Is my guitar neck ruined?

[Danovich]

Hi everyone,

One morning I took my EBMM JP off it's stand and the neck was bent backwards!

The strings were choking up to the 9th fret.

I took it to a luthier and even with the truss rod turned all the way the neck could not be straight again. (The best solution he came up with was with the bridge and strings all the way up, giving and action height of about ½ inch - ridiculous - )

What can I do? Take it to a better luthier? Order a new neck from EB? (How does it cost with matching headstock?)

Any advice will be most welcome!
Thanks!

 

[GWDavis28]

Dude,

Did you buy it new??
If you did I would imagine that EB/MM might be able to help you, but you should really call them.

Did you keep it in the case??
If you didn't, then you really should. The reason that EB/MM give you a hard shell case is to protect that awesome instrument.
If you didn't get a hard shell case or you just don't have one, get one. They are about $100 and they are well worth the investment.

 

[Jimi D]

Look, I'm no expert, just a guy who's been doing all his own guitar work for years, so you can take or leave what I have to say here, but let me get this straight: you took a JPM with a back-bowed neck to a "luthier" and his best advice was to raise the bridge?

My advice: find another guitar tech - this guy's an idiot...

Changes like this in a neck don't just happen over night - to get that kind of back bow in a neck you really have to over tighten the truss rod... like a lot... I guess you could manage it by taking all the strings off a guitar and over tightening the truss rod at the same time time... I can't even imagine the climate changes needed to send a neck into that much back-bow - maybe if you immersed it in water? Anyway, the tension created by the strings tries to pull the headstock and nut forward, so the natural tendency of the neck when left to it's own devices is to bow foward creating relief (too much relief, or forward bow, is what usually happens if your truss rod breaks). Most of us like a little relief in our necks, and use the truss rod to adjust the amount of relief required to get the action we want...

How do you fight back bow? Loosen the truss rod for one (remember: "lefty loosey", boys and girls). Increase the string guage to increase string tension and pull the neck forward, for another. In radical cases, a neck can be straightened by a good guitar tech using a neck jig over a period of one or two weeks... But unless it's really severely twisted or the truss rod is broken, there's always something you can do...

my 2¢

 

[tvanveen]

I'm with Jimi on this. If your tech couldn't at least figure out what was going on, you should find someone else.

If it's actually broken I'm sure you can get a replacement from EB.

 

[ex3.8]

Also...
What guage of strings sre you using. On my Silo, The 9 to 42's didn't seem to have enough torke to pull enough on the neck. I switched to 10-46 and problem solved. Sooo If you went and put 8-38's on it, the truss rod might be in Jello and not work on the neck
(my two cents)

BTW: dump the Luthier. A guitar of that price.....

 

[Danovich]

I don't keep my guitar in it's case. I have a stand that holds the guitar by it's head and it's always on it when I don't play.
I thought keeping a guitar in the case was bad and that was for carrying the guitar. Well, you never stop learning they say.

I use 10-46 strings (Usually d'Addario's)

Also, I'm the second owner. I have the guitar since 02/2003. And if the hand-written date on the neck's heel is
the birth date, it's a guitar from 11/2001.

The tech I saw first tried to straighten the neck using the truss rod.

I also sent an email to Ernie Ball's customer service on Monday but I haven't heard from them yet. Sooo I will wait a little more and see what they have to say.

 

[Shnook]

Send them another email. I sent a question a week or so ago and got a reply first thing the next day. Good luck!