truss rod issue

L

little guy

New member
got a fender jazz bass. there's a concave bend to the neck. if i press down at the first fret and the last fret, there's about an 1/8" to 1/16" gap near the 8th fret from the string to the fret.

need some help :confused:
 
little guy said:
got a fender jazz bass. there's a concave bend to the neck. if i press down at the first fret and the last fret, there's about an 1/8" to 1/16" gap near the 8th fret from the string to the fret.

need some help :confused:
Click to expand...
Tighten the truss rod but only if you know what you're doing. You can easily overtighten and break a truss rod if you don't know what you're doing. Put a capo on the first fret and depress the outer two strings at the last fret. At the 7th or 8th fret measure the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. Take your measurements with the bass in the playing position. Tighten the rod 1/8th of a turn at a time until you reach the desired relief. Should be somewhere around .012"-.015" for that bass. More or less depending on your playing style etc. Check you measurements in a week because they may change as the new adjustment 'settles in'.
 
how much would i tighten? it's snug as it is, but moveable. like i'm not having to grunt to move it, but i need to apply firm pressure. i turned it back to it's original position.
 
A healthy truss rod should turn freely with moderate effort. If you feel like you are forcing it when you turn it, stop and have it looked at by a professional. Sometimes loosening the string tension makes turning the rod a little easier. Remeber that a little goes a long way so don't turn more than an 1/8 of a turn at a time.
 
thanks, i think i'm going to take it to a pro to get it taken care of. truss rod, intonation and bridge crap. approximately what's the cost for something like that?
 
A set up can run anywhere between $20 and $50 (depending on where you take it) and there is a slight difference in setting a bass up than a regular giutar, it's the same process but requiers a slightly different touch bu the tech doing it. After the set up, play it for a few minutes, if it dosen't feel or sound right have the tech redo it. Be sure they have a policy which will allow you to bring it back (within a reasonable time) if it isn't right. If you bought it new from a respectable dealer they should include a free set up, usually 3 to 6 months after purchase.
 
little guy said:
thanks, i think i'm going to take it to a pro to get it taken care of. truss rod, intonation and bridge crap. approximately what's the cost for something like that?
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Electric setups are about $75 in my shop. That takes care of all normal adjustments, including the truss rod, the nut, the saddle height, any neck angle adjustments which might be required, intonation, and pickup height. Also, we clean the fingerboard and electronics, and clean and polish the finish.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light charges a little more than most guys but he does a more thorough job. Many shops just do a "rush job" which is only setting the intonation and truss rod.
 
Of course, there is another issue to consider. Fender Bass truss rods are not long enough (or at least, the vintage ones, and the vintage reissues aren't). They frequently develop all kinds of wierd S curves and twists. It is probably best with any Fender bass to get it checked out by someone who knows what they are doing.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Electric setups are about $75 in my shop. That takes care of all normal adjustments, including the truss rod, the nut, the saddle height, any neck angle adjustments which might be required, intonation, and pickup height. Also, we clean the fingerboard and electronics, and clean and polish the finish.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...
Yeah we charge about $40 equiv. for the same work, but obviously you're a bit of an expert in the field so we're probably competitive. And apart from a bit of contact cleaner we don't do much with the electronics in at that price.

So what, on the whole, is different with basses to guitars? We don't do much bass-wise and I'm very much a junior at this ... my bass seems to be excessively rattley. It doesn't come through audibly on an amp but if I'm DI-ing it's slightly annoying. The frets are level, the neck angle is just about right and the action isn't particularly low. :eek:
 
The set up process for guitar and bass is basicaly the same, the lower frequencies of bass just make it harder. The longer neck on a bass makes truss rod adjustments a little tricky, often you not only have to deal with bowing but twisting as well.
 
Dani Pace said:
The set up process for guitar and bass is basicaly the same, the lower frequencies of bass just make it harder. The longer neck on a bass makes truss rod adjustments a little tricky, often you not only have to deal with bowing but twisting as well.
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A bloke brought a 5-string Warwick into the shop that he'd bought on Ebay. It sounded great but the neck was twisted as hell ... I knew of no way to sort it out or even improve it much. I guess it can happen easily when you have that much tension on one side?
 
noisedude said:
A bloke brought a 5-string Warwick into the shop that he'd bought on Ebay. It sounded great but the neck was twisted as hell ... I knew of no way to sort it out or even improve it much. I guess it can happen easily when you have that much tension on one side?
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If it is not TOO bad you can dress it out of the fingerboard while refreting the guitar. You've gotta have a thick enough fingerboard of course, and it doesn't work if you have a really bad bow. But it can usually be fixed. Heat pressing is a total waste of time, though. It will usually fix the problem for a little while, but in a couple of months it is right back where it started.


