I just tried this on an Ibanez neck that was so far gone I thought it was only fit for the bin. Worked great and it's now straight for the first time in many many years. Wouldn't have had a clue how to do this if it weren't for your videos.
Sounds good Dave , after watching you clamp a few bowed necks i did this to my old Dion P-Bass copy ,left it clamped with a reverse bow for 3 days (it was well bent ) then checked it . Success nice and straight . Bass is great now ,thanks Dave for sharing this :)
Thanks for this, I like the fact you have kept things simple and confident. Normally I like tutorials for certain things to be a bit quicker because I sort of know roughly where I need to go, but this was good as we followed each step in practical real time.
Thank you Dave i did this exact same thing to a garage sale Peavey T45 with a extreme bent neck and the truss rod did work but couldn't get the last bit out so i did this and it is as straight as It can be
What a great extro moment. I liked the whole video, and it actually helped me with a problem I'm having. (same bass, to boot). But the face in the cam with the closing words was the icing on the cake. Tipping my Glenlivet to your style. You seem to be one of the rare few that I would sit on the couch and talk with sans ever meeting you before. Good job, bud!
My 04 Squier P , with the PJ picks, I know it's only a Squier, have had It for about 10 years, and it mint, and I love the feel of the neck, and it used to play great, I have a 70's Fender J, and 70's P, and a 66 Gibson EB3, and I have 2 Ibanez nice playing cheaper basses, went to Change strings and set up before playing it for a while, long story longer, re sting it and the action was high on bass side, tighten, truss rod, twice 1/8 at a time and still relief on E string and its just under 13mm at 7th feet, look down the neck reel good and I see a really, slight twist, I am going to give it a shot to straighten it I did it on an Ibanez, and I got it straight, and I was going to do slight up grade on pups, and I didn't, If can't straighten it out I'm going to get the same exact neck, because I love that bass, it was all most as good as my MIM P, that I got last year
Prior to clamping, I use my heat gun to slowly heat the fretboard until it's all nice and warm, almost hot, and it releases the tension between the two dissimilar woods - rosewood and maple - and SHAZAM! - A heating pad is also effective, especially is it is a bound fingerboard - Hope this helps.
i've gone back and am now watching your videos from the beginning... it's pretty weird to see how "spacious" the work area was compared to now lol... now i can see when the term "gooched" was first implemented and how things have changed over the years... this is going to be incredibly entertaining, i just know it :)
Ive only owned 2 second hand bass guitars and both have warped necks, sick of this issue with most second hand guitars, I think its mostly bad handling and care more than poor wood quality.
Man you teach me alot Davey.I finally found the right Linseed Oil. Like your one is purified or refined its great for Fretboards, oh & some Simple Green Degreaser. Your Da Man. I like the sweet leaf you have hanging in the background.
By the way I did this on a Gibson les paul and an iron set on warm for a few hours, it worked great and even after years its held up and the binding didnt melt, I think the heat is an important ingredient to allow the wood to flex into the new shape then let it cool completely while still under tension to cure into the new shape. Mine was still warm after 6 hours so I left it overnight.
Hi Dave. Thanks for your videos I have a 73' strat solid maple neck and I think the right terminology for this is-it is crowned with the truss rod tension totally released. So my thoughts were to clamp the neck, using the same procedure as you are using on this bass neck, but in reverse with the neck flipped over. I would appreciate yours thoughts on this. I love drinking beer and tinkering with guitars. Tim.
thank you for showing us this trick...i’ll try this with my fretless ‘75 Fender Precision (not too precise without frets) & see if it works out. DAVE, is there anything i should be concerned about before trying? could you estimate about how muck rocker i should go passed straight?..or does it vary due to condition? i may gradually add clamp pressure over a few days. sound good? thank you, Uncle Dave
Wish I would have been watching these before I gooched my fender jazz (mim as well). I thought the nut was stripped, got a new one, then the guitar guys told me the neck was warped and that I could leave it there so they could put a spacer in, but since I got it as a project guitar I went for it, and got the damn washer stuck on the rod, now I don't know what to do lol Found a mighty mite neck and put it on crooked X[ Still plays good, you can see me using it in some of my looping videos.
Precisely my fried. It's brittle and liable to break. That was what I was meaning. In fact, I had a solid ebony guitar neck, I sold it, too difficult to work with.
