limit of the truss rod?

[therex]

how much can i tight the truss rod? i have lots of relief but to adjust my tod i will need around 1/2 of turn, or atleast thats what i think
so you mas think, why dont you just adjust it?. the answer = it is really hard now, and i dont feel like pushing anything, also my truss rod nut is kind of deep inside the hole, and many basses(same exact model) have the truss rod less inside and they dont have that much relief

BTW i changed truss rod nut 3 weeks ago i have been trying to adjust it since, its defintly better but it still has too much relief. and i have found that i can play better with almost no relief
i know my english is not really good but i need help guys

[Parabolic Box]

Taking it to a technician would be the best bet.

[therex]

any other opinions
i cant seem to find a decent luthier around here

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hi therex,

You are right! Do not tighten the rod anymore if it is already very tight; don't push it too hard! You could damage the rod by over-tightening it, and truss rod repairs are expensive and difficult!

Parabolic Box is right, if you can find a good technician/luthier in your area, talk to him/her.

If you still cannot find a technician/luthier, here are a few things you could try on your own:

Just a warning before I give you suggestions: Be very, very careful with the truss rod! Go slow when you are adjusting it, and don't use too much power when turning the nut. If you are unsure about what you are doing, wait to do it, or gather more information first. If you don't feel very comfortable and confident using the following suggestions on your bass, don't do it!

Okay, sorry about the long warning, here are my suggestions:

1) The first thing I would do (because it is the safest) would be to buy a lighter gauge of strings and put them on the bass. Lighter strings will put less tension on the neck, making it easier for the truss rod to flatten the neck/take out the relief.

2) It is good that you replaced the nut, but you should also clean and put oil on the threads before you tighten the rod. Take the nut off of the rod, wipe off the threads with some Q-tips and put a few drops of "3 in 1" oil on both the rod threads and the nut threads (be careful not to get the oil on any other part of the bass). Put the nut back on and re-tighten the rod.

Try those to things first and see what happens. Wait one day after you have put the lighter strings on and re-adjusted the truss rod, then check the relief again.

If you still have problems, or didn't understand something I said let us know!

Good Luck!

[therex]

Originally Posted by XylemBassGuitar

Hi therex,

You are right! Do not tighten the rod anymore if it is already very tight; don't push it too hard! You could damage the rod by over-tightening it, and truss rod repairs are expensive and difficult!

Parabolic Box is right, if you can find a good technician/luthier in your area, talk to him/her.

If you still cannot find a technician/luthier, here are a few things you could try on your own:

Just a warning before I give you suggestions: Be very, very careful with the truss rod! Go slow when you are adjusting it, and don't use too much power when turning the nut. If you are unsure about what you are doing, wait to do it, or gather more information first. If you don't feel very comfortable and confident using the following suggestions on your bass, don't do it!

Okay, sorry about the long warning, here are my suggestions:

1) The first thing I would do (because it is the safest) would be to buy a lighter gauge of strings and put them on the bass. Lighter strings will put less tension on the neck, making it easier for the truss rod to flatten the neck/take out the relief.

2) It is good that you replaced the nut, but you should also clean and put oil on the threads before you tighten the rod. Take the nut off of the rod, wipe off the threads with some Q-tips and put a few drops of "3 in 1" oil on both the rod threads and the nut threads (be careful not to get the oil on any other part of the bass). Put the nut back on and re-tighten the rod.

Try those to things first and see what happens. Wait one day after you have put the lighter strings on and re-adjusted the truss rod, then check the relief again.

If you still have problems, or didn't understand something I said let us know!

Good Luck!

thaks dude, you really helped me out, but i am looking to try heavier strings this time. also non 100 or 105 E strings are immpossible to find here so i'll a 40-105 set today

well today i said to myself: "dont be so scared man!"
so i tryed to adjust the truss rod a bit more, and it worked, it was a bit hard, but it has always been that hard before the truss rod change, altough i dont know if its supposed to be that hard since i have never adjust any other bass
also i have a specif question now. how is that you overtigh the truss rod, just the truss rod, not the neck.

sorry if you did not understand my english this time

[SBassman]

I'm not trying to be a wise guy, just trying to be sure that you
are doing this:
Are you loosening all the strings before you try to tighten the rod?

