taylor 12string neck warped

T

tsqair

New member
yes the guitar has always been tuned down to "D" and i'm original owner. i bought it 5 years ago the neck is a bit bowed-so i tightened the shit out of the truss rod put a humidifier in the case (finally) and loosened the strings will this take out the bow? i played my brothers guitar last week( he has the same guitar{ taylor 355- 12 string } his plays beautifully nice low action and he keeps it tuned to 440 he said i'm a dope for not keeping it humidified - yes i am - anyhow i'd appreiciate some feedback on this matter
thanks
 
tsqair said:
yes the guitar has always been tuned down to "D" and i'm original owner. i bought it 5 years ago the neck is a bit bowed-so i tightened the shit out of the truss rod put a humidifier in the case (finally) and loosened the strings will this take out the bow? i played my brothers guitar last week( he has the same guitar{ taylor 355- 12 string } his plays beautifully nice low action and he keeps it tuned to 440 he said i'm a dope for not keeping it humidified - yes i am - anyhow i'd appreiciate some feedback on this matter
thanks
Click to expand...

Take it to a good repair person and get an assessment of the problem. You didn't say what gauge strings you use on it. Could they have been too heavy?
 
First of all, yes you are a dope for not keeping it humidified. It's not like you've never been warned, after all (since you obviously knew you needed to do it).


The answer to your question is a definite maybe. If you, "tightened the shit," out of the truss rod, you are probably going to get some back bow, which you DON'T want. There should be some amount of bow in the neck, at any rate.

What you don't state is why you started messing with the truss rod in the first place? Was the action too high? Was the guitar buzzing? (That would be the most common thing with low humidity.)

On the whole, since it doesn't sound like you've done much in the way of setup work, your best bet is to take it to a good repair shop (give Taylor a call - they have amazing customer service).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
high at the 12th

yea thanks for the reply; i know sending it to taylor is an option but if i could fix it myself and save 300 ;...well thats what i'm going to do. The issues with the guitar are:.. at the 12th the low E is 3/16's above the fret (to high)/ if you look down the neck you can see a bow ( starts around the 10th fret)/ also the intonation is not the best. I keep it tuned to "D" and play with a capo (which i dislike doing for many reasons) but i was told .. well you know what i was told ! less pressure on the bridge ( no pulling etc.)
So this is what i'm thinking: By tighting the truss rod/.. lowering the tuning (actually loosening the strings) and hydrating the guitar... IN TIME I'm hoping this will put a negative relief on the neck, then i want to tune it to 440 and see how the neck looks ; if it still has a negative relief I'll adjust the truss rod over time (ever so slowly ) until i get it where i want it. Also... the bridge is not raised in case your wondering.. so that's not an issue . (by the way i use light gauge strings)
In 1978 i bought a brand new 12 string takamine, never did a thing to it ..kept it tuned to 440 ...i had a case, but always kept it on the couch( cause i played it constantly) Owned it till 1990. the guitar never had an issue.
Anyhow with this taylor do you think my plan of attack makes sence ?or is it warped like the neck ? thanks
 
You might not need to send it to Taylor at all, just contact them and ask what they think you should do, honestly they reply to emails and phone calls really well and are friendly and not at all as nasty as say Gibson when it comes to backing up their product.

My Dad has a 355 and took it to a Taylor Road Show where the tech polished the frets adjusted the neck replaced the saddle and put new strings on it also while tightening up the tuners for him, and all that for FREE!

But you should be able to just contact them and ask what they think would be the most useful to you, they "may" tell you to ship it to them, but they may also tell you to take it to a local tech for visual inspection.

Seems like you may want to loosen the truss rod because when that guitar goes back to normal from the humidity adjustment it "could" snap the rod...

Once the wood is back to normal and things have settled down then you can retune it and adjust the tension on the rod again....

At least this is what I would be planning to do.
 
Several things:

Taylor 12 strings are designed to be tuned to standard pitch. Tune it lower if you like but standard pitch won't hurt it.

If the bowing begins at around the 10th fret there may be a problem at the neck joint. Those bolt on necks rarely have problems but it can happen.

Nothing can be done properly until the guitar is properly rehydrated.
 
Milnoque said:
Taylor 12 strings are designed to be tuned to standard pitch. Tune it lower if you like but standard pitch won't hurt it.
Click to expand...


That depends on what kinds of strings you use. With lights, concert pitch is fine. If you are using mediums, you should keep it tuned down a step.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
tsqair said:
yea thanks for the reply; i know sending it to taylor is an option but if i could fix it myself and save 300 ;...well thats what i'm going to do. The issues with the guitar are:.. at the 12th the low E is 3/16's above the fret (to high)/ if you look down the neck you can see a bow ( starts around the 10th fret)/ also the intonation is not the best. I keep it tuned to "D" and play with a capo (which i dislike doing for many reasons) but i was told .. well you know what i was told ! less pressure on the bridge ( no pulling etc.)
So this is what i'm thinking: By tighting the truss rod/.. lowering the tuning (actually loosening the strings) and hydrating the guitar... IN TIME I'm hoping this will put a negative relief on the neck, then i want to tune it to 440 and see how the neck looks ; if it still has a negative relief I'll adjust the truss rod over time (ever so slowly ) until i get it where i want it. Also... the bridge is not raised in case your wondering.. so that's not an issue . (by the way i use light gauge strings)
In 1978 i bought a brand new 12 string takamine, never did a thing to it ..kept it tuned to 440 ...i had a case, but always kept it on the couch( cause i played it constantly) Owned it till 1990. the guitar never had an issue.
Anyhow with this taylor do you think my plan of attack makes sence ?or is it warped like the neck ? thanks
Click to expand...

You don't have to send it to them, just give them a call and they can suggest a local repair shop who does warranty work for them. A setup is generally about $75-100 (in my shop), and if it's anything more than that you aren't likely to be able to do it yourself anyway.

And no, your "plan of attack" makes no sense what so ever. You are randomly throwing ineffective solutions at a problem without any real understanding of the issues involved. If you want it done right, either take it to a professional or learn what is involved in a setup. There are a lot of good books out there on setup (Dan Erlewine's books are a good place to look), and Frank Ford's website, Frets.com is another good place to look. Either way, what you are suggesting is more likely to damage your guitar than fix it, and if you are the original owner you are going to void your warranty.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Well, gotta agree with Light, here.

Geech, dude, it's UNDER WARRANTY. Stop f'in with it and bring it to a authorized shop.
 
o.k.

o.k. i'll take it in (being that no one seems to think i'm on track here) thanks for the comments!
 
good advice

well i got my taylor 12 string back I took it to an authorized taylor guy here on long island his name is scott macdonald. He reglued the saddle,made a new bridge, polished and leveled the frets, reset the neck and truss rod it cost 325. The guitar sounds and plays far beyond my expectations i'm glad I took the advice of the members here. thanks:)
 
tsqair said:
well i got my taylor 12 string back I took it to an authorized taylor guy here on long island his name is scott macdonald. He reglued the saddle,made a new bridge, polished and leveled the frets, reset the neck and truss rod it cost 325. The guitar sounds and plays far beyond my expectations i'm glad I took the advice of the members here. thanks:)
Click to expand...

Scott MacDonald is my guitar guy. I've been using him for many years. He does great work. I won't bring my instruments to anyone else.
 
tsqair said:
He reglued the saddle,made a new bridge, polished and leveled the frets, reset the neck and truss rod it cost 325.
Click to expand...

At a guess, he reglued the bridge, and made a new saddle, which actually makes sense.:)

Glad it all worked out. That's a hell of a price for that - we'd be at least $400-450.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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