I did this same process to a strat neck once, left it on the clamp for a week and it still was warped. sold it and bought another neck to fix the guitar. at least its a bold on neck.
dave, hilarious as always! in terms of a neck that has no truss rod, could this method still work? i want to work on an old silvertone acoustic i paid six bucks for. otherwise its vintage wall art.
Don't steam it too much ... unless you mean to take the fretboard off. Sometimes injecting some steam via a fret slot or three works better, but you have to get into the wood of the neck, not the fretboard. It's a fun game. Too little doesn't work, too much and you have more to repair. I have straightened necks with worse bow ... since they were off classicals they didn't even have a truss rod.
When you bend it back the other way to counter the bend it came in with, are you bending it about the same amount in the other direction? Or maybe a little more to allow for string tension?
I recently snapped a truss rod tightening it on my fender MM jazz bass and thought ....shit now what? New neck ? So I searched around the internet and found a solution. I removed the truss washer , bored out around the truss rod with a hollow boring bit about a half inch or so then put that washer back on and the nut and tightened it back up . Works great other than the rod is a half inch shorter ..... beats buying a new Marcus Miller neck for $ 500!!
I'm wondering if the clamp trick will work. I have a Peavey Fury p bass that has some bow between the 14-19th frets. the truss works but I just can't seem to straighten that span. do you think it's too close to the heel to straighten w/ a clamp?
bought a squier p bass on ebay..got it with same problem..sigh.. was thinking would it be wise to remove the fretboard, clamp the neck with a slight back bow (and the truss rod loose) then reglue the fret board back on while in this back bow position?
lately I am noticing that guitars with symptoms like these can suffer from too much of positive neck angle (but not all), this way the strings affect the bow even more. often times the truss is maxed too. after fixing the angle the truss might work properly again and action becomes more comfortable. of course if your neck doesn't back-bow at least a tiny amount without strings, it might be gooched, as dave likes to say :) heat and forced position might do the trick then.
I can't really claim to work in the industry although I am a stagehand. IATSE Local 720 checking in. Can you adjust the truss rod on a Squier Jazz bass under string tension or should you back it off? The Setup guide from Fender says its a "good idea" to loosen the strings. I have a buddy with a J-bass and a bowed neck and he asked if I had any idea what to do. I'm an expert now after watching your channel. LOL.
Hey, Dave, thanks for posting these vids. Very helpful. Just curious, has heating the neck up a bit ever been your friend in these situations? Thanks in advance....
Many thanks for your video. I was able to fix correctly a bent neck on an Applause 6-string acoustic guitar (AE-138). Set up the gig as you did until neck was slightly back bow, left the gig on for three days, tightened the truss rod nut until it was tight, remove the gig and then had to add small bit of relief. Voilà! Put new strings on and enjoyed the guitar. One question: would it have been better with some heat treatment?
The problem is not doing too much steam, or just go ahead and plan on removing the fretboard, but it will need to be bent to match as well. IF it's ebony, good luck, it's hell to work with.
Dear Davey ive been playing bass for a year and a half but I still have a problem between bridge and neck pickups can you tell me the difference between them.Thanks
Hey Dave a couple of my guitar necks are too straight, but there's no more tension I can release on the truss rod because these no tension on the truss rod and the nut starts to unscrew if I try to turn it any more. Would this be the same way to fix it? or do the same thing but with the fretboard facing up?
***** Will tuning up to F# on a guitar with a floyd rose work the same way? And what usually causes necks to bow backwards when there's no tension on the truss? All my guitars are kept in a decently humidified room.
Why didn't you steam the area that was warped when you had it clamped in position? I believe that would have undid the warp as long as you don't over bend it.