[mario222]

I had the same problem and solved it with washers. Basicaly I removed the nut and placed washers "around" the truss rod screw thread and put the nut back in. This way the truss rod is now tighter without running out of thread. It also helps (very carefully) pushing the neck the way you want it to while initialy tightening the truss rod in your case a slight backbow. Ther are plenty of threads on the matter search em out. Thats were I got the idea for my bass anyway. Hope this helps and be carefull when working on your neck. If you dont feel up for the job take it to a luthier.
Cheers!
Mario

[XylemBassGuitar]

therex:

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you are asking in your last post. Try to word your question differently, then I might understand better.

Also, Sbassman and mario222 have given some really good suggestions!

Like Sbassman says, it might be easier for the truss rod to do its job if you loosened the strings before tightening the rod.

Note:You will normally want to keep the strings up to pitch when tightening a truss rod that is working properly.

But on a rod that's having trouble taking out relief, loosening the strings is an excellent idea!

If your bass is fairly low-quality, keep on thing in mind therex:

Sometimes on lower-level basses the neck wood is weak, so the truss rod alone can't stand up to the tension of heavier strings. This is somewhat rare though.

Good luck therex, and nice suggestions guys!

[therex]

Originally Posted by XylemBassGuitar

therex:

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you are asking in your last post. Try to word your question differently, then I might understand better.

Also, Sbassman and mario222 have given some really good suggestions!

Like Sbassman says, it might be easier for the truss rod to do its job if you loosened the strings before tightening the rod.

Note:You will normally want to keep the strings up to pitch when tightening a truss rod that is working properly.

But on a rod that's having trouble taking out relief, loosening the strings is an excellent idea!

If your bass is fairly low-quality, keep on thing in mind therex:

Sometimes on lower-level basses the neck wood is weak, so the truss rod alone can't stand up to the tension of heavier strings. This is somewhat rare though.

Good luck therex, and nice suggestions guys!

what i meant in my las question was
is there a point where the truss rud nut cant be more tight?
also my bass is a squier VM p bass so it is a quality bass
also i should have mentioned that the truss rod nut used its homemade (by a luthier who for some reason seted up my bass wit lots of relief and said: "thats how fender says it should be", and i know it doesnt, i checked many other fender and squier basses and fender oficial's site so)

[therex]

Originally Posted by mario222

I had the same problem and solved it with washers. Basicaly I removed the nut and placed washers "around" the truss rod screw thread and put the nut back in. This way the truss rod is now tighter without running out of thread. It also helps (very carefully) pushing the neck the way you want it to while initialy tightening the truss rod in your case a slight backbow. Ther are plenty of threads on the matter search em out. Thats were I got the idea for my bass anyway. Hope this helps and be carefull when working on your neck. If you dont feel up for the job take it to a luthier.
Cheers!
Mario

could you explain a bit more?
i might buy a new truss rod nut soon

also any info no how exactly to do this, and if there is any risk or anything i should now

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by therex

also i should have mentioned that the truss rod nut used its homemade (by a luthier who for some reason seted up my bass wit lots of relief and said: "thats how fender says it should be",

Not sure I'm following this. Did your luthier replace the truss rod nut? Why? His statement about "lots of relief" is disturbing, to say the least. Methinks you might have the wrong person working on your bass.

Did you try loosening all the strings before attempting the adjustment?

[Parabolic Box]

In fact, it is quite the opposite. If you go to the Fender website, the relief they specify is less than half a millimetre (and very close to one-quarter of a millimetre).

