Truss Wheel Bongo Question

[globogim]

Hi everyone, I have a Bongo 5 HHp but am still new to the whole DIY fix your guitars business. I did some research into adjusting the truss of the bass because mine seemed to have too much relief in the neck, causing a large bow and lifting the strings. To remedy this I adjusted the truss wheel by turning it to the right. I never turned it more than a quarter turn at a time, but adjusted it several times within a short period. Now after letting it sit the feel has greatly improved but I have seen a lot of people stating you should never make more than an eigth of a turn to a truss without waiting a couple of hours. Now I dont know if this means you should only turn the truss in increments of 1/8, do so as you see fit, and then wait for the neck to reshape, or just make one 1/8 turn and then wait hours and then do it again. I had made quite a few turns, fine tuning the feel, and the neck did not snap and seems appropriately straight (no dead frets, just a bit of fret buzz but im good with that for the feel). I have also seen people mention how 1/8 will do enough to help but really feel that a 1/8 turn would not have done enough for the bow, because right now the neck feels great as it is.

Does this still pose a threat to the neck and could my bass have been harmed in the process? I only did so because I saw an EBMM video on Youtube explaining it, and the person who demonstrated the process made multiple adjustments and did not mention waiting in between.

Thank you very much for all your help

 

[bovinehost]

The reason many people will tell you to wait a bit before adjusting again is that wood, being organic and at the same time somewhat hard, takes a bit to "settle into" the adjustments you make on the truss rod. You might at first think, "Well, I have to turn it some more, that wasn't enough" only to come back to it in an hour or two and think, "Well, that's just right."

Also, I think most people, when they say "Turn it a quarter and then wait" are actually referring to a quarter of the visible portion of the truss wheel. Not a full quarter turn of the entire wheel. Small increments can be very effective (in general).

But obviously, it's really kind of hard to break one.

Here's what I think. If you adjusted the truss and the bass is performing the way you wanted it to, then you obviously did everything exactly right. Make sense? I'd just add that in general, it's better to adjust in small increments, wait, see if it's what you want, adjust again, etc etc etc.

 

[danny-79]

It sounds like you did good, anytime i have to adjust the neck i personally just make small adjustments then leave it for a short amount of time before adjusting it further, check intonation an tuning in between adjustments then tweak it a bit more if needed until you have it set to how you want it to feel.

 

[globogim]

Thank you very much, im glad to see that the nature of these machines revolves more around adjusting things to how you feel is best rather than a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that makes an infinitesimally small difference. That being said in the future I will certainly make sure to take more care in adjustments, thank you for being so straightforward about this. Back to playing Daft Punk on the Bongo, seriously try it its awesome.

 

[Stephen]

I guess what needs to be added is this: these smaller turns are usually all that's needed once the neck has been adjusted to your liking, but that first adjustment might well take more and/or larger turns.

So, I think from now on you should get along with these 1/8 turns just fine ... turn, tune, play it.

 

[MrMusashi]

I guess what needs to be added is this: these smaller turns are usually all that's needed once the neck has been adjusted to your liking, but that first adjustment might well take more and/or larger turns.

+1

it could take ages to adjust by quarter turns untill you hit that sweet spot, but if you got the time you got the time to do it properly

MrM

 

[maddog]

meh, call me impatient. I help it along, putting it over my knee.

 

[Powman]

meh, call me impatient. I help it along, putting it over my knee.

Glad to hear that it is not just me that does this...

Gently giving it little push seems to help it along. But I am not 100% sure if this is safe.

 

[projectapollo]

The small increment moves work well for tweaking due to preference, humidity, and the like. But I've found that changing string brand and gauages change the tension on the neck quite a bit and usually involve a lot more truss rod tension adjustment to properly match up against the tension of the new strings. Switching to flatwounds from rounds, for example, adds a considerable amount of tension (strings move way up above the frets) and requires a good deal of truss wheel adjustment -- you can make a lot of this adjustment quickly, then settle into the tweak and wait method for fine tuning.

 

[bovinehost]

Switching to flatwounds from rounds, for example, adds a considerable amount of tension

Flats do not intrinsically have more tension than rounds. Depends on which flats you use, which gauges, etc.

Jack

 

[Powman]

Flats do not intrinsically have more tension than rounds. Depends on which flats you use, which gauges, etc.

Jack

Really?

When I switched one bass from Super Slinky Pink Pack (which I assume is a regular light gauge) to Group III flats, the tension of the flats was higher. Both were 45-65-80-100.

Not a problem, because all I needed to do was a few tweaks of the truss rod.

So, I always thought that when you compare flats to rounds with the same gauge, the flats always had more tension.

 

[maddog]

really.

I've used X-brand (as in I'm not mentioning them by name) flats that were like noodles compared to regular slinkys.

 

[Powman]

Interesting. But you can always easily adjust the truss rod to these different tensions, so, it is not a problem IMHO.

 

[Steve-O]

Flats do not intrinsically have more tension than rounds. Depends on which flats you use, which gauges, etc.

Jack

This is true. One very popular set of flats has very low tension when compared to rounds of comparable gauge.

 

[projectapollo]

Flats do not intrinsically have more tension than rounds. Depends on which flats you use, which gauges, etc.

Jack

If you visit Juststrings.com, they often provude the tension ratings for their strings. What Ive noticed is that Flats, in general, have higher tension ratings than rounds. That is my actual experience, as well. I'll check again. I was surprised at how much the string tensions varied, which was the basic point I was trying to make.

 

[projectapollo]

If you visit Juststrings.com, they often provude the tension ratings for their strings. I'll check again. I was surprised at how much the string tensions varied...

Quick unscientific sampling at juststrings.com:
D'Addario 0.095 E string is 30.2 pounds in RW and 35.2 in the flat.
D'Addario 0.100 E string is 36.5 pounds in RW and 38.4 in the flat.
DR 0.105 E string is 40.3 in RW and 41.4 in flat.
On the other hand -
TI 0.100 E string is 34.4 pounds in both RW and flat.

At any rate, what you can see is that an E string easily ranges from 30 pounds of tension to 41 pounds of tension in my brief sampling above. That extra 10 pounds of tension makes a very noticeable increase in string height above the frets as it pulls the neck forward/up. That results, in my experience, in quite a bit of truss rod adjustment to counter-adjust the added (or reduced) string tension.

I never found any EB string tension ratings. If anybody has them, that would be cool.

 

[Powman]

Once again, interesting that there is such a range in tensions even at the same gauge and string type. Thanks for posting this..

 

[Aussie Mark]

I never found any EB string tension ratings. If anybody has them, that would be cool.

For EB Flats, you can use the D'Addario figures.