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How fast can a neck go out?

B

BongoBilly

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2004
Messages
17
Location
Southern N.H.
I've been playing my Bongo a little bit this week and everything seemed fine.
Went downstairs just now to get ready for our last rehearsal before our first gig next Saturday, when I noticed my brand new bass had a bad bow in it. It's a four string, and the A and D strings buzz to the point of not being able to fret the note on the first two or three frets.
It's been very, very humid today. Can it happen that quickly? Can it just go out like that over night?
How quickly should I be willing to start cranking that truss rod? I've never done it before so I'd rather take it to an expert, but I've got practice in an hour. I don't think I will touch it... Plus I'm pretty bummed that after spending all that money on the bass, I'm going to probably have to pay for a set up now. Damn.

Thank EB for the forethought of making the truss rod so accessible. Still, that was a bit of a shock.
 
Wow, that's a pretty helpful site. Thank Antman that's going into my fav's for sure.:)
 
Usually, that doesn't happen but like all rules - it can be broken. I've seen some neck go pretty fast... like over an hour under sever heat and humidity (Playing an outdoor pool party - 107 degrees and 90% humidity - my poor Fender HM's neck went all sorts of limp between sets :eek:
 
I thought I'd just try to play it anyway, but I ended up putting it down and going with the Fender Jazz - it's neck didn't move. I went for a "B" on the A string, and that was that. Nothing. Just a dull buzz.

I was c r u s h e d. I've only gotten to play it with the band once!

Ah well. I'll take it down to the shop tomorrow and see if the guy will give it a twist.
BTW it was insanely humid here today.
 
I needed a sedative

This happened to me with my Sterling, except the neck developed a reverse bow in next to no time. See my thread I need a sedative. I have more to say on this, but not now.
 
i have the same problem. its because of the humidity in the air. unfinished wood will bow very easily. most finished guitar/bass necks do not have this problem.

i usually eye ball it(when the G side is straight, the e side will have a perfect curve to it.)
 
I'm pretty confident I can get it set up again today. (Though paying the $40 is going to grate on me. I just don't have the confidence to get in there and start twisting the truss rod around.) :rolleyes:

But can I expect it to keep moving around on me? Every time we get a humid day can I expect it to go out of whack? Or was this an uncommon occurance?

I have the Geddy Lee Fender Jazz that was sitting on the rack right next to it, and it didn't move at all. (And knowing that intent doesn't always translate, let me just state that I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to figure out a way to avoid it in the future.)
I should just build a humidor for my basses, eh? :D

Thanks again.
 
bovinehost said:
For the record, there is a finish on the MM necks.

You can easily add more, too.
Click to expand...
yeah, there is a wax and gun stock oil finish on the neck.


it its not a laquer finish like on fender guitars and bass' and pretty much every guitar(with the exception of gibson).

ernie ball has an unfinished neck, yes, it has gun stock oil and tru wax on it, big deal. its NOT SEALED. WHICH MEANS when there is a change in humidity or a big change im temp, it is going to go either way.

it happens. thats why they make the trust rod adjustment a dial, that you just put an allen key into, and turn.


this is what i was told, from an eb employee(when asking about the neck)
 
ps billy. just tweak it one day, try it out. it wont hurt your bass. thats what its made for. the neck is always going to move. i check mine everytime i use it, and usually end up tweaking it everytime i play a gig, which is atleast 2 times a week. dont be worried, you wont hurt it.
 
Okey dokey, well, I'll just bow out of this thread.

Thank you, thank you, I'll be appearing in other threads should anyone need me.
 
i finally got the balls to adjust my truss rod
thanks to the site it was smooth sailing

next thing is the hight

but
i need to re group before i do that
 
the way i look at it. as long as you arent messing with the intonation, you can adjust anything to your liking.


i usually adjust the neck on the treble side has flat as it could be.

then if i get some buzz, ill just raise that saddle a bit. i have my action set very high right now because the stupid idiots over at piero's music in bayonne nj cut the new nut all wrong, so i was getting all sorts of rattling and buzzing. it sounded like i had screws loose(haha) but yeah, it sounded wierd. then i realized, the noise was from the open string hitting the first 3 frets cause the nut was cut way to low.
 
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