Dave, After a couple of three days on the clamps in the direction just like you did (I gave the opposite bow with clamp pressure) I removed the clamps and the bow is still present. What is the next thing to do? Does the neck get trashed? Is there another thing I can try? Thanks
Alex Henderson Well, i'm not Dave and this method is certainly not Novice level repairstuff but if you heat up a neck to where the glue between fretboard and neck becomes semi-liquid again and clamp the neck straight or very very slightly back bowed (way les than Dave did here, i'll explain why) and let it cool down overnight in that position it wil stay straight. Bending wood is done by heating it up bending it and letting it cool so you have that PLUS your fretboard will keep the neck straight because if the glue becomes plyeable and you bend the neck the fretboard will move very slightly and if the glue sets again it will keep the neck itself in the desired position. This is also why we do not want as much back bow in the clamp using this technique as opposed to Dave's, we heat, bend and reglue so springback will be a lot less than showed in this video This obviously works best on a neck with a rosewood or glued on maple fretboard and can fix some serious warpage but it will also work an a one piece maple one that is not that badly bent. You do need a couple things besides clamps to pull this off without messing up your guitar's finish on the neck and possibly the fretboard. 1 A heat gun or another heat source you can use to gradually heat up the neck 2 A flat beam of hard wood or preferably steel same length as the fretboard 3 A thin perfectly flat piece of soft wood (pine) with 1/4" thick piece of leather over the length of it again same length as the fretboard. 4 Tape 5 Couple of Clamps (3 or 4) with blocks like dave has to protect the back of the neck 6 A shit load of patience Step 1 You start by taking the neck with loosened truss rod and heating it up slowly until it is really warm to the touch but not burning so the glue between the neck and fretboard becomes playable / barely slideable but not loose and tape up a fews spots on the neck to prevent any sliding of the fretboard from side to side instead of the length as we want it. Step 2 take the the piece of wood with the leather, put it on the steel beam as a compression buffer to compensate somewhat for your radius and to protect your frets (ideally the piece of wood should have a mirrored radius and padding to your fretboard to cradle it but that's not something most of us have lying around so hence the 1/4" leather and soft wood for stability) Step 3 Clamp the heated neck onto the beam and wood jig with 3 clamps and snug the outer two up so it does not move and use the middle to bend the neck but don't tighten it all the way immediately, get the heat gun out again to keep the glue from setting while bending, clamp a little, heat again, clamp a little, heat again and so on gently until it is straight or slightly (1-2 mm max!) back bowed to deal with any spring back. Step 4 Tighten the truss rod with the neck straight just like dave did, let cool overnight.... done. An added thing you could do is take the nut completely off the truss rodd itself whilst still having the neck in clamps, put on a few washers/ringlets before you tighten it upand this will give you a little more adjustment if need be under string pressure with the rod if you are really close to maxed out. Google neck clamping Jig if you want to see similar set ups and fixes for reference ..... Doing this might sound scary but take it slow, be gentile and you will be just fine as will your neck... If it is too bent for this not to work you could alway's use the neck as an bow and arrow heheheheh. Hope this helps and good luck
Hi Davey. Would it help if you put some heat on the neck carefully. Steam or with a electric industrial blowheater. Just enough not to melt the finish or glue .
meh I took off my neck and it seems perfectly straight.. so uhm how do you fix a neck that bends too much with normal string tension? I guess it's just really cheap. I'll try a shim aka whatever flat stuff I have nearby
In order to make that happen the way you want, it's best to remove the hardware, and apply some steam. I use a five inch diameter PVC pipe with an endcap glued on one ent, and a fitting on an endcap for the the other end. While it's moist and warm, clamp it up like you had it ... maybe not quite so far the other way. Leave it set for three to six days with the clamp on it, walla, you've done it ... or gone to far the other way. Just clamps alone doesn't allow the wood to let go of the "set"
Dave's World of Fun Stuff Hi Dave, I have a question, I have a 5 string Fender Jazz Bass I took the neck off to straighten it, and this bass has a set screw in the pocket that pushes on the heal of the neck, What is the procedure for adjusting this set screw? Thank You Sir
Dave, do you have any videos or suggestions on a roller coaster neck. An Alvarez AD90CE was brought in yesterday. My slotted straight edge just touches the board on the 2nd fret, the neck bows until the straight edge touches from 13-17 fret, then the edge comes off the board again. It's a beautiful guitar and only a year old but the idiot obviously leaned it against a wall for the entire year. I see the marks on the head and tuners.
***** You may be correct. Measuring level with a straight edge from the 20th fret, it appears to have about -.040" of deflection at the 2nd fret. That's more than the fret height. I'm gonna try counter stressing it somehow and then heat it up. If that doesn't work, I figure I'll bring over some strippers and have them use it as a pole, that should get it straight.
It shouldn't. Once the truss rod is tightened, it will hold it in place. Unless it's a cheap poorly made neck than once you have it straight, the truss rod should hold it in place when you put the strings on and tune it too pitch.
