for the bow is away from the strings.
it depends on what you're meaning.

I read your saying it bows away from the strings as meaning that you need more neck relief .... that the neck is arched so that you get the strings too close to the fretboard in the middle and thus some buzzing ...... that if you put the neck on a flat plane the center would be closer to the strings than the ends. In that case it's counterclockwise.

IF what you mean is that the neck bows in a way that gets the strings further away from the fretboard at the middle and you want to bring the strings closer to the fretboard then that would be a bowed neck and you need less relief.

If you take a neck and fret it at both ends and in the middle around the 10-12th fret the strings also touch the frets .... if it's exactly ruler-flat that's NO relief. and if it's actually arched back then you have negative relief. You would loosen the truss rod to correct that (counter clock wise)
To me that was what you described.

If you fret it at each end and in the middle there's a small space between the strings and the fret ..... that's relief. If the strings are far away from the center then you have too much relief and you would tighten the truss rod to correct that (clockwise)
 
it depends on what you're meaning.

I read your saying it bows away from the strings as meaning that you need more neck relief .... that the neck is arched so that you get the strings too close to the fretboard in the middle and thus some buzzing ...... that if you put the neck on a flat plane the center would be closer to the strings than the ends. In that case it's counterclockwise.

IF what you mean is that the neck bows in a way that gets the strings further away from the fretboard at the middle and you want to bring the strings closer to the fretboard then that would be a bowed neck and you need less relief.

If you take a neck and fret it at both ends and in the middle around the 10-12th fret the strings also touch the frets .... if it's exactly ruler-flat that's NO relief. and if it's actually arched back then you have negative relief. You would loosen the truss rod to correct that (counter clock wise)
To me that was what you described.

If you fret it at each end and in the middle there's a small space between the strings and the fret ..... that's relief. If the strings are far away from the center then you have too much relief and you would tighten the truss rod to correct that (clockwise)

This is the one Lt.
The strings are flat and the neck bows away from them. So clockwise.
 
Will do thanks everybody.
I did loosen the strings and the neck did correct back to flat very quickly ... say 1/2 an hour.
Guess it just needs a minor correction.
 
I'll try and add a little clarity to truss rod adjustment in general.

The sole purpose of a truss rod is to counteract the pull of the strings. When a set of strings is up to tension it places a considerable amount of tension on the neck pulling the nut end up and bowing the neck. This results in a bow and can be seen by fretting the 2nd and 14th fret, you will see a gap at the mid point. The string is obviously straight therefore the neck must have been pulled out of true. Think in terms of a bow and arrow.

The truss rod works by countering the string tension. As the truss rod is tightened and the tighter it is set the more it pulls the neck back to where you want it. What it is doing is compressing the timber on the back of the neck.

If I have it right what moresound needs to do is add more tension to the rod by tightening it........... The net result would be to pull the fingerboard closer to the strings at the centre of the neck.

The confusion is a result of LtB talking about relief (and he is correct). More relief means more bow or gap, less relief means less bow and more tension in the neck. Relief is the amount of gap under the strings, more relief = less tension.
 
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