How does a truss rod get "maxed out"?

[JustDavid]

A neck taking a shape makes sense, & also that the thinner sections will "de-form" easier hence quicker than the thicker parts.

Flat relief also seems like it will result in less "de-formity".

The cost of admission is that the neck needs to do a certain job & if that job requires a setup that results in curvature that's the 'price of playing' &/or an indicator that a particular neck isn't right for the job. The Geddy neck for instance doesn't seem to be a neck that supports as wide a variety of strings as the majority of necks, but word is it's a wonderful neck to play; there's the tradeoff.

The Geddy neck would never work for me; it's missing a string

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by mrhardy

Not really Dave,

How the neck bends is dependant on how the neck was carved, the growth ring orientation, and the final thickness overall, along the length.

When a load is put on the neck the thinner areas will want to flex more than the thicker areas. The trussrod only adds additional support. It is limited to how much it can do. The neck has to be thought of as a whole, in regards to ultimate strength.

Take your neck, with no trussrod tension, and set to zero relief. Flex it so that you have .012" of relief. Measure the bend and how it occurs over the length of the neck.

Now string it up, and apply the appropriate trussrod setting for a .012" relief figure with a, low or med tension string set. You should see that the neck basically follow the same overall curve pattern along it's length. Put a set of strings with really high tension, and the thinner areas towards the headstock will bend a bit more.

I noticed a variance with my Geddy jazz. That neck bows more at the headstock end with flats than I liked, even with the relief set to .015".

Final thickness plays a large part in neck strength, even with the trussrod support. The trussrod can only do so much. This is evident when a bass has not had the trussrod adjusted properly for many years. The neck takes a set towards the headstock end. You can set the trussrod under no load, but the neck will show a curve at the headstock end under load.

Setting your relief to as tight a tolerance as possible will go a long way to keeping your neck from developing a permanent bad set.

Not everyone will agree with my findings on this subject. Thats ok. If we all agreed on everything, the world would be pretty boring.

So would you recommend keeping light guage strings on a new bass for a few years until the neck "sets" in?