Is this what could happen if a bass guitar is stored for long periods of time under string tension? I don't play bass, but assume the ridiculously long scale with almost normal guitar neck profile could warp it...
mmmmmmmmmmm So how much is a new neck for a bass guitar these days? I have an old Fender Squire with the same problem. Ever time I bring it to get set up I get a tale of woe from the guy about clamping and neck adjustment. Plays great though.
The wood fibers have stretched if it wont straighten out. That is why I want a roasted neck from Warmoth. The sap is cooked and add strength to the neck.
I have a question here sir. I was trying to repair the neck of my 1980's ibanez, where i can see that the front neck (1 - 4 fret) are warped. When i take the neck out, i find it hard to loosen the truss rod. it moves, but very hard. so here's my question : i) how do you straighten a warped neck? is it with the same procedure as your video? and ii) how do you know if the truss rod is broken? is it just a normal problem due to rust on the truss rod screws? prob'm is i dont have a gauge to check
If you’ve got rusted nuts, would WD40 be the solve? Just soaking that sucker by spraying a ton into the hole affect the wood in any way? (too much moisture.) Also, what guarantee is there the whole twisted-as-fuck thing won’t simply retwist?
Sir, I did not understand one thing. Please clarify- Should we tighten the truss rod immediately after bending with clamp and then wait for three days, or should we tighten after three days, or should we tighten after one/two days, then wait some more days and then release? Please reply. Thanks in advance..
Steeevie the Grip could not agree more. Awards shows are for people who already get their butts lathered before production ever starts. Us trades only get less and less while actors get more and more. You would start to think that actors ,light ,make up greeen screen, do all the effects themselves . Get used to it. The trades and crafts will get lesss and lesss credit while the dicks in the motor homes get more and more. I have not watched or paid to see a movie I worked on in 15 years. we are getting FUCKED over. Thank god for the teamsters. they are the only local with any balls and any power. Without them we would all be working for some offf the street rate. The producers care nothing about the crafts acccept there liability when they killl one of us. Love you Dave. Keep them coming.Steevie the grip. Local 80
I just tried this on an Ibanez neck that was so far gone I thought it was only fit for the bin. Worked great and it's now straight for the first time in many many years. Wouldn't have had a clue how to do this if it weren't for your videos.
That’s why Dave makes the BIG bucks!
Sounds good Dave , after watching you clamp a few bowed necks i did this to my old Dion P-Bass copy ,left it clamped with a reverse bow for 3 days (it was well bent ) then checked it . Success nice and straight . Bass is great now ,thanks Dave for sharing this :)
Thanks for this, I like the fact you have kept things simple and confident. Normally I like tutorials for certain things to be a bit quicker because I sort of know roughly where I need to go, but this was good as we followed each step in practical real time.
Thank you Dave i did this exact same thing to a garage sale Peavey T45 with a extreme bent neck and the truss rod did work but couldn't get the last bit out so i did this and it is as straight as It can be
What a great extro moment. I liked the whole video, and it actually helped me with a problem I'm having. (same bass, to boot). But the face in the cam with the closing words was the icing on the cake. Tipping my Glenlivet to your style. You seem to be one of the rare few that I would sit on the couch and talk with sans ever meeting you before. Good job, bud!
My 04 Squier P , with the PJ picks, I know it's only a Squier, have had It for about 10 years, and it mint, and I love the feel of the neck, and it used to play great, I have a 70's Fender J, and 70's P, and a 66 Gibson EB3, and I have 2 Ibanez nice playing cheaper basses, went to Change strings and set up before playing it for a while, long story longer, re sting it and the action was high on bass side, tighten, truss rod, twice 1/8 at a time and still relief on E string and its just under 13mm at 7th feet, look down the neck reel good and I see a really, slight twist, I am going to give it a shot to straighten it I did it on an Ibanez, and I got it straight, and I was going to do slight up grade on pups, and I didn't, If can't straighten it out I'm going to get the same exact neck, because I love that bass, it was all most as good as my MIM P, that I got last year
I'm waiting for the day when Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from Rush shows up to your shop just to fuck around and play with the guitars.
Prior to clamping, I use my heat gun to slowly heat the fretboard until it's all nice and warm, almost hot, and it releases the tension between the two dissimilar woods - rosewood and maple - and SHAZAM! - A heating pad is also effective, especially is it is a bound fingerboard - Hope this helps.
"Feel free to talk amongst yourselves." HAHA! Subscribed!