But the real problem with basses is that you are puting an awful lot of tension on a very long, thin piece of wood. Bass necks are much longer than guitar necks, plus the are usually narrower. Look at a Jazz Bass some time. This makes them MUCH more prone to warping and twisting.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
i took it to a shop. i figured i'd let someone else stress about it, they're also going to change some of the rusty screws (my friend had it in a basement, not very smart), and some other crap. anyways on kind of the same note, once things are straightened out (get it??) what kind of precautions should i take when caring for a bass. i have guitars and have had absolutely no problems for them, but a bass seems to be a slightly different breed. i have guitar stands, the kind that hold up by the head stock and the body kinda sits on the padded legs. do they make a certain type of stand for basses. i would like to prolong the life of this bass.

after a heart attack you don't go straight to a fast food restaurant. know what i mean?
 
Light said:
If it is not TOO bad you can dress it out of the fingerboard while refreting the guitar. You've gotta have a thick enough fingerboard of course, and it doesn't work if you have a really bad bow. But it can usually be fixed. Heat pressing is a total waste of time, though. It will usually fix the problem for a little while, but in a couple of months it is right back where it started.


But the real problem with basses is that you are puting an awful lot of tension on a very long, thin piece of wood. Bass necks are much longer than guitar necks, plus the are usually narrower. Look at a Jazz Bass some time. This makes them MUCH more prone to warping and twisting.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...
That makes sense mate ... cheers!!
 
little guy said:
i took it to a shop. i figured i'd let someone else stress about it, they're also going to change some of the rusty screws (my friend had it in a basement, not very smart), and some other crap. anyways on kind of the same note, once things are straightened out (get it??) what kind of precautions should i take when caring for a bass. i have guitars and have had absolutely no problems for them, but a bass seems to be a slightly different breed. i have guitar stands, the kind that hold up by the head stock and the body kinda sits on the padded legs. do they make a certain type of stand for basses. i would like to prolong the life of this bass.

after a heart attack you don't go straight to a fast food restaurant. know what i mean?
Click to expand...


The best thing for any instrument is to be kept in the case when it is not being played. There is no safer place. Beyond that, keep it in as stable an enviroment (temperature and humidity) as possible to avoid too much movment. It is also good to wipe the instrument down with a soft, lint free cloth when you are done playing, just to get the sweat and body oils off the instrument - an old cotton tee shirt is good, or a (clean) cloth diaper.


Light

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

People often ask me for wall hangers to keep their guitars on in the fairly long-term. Ignoring the fact that just about all guitar shops do this as a matter of course, do you have any advice concerning this?

Nik
 
Keep them in their case unless they are just for visual effect.

Here's a repair tip for those twisted necks (only to be used by professionals). Use a neck heater to slightly soften the fingerboard to neck glue. Clamp straight in a jig and let cool. I've had great results using this technique. Really effective on those guitars that have been left in the car to bake during the summer. Helps avoid pulling frets un-necessarily or planing off fingerboard wood (or even worse, your inlays). A simple fret level, crown and polish after the neck cools and you're done. Saved some money for several happy customers.
 
gbdweller said:
Keep them in their case unless they are just for visual effect.

Here's a repair tip for those twisted necks (only to be used by professionals). Use a neck heater to slightly soften the fingerboard to neck glue. Clamp straight in a jig and let cool. I've had great results using this technique. Really effective on those guitars that have been left in the car to bake during the summer. Helps avoid pulling frets un-necessarily or planing off fingerboard wood (or even worse, your inlays). A simple fret level, crown and polish after the neck cools and you're done. Saved some money for several happy customers.
Click to expand...


It doesn't work.

Sure, it will usually get the neck back into shape, but in a few months it will be right back where you started. We used to do it a fair bit, but the number of guitars that came back was just unacceptable. Not all of them, but too many. We will still try it on cheap guitars, where the cost of the refret is unreasonable, but it can't be warrantied. We probably haven't done heat pressing with any regularity for at least 15 years.


Light

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