Lmao that is the exact time I subbed to
I like you, you broke the ice as you went straight to business and the information was helpful too thanks
Dave, you rock, man! Keep up the great vids and awesome commentary.
i've gone back and am now watching your videos from the beginning... it's pretty weird to see how "spacious" the work area was compared to now lol... now i can see when the term "gooched" was first implemented and how things have changed over the years... this is going to be incredibly entertaining, i just know it :)
Great repair lesson! Thanks!
👍worked perfect on my guitar neck. Thanks so much!
Ive only owned 2 second hand bass guitars and both have warped necks, sick of this issue with most second hand guitars, I think its mostly bad handling and care more than poor wood quality.
love this guy .....he is funny and seems to know his stuff
Sorry to hear that. Praying for her recovery,
Your friend Andy in Kingston.
Very useful info for my current project, thanks Dave (:
Ohh, thank you sir. I will take that into consideration if I build these necks on the projects.
Man you teach me alot Davey.I finally found the right Linseed Oil. Like your one is purified or refined its great for Fretboards, oh & some Simple Green Degreaser.
Your Da Man.
I like the sweet leaf you have hanging in the background.
By the way I did this on a Gibson les paul and an iron set on warm for a few hours, it worked great and even after years its held up and the binding didnt melt, I think the heat is an important ingredient to allow the wood to flex into the new shape then let it cool completely while still under tension to cure into the new shape. Mine was still warm after 6 hours so I left it overnight.
Sup Dave best vids i've seen yet
That's a nice bass.....if all works out right. Good luck there Dave.
Thanks man, I have a couple of banana necks, didn't know I should or could do this, I'm gonna try it right now, thanks again!
Did you have any luck?
Thanks for the Camile update...
1:10 sounds like Fieldy from Korn.
That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!
Ha ha!
Lmao I am dead
way off
Except Field has no mids either.
thanks davey,now i know what to do with my bass guitar... =)
Hi,thanks for taking the time to show your repairs. In this video did you remove the truss rod completely or just loosen it out?
Watching with interest. I have a bass neck just like that.
cheers, from pei canada
Your so damn funny Dave LOL Love watching your videos brother...
Hi Dave. Thanks for your videos I have a 73' strat solid maple neck and I think the right terminology for this is-it is crowned with the truss rod tension totally released. So my thoughts were to clamp the neck, using the same procedure as you are using on this bass neck, but in reverse with the neck flipped over. I would appreciate yours thoughts on this. I love drinking beer and tinkering with guitars. Tim.
thank you for showing us this trick...i’ll try this with my fretless ‘75 Fender Precision (not too precise without frets) & see if it works out.
DAVE,
is there anything i should be concerned about before trying? could you estimate about how muck rocker i should go passed straight?..or does it vary due to condition?
i may gradually add clamp pressure over a few days. sound good?
thank you, Uncle Dave
Wish I would have been watching these before I gooched my fender jazz (mim as well). I thought the nut was stripped, got a new one, then the guitar guys told me the neck was warped and that I could leave it there so they could put a spacer in, but since I got it as a project guitar I went for it, and got the damn washer stuck on the rod, now I don't know what to do lol
Found a mighty mite neck and put it on crooked X[ Still plays good, you can see me using it in some of my looping videos.
Precisely my fried. It's brittle and liable to break. That was what I was meaning. In fact, I had a solid ebony guitar neck, I sold it, too difficult to work with.
I did this same process to a strat neck once, left it on the clamp for a week and it still was warped. sold it and bought another neck to fix the guitar. at least its a bold on neck.
AdBLocker works .
i have 2 .
Chrome & FFox .
Thank you Dave R. .
dave, hilarious as always! in terms of a neck that has no truss rod, could this method still work? i want to work on an old silvertone acoustic i paid six bucks for. otherwise its vintage wall art.
Nice video, I'll try to fix a 'cheap' Ammoon bass guitar neck.
Hey Dave, does the moisture content come into play when trying to straighten a neck that bent?
Don't steam it too much ... unless you mean to take the fretboard off. Sometimes injecting some steam via a fret slot or three works better, but you have to get into the wood of the neck, not the fretboard. It's a fun game. Too little doesn't work, too much and you have more to repair. I have straightened necks with worse bow ... since they were off classicals they didn't even have a truss rod.
Haha, I asked you about doing this the other day! Aria Pro II neck thats bent like a banana! Ill do mine and then we can compare results :D
When you bend it back the other way to counter the bend it came in with, are you bending it about the same amount in the other direction? Or maybe a little more to allow for string tension?
Jesus watching that neck bend when you took the clamp off...
Lol a good guitar master is a trip, coolcat guitar man
I recently snapped a truss rod tightening it on my fender MM jazz bass and thought ....shit now what? New neck ? So I searched around the internet and found a solution. I removed the truss washer , bored out around the truss rod with a hollow boring bit about a half inch or so then put that washer back on and the nut and tightened it back up . Works great other than the rod is a half inch shorter ..... beats buying a new Marcus Miller neck for $ 500!!
I'm wondering if the clamp trick will work. I have a Peavey Fury p bass that has some bow between the 14-19th frets. the truss works but I just can't seem to straighten that span. do you think it's too close to the heel to straighten w/ a clamp?
bought a squier p bass on ebay..got it with same problem..sigh.. was thinking would it be wise to remove the fretboard, clamp the neck with a slight back bow (and the truss rod loose) then reglue the fret board back on while in this back bow position?
Dave, would training a heat lamp while it's clamped up help with the bending?
lately I am noticing that guitars with symptoms like these can suffer from too much of positive neck angle (but not all), this way the strings affect the bow even more. often times the truss is maxed too. after fixing the angle the truss might work properly again and action becomes more comfortable. of course if your neck doesn't back-bow at least a tiny amount without strings, it might be gooched, as dave likes to say :) heat and forced position might do the trick then.
I can't really claim to work in the industry although I am a stagehand. IATSE Local 720 checking in.
Can you adjust the truss rod on a Squier Jazz bass under string tension or should you back it off? The Setup guide from Fender says its a "good idea" to loosen the strings. I have a buddy with a J-bass and a bowed neck and he asked if I had any idea what to do. I'm an expert now after watching your channel. LOL.
So, this will work for a back bowed neck as well? just clamp it with the fretboard facing the other direction?
is your supports used to bridge the neck falling between the frets? if not how do you keep it from pushing in the fret wires?
Hey, Dave, thanks for posting these vids. Very helpful. Just curious, has heating the neck up a bit ever been your friend in these situations? Thanks in advance....
thanks man!
Guitar Hack Fuckin A. maan. LOSE THE HEAT IDEA people - you’re just going to destroy your instrument and place it BEYOND repair!
I will say a prayer to the Gods of Low-end Rumble for you Dave.Could be new neck time though....
How about adding a couple of washers to the truss rod but to give a farther pull?
Many thanks for your video. I was able to fix correctly a bent neck on an Applause 6-string acoustic guitar (AE-138). Set up the gig as you did until neck was slightly back bow, left the gig on for three days, tightened the truss rod nut until it was tight, remove the gig and then had to add small bit of relief. Voilà! Put new strings on and enjoyed the guitar. One question: would it have been better with some heat treatment?
watch heat press videos..i have some
The problem is not doing too much steam, or just go ahead and plan on removing the fretboard, but it will need to be bent to match as well. IF it's ebony, good luck, it's hell to work with.
Well...what happened after few days of clamping?
I dont know, he didnt tell us.
Part 2 ?
2:11 peasandcarrots, peasncarrots, peasandcarr-peasandcarrots, peas and carrots....
Can we do this on a double actiom truss rod? If yes, how we set the trussrod on 0 postition when the neck are already bent
Thx
I'm bettin' you can do it. Bow is better than a twist. I think we will see that force majuer clamp system on the bench.
Dear Davey ive been playing bass for a year and a half but I still have a problem between bridge and neck pickups can you tell me the difference between them.Thanks
hello Dave
how long should the neck be held with the clamp ???
Hi Dave, still enjoying your entertaining videos!! Just wondering where I could find info on where I could send you "Viewer Mail"? tc
Did it look like the back plate had been removed before you did it?
Hey Dave a couple of my guitar necks are too straight, but there's no more tension I can release on the truss rod because these no tension on the truss rod and the nut starts to unscrew if I try to turn it any more. Would this be the same way to fix it? or do the same thing but with the fretboard facing up?
*****
Will tuning up to F# on a guitar with a floyd rose work the same way?
And what usually causes necks to bow backwards when there's no tension on the truss?
All my guitars are kept in a decently humidified room.
Why didn't you steam the area that was warped when you had it clamped in position? I believe that would have undid the warp as long as you don't over bend it.
Mine is warped the other way I think it had no strings for many years trying to work it back now great video, what the fuck are oscars
What happens to the truss rod when you bend the neck?
Wow 7yrs ago?? Damn
Dave, After a couple of three days on the clamps in the direction just like you did (I gave the opposite bow with clamp pressure) I removed the clamps and the bow is still present. What is the next thing to do? Does the neck get trashed? Is there another thing I can try? Thanks
Alex Henderson Well, i'm not Dave and this method is certainly not Novice level repairstuff but if you heat up a neck to where the glue between fretboard and neck becomes semi-liquid again and clamp the neck straight or very very slightly back bowed (way les than Dave did here, i'll explain why) and let it cool down overnight in that position it wil stay straight.
Bending wood is done by heating it up bending it and letting it cool so you have that PLUS your fretboard will keep the neck straight because if the glue becomes plyeable and you bend the neck the fretboard will move very slightly and if the glue sets again it will keep the neck itself in the desired position.
This is also why we do not want as much back bow in the clamp using this technique as opposed to Dave's, we heat, bend and reglue so springback will be a lot less than showed in this video
This obviously works best on a neck with a rosewood or glued on maple fretboard and can fix some serious warpage but it will also work an a one piece maple one that is not that badly bent.
You do need a couple things besides clamps to pull this off without messing up your guitar's finish on the neck and possibly the fretboard.
1 A heat gun or another heat source you can use to gradually heat up the neck
2 A flat beam of hard wood or preferably steel same length as the fretboard
3 A thin perfectly flat piece of soft wood (pine) with 1/4" thick piece of leather over the length of it again same length as the fretboard.
4 Tape
5 Couple of Clamps (3 or 4) with blocks like dave has to protect the back of the neck
6 A shit load of patience
Step 1
You start by taking the neck with loosened truss rod and heating it up slowly until it is really warm to the touch but not burning so the glue between the neck and fretboard becomes playable / barely slideable but not loose and tape up a fews spots on the neck to prevent any sliding of the fretboard from side to side instead of the length as we want it.
Step 2
take the the piece of wood with the leather, put it on the steel beam as a compression buffer to compensate somewhat for your radius and to protect your frets (ideally the piece of wood should have a mirrored radius and padding to your fretboard to cradle it but that's not something most of us have lying around so hence the 1/4" leather and soft wood for stability)
Step 3
Clamp the heated neck onto the beam and wood jig with 3 clamps and snug the outer two up so it does not move and use the middle to bend the neck but don't tighten it all the way immediately, get the heat gun out again to keep the glue from setting while bending, clamp a little, heat again, clamp a little, heat again and so on gently until it is straight or slightly (1-2 mm max!) back bowed to deal with any spring back.
Step 4
Tighten the truss rod with the neck straight just like dave did, let cool overnight.... done.
An added thing you could do is take the nut completely off the truss rodd itself whilst still having the neck in clamps, put on a few washers/ringlets before you tighten it upand this will give you a little more adjustment if need be under string pressure with the rod if you are really close to maxed out.
Google neck clamping Jig if you want to see similar set ups and fixes for reference .....
Doing this might sound scary but take it slow, be gentile and you will be just fine as will your neck...
If it is too bent for this not to work you could alway's use the neck as an bow and arrow heheheheh.
Hope this helps and good luck
Hi Davey. Would it help if you put some heat on the neck carefully. Steam or with a electric industrial blowheater. Just enough not to melt the finish or glue .
Yes. I do this as needed.
What do you do if you have one bent the other way?
meh I took off my neck and it seems perfectly straight.. so uhm how do you fix a neck that bends too much with normal string tension? I guess it's just really cheap. I'll try a shim aka whatever flat stuff I have nearby
In order to make that happen the way you want, it's best to remove the hardware, and apply some steam. I use a five inch diameter PVC pipe with an endcap glued on one ent, and a fitting on an endcap for the the other end. While it's moist and warm, clamp it up like you had it ... maybe not quite so far the other way. Leave it set for three to six days with the clamp on it, walla, you've done it ... or gone to far the other way. Just clamps alone doesn't allow the wood to let go of the "set"
Right. ADDING moisture to green wood is supposed to help how?
Dave's World of Fun Stuff
Hi Dave, I have a question, I have a 5 string Fender Jazz Bass I took the neck off to straighten it, and this bass has a set screw in the pocket that pushes on the heal of the neck, What is the procedure for adjusting this set screw?
Thank You Sir
I figured that much, Should i start with 3/32 at the 17th fret?
Thanks again
Dave, do you have any videos or suggestions on a roller coaster neck. An Alvarez AD90CE was brought in yesterday. My slotted straight edge just touches the board on the 2nd fret, the neck bows until the straight edge touches from 13-17 fret, then the edge comes off the board again. It's a beautiful guitar and only a year old but the idiot obviously leaned it against a wall for the entire year. I see the marks on the head and tuners.
***** You may be correct. Measuring level with a straight edge from the 20th fret, it appears to have about -.040" of deflection at the 2nd fret. That's more than the fret height. I'm gonna try counter stressing it somehow and then heat it up. If that doesn't work, I figure I'll bring over some strippers and have them use it as a pole, that should get it straight.
Does this work for back bows too?
the thread on my tuss rod was loose, how can i repair this?
after clamping a neck does at some point it goes back to where it was at
It shouldn't. Once the truss rod is tightened, it will hold it in place. Unless it's a cheap poorly made neck than once you have it straight, the truss rod should hold it in place when you put the strings on and tune it too pitch.
Is this what could happen if a bass guitar is stored for long periods of time under string tension?
I don't play bass, but assume the ridiculously long scale with almost normal guitar neck profile could warp it...
You work in the industry. Let me take a guess, Location Sound or Audio Engineer?
Precisely what I'm saying. It's more likely to break. I had a solid ebony guitar neck. I sold it, too hard to work with.
mmmmmmmmmmm So how much is a new neck for a bass guitar these days? I have an old Fender Squire with the same problem. Ever time I bring it to get set up I get a tale of woe from the guy about clamping and neck adjustment. Plays great though.
The wood fibers have stretched if it wont straighten out. That is why I want a roasted neck from Warmoth. The sap is cooked and add strength to the neck.
Actually, it makes the neck brittle. Roasted necks are not what you've been taught. They're way less reliable.
Ah when you said necks week I thought that's how long the repair takes ;-)
I have a question here sir. I was trying to repair the neck of my 1980's ibanez, where i can see that the front neck (1 - 4 fret) are warped. When i take the neck out, i find it hard to loosen the truss rod. it moves, but very hard. so here's my question :
i) how do you straighten a warped neck? is it with the same procedure as your video?
and
ii) how do you know if the truss rod is broken? is it just a normal problem due to rust on the truss rod screws? prob'm is i dont have a gauge to check
If you’ve got rusted nuts, would WD40 be the solve? Just soaking that sucker by spraying a ton into the hole affect the wood in any way? (too much moisture.) Also, what guarantee is there the whole twisted-as-fuck thing won’t simply retwist?
when we tight the screw?
hey davey can i do this to my aria ??is bow not bass anymore:P
A couple of 3 days is 6 days, right?
I've never seen anything like that before in my life...
Sir, I did not understand one thing. Please clarify-
Should we tighten the truss rod immediately after bending with clamp and then wait for three days, or should we tighten after three days, or should we tighten after one/two days, then wait some more days and then release?
Please reply. Thanks in advance..
truss loose, clamp, 2-3 days, tighten truss and just after that relase clamp
Sir I tried this but not working with my bass. What can I do next? Please help. Thanks in advance.
hey dave where is the bass made us or mexico
So how did this bass turn out after 3 days??
I'll admit...this IS entertaining. In a train-wreck kind of way.
Steeevie the Grip could not agree more. Awards shows are for people who already get their butts lathered before production ever starts. Us trades only get less and less while actors get more and more. You would start to think that actors ,light ,make up greeen screen, do all the effects themselves . Get used to it. The trades and crafts will get lesss and lesss credit while the dicks in the motor homes get more and more. I have not watched or paid to see a movie I worked on in 15 years. we are getting FUCKED over. Thank god for the teamsters. they are the only local with any balls and any power. Without them we would all be working for some offf the street rate. The producers care nothing about the crafts acccept there liability when they killl one of us. Love you Dave. Keep them coming.Steevie the grip. Local 80
Doing this with my own bass makes me nervous, seems like a last resort and an act of sheer desperation.
Give it the Paul Simonon treatment.
"Moment of truss " ...