[mario222]

therex I will explain a litle more. I will tell you exactly what I did to my Fender p witch had about 1mm relief with Dadario XLs 45-100 and now I'm down to 0.3mm relief with Roto flats. On my bass the truss rod nut is located on the base of the neck I gather yours is to. When removed if you look inside you will see the thread of a screw. This is joined to the truss rod and when the nut is tightened it "pulls" the truss rod thus stiffenning it and this straightens the neck. The reason I sugest washers is so that the nut tightens before running out of screw thread. The reason yours is not working I think is because its all the way in touching on the wood at the end of the nut hole and hasent got enough thread to pull the truss rod tight enough. You will need about 2-3 washers size tiffers with the bass. I personally took the neck off when I did this. I tightend the nut slightly and put the neck on 2 hard books fretboard down with the one book touching the 2 fret and the other touching the 19th I think. I pushed down on the midle of the neck pushing it into a slight back bow while I tighted the nut(not all the way and dont push to hard). The neck now should be in a slight back bow or at the least straight. When you put the strings on see how much relief you have and adjust the truss rod. Wahers might do the job alone without removing the neck ang pushing it. Consider this a last resort, because its a bit nerve raking pushing down on the neck! I hope this description was clearer therex and remember be carefull with the neck it dosent take much screw it up!

[therex]

Originally Posted by mario222

therex I will explain a litle more. I will tell you exactly what I did to my Fender p witch had about 1mm relief with Dadario XLs 45-100 and now I'm down to 0.3mm relief with Roto flats. On my bass the truss rod nut is located on the base of the neck I gather yours is to. When removed if you look inside you will see the thread of a screw. This is joined to the truss rod and when the nut is tightened it "pulls" the truss rod thus stiffenning it and this straightens the neck. The reason I sugest washers is so that the nut tightens before running out of screw thread. The reason yours is not working I think is because its all the way in touching on the wood at the end of the nut hole and hasent got enough thread to pull the truss rod tight enough. You will need about 2-3 washers size tiffers with the bass. I personally took the neck off when I did this. I tightend the nut slightly and put the neck on 2 hard books fretboard down with the one book touching the 2 fret and the other touching the 19th I think. I pushed down on the midle of the neck pushing it into a slight back bow while I tighted the nut(not all the way and dont push to hard). The neck now should be in a slight back bow or at the least straight. When you put the strings on see how much relief you have and adjust the truss rod. Wahers might do the job alone without removing the neck ang pushing it. Consider this a last resort, because its a bit nerve raking pushing down on the neck! I hope this description was clearer therex and remember be carefull with the neck it dosent take much screw it up!

i may try this since i am changing bridge in 1 week, so i may aswell do this, but i need more info, my truss rod nut is on the headstock, will the work the same way? also explain more about the washers since i am not really good with english this kind of confuses me(i know what a washer is but what kind if washer do i need is what i dont get)
also if you can provide a website where to buy those since i have some time to order some things to my friend's house in miami and then he could bring them to me

also yesterday and today i confirmed it, adjust my truss rod nut is impossible, i even have to loose it a bit last night(i did this because i think last time i adjusted it too much)
also my relief is slightly less now, but this could be due the night adjusment

[therex]

Originally Posted by SBassman

Not sure I'm following this. Did your luthier replace the truss rod nut? Why? His statement about "lots of relief" is disturbing, to say the least. Methinks you might have the wrong person working on your bass.

Did you try loosening all the strings before attempting the adjustment?

yes i know, the guy is an expert luthier but there is something i am missing about him
there are very few luthier in my whole country
there is only one wich is very well know(he is very well know for being an honest man)
saddly for he he lives in a very dangerous zone of the city. if i ever go there i would probably get killed and stolen

and yes i tried to loose the strings and it did't work

[therex]

will this work with my bass? (squier VM p bass)
http://www.warmoth.com/catalog/produ...ducts_id=25421
also how do i change the truss rod nut?

[mario222]

The link you posted shows a truss rod nut but it looks like one for the base of the neck not headstock type. You said yours is a headstock one and this brings up another problem, that the hole the nut goes in is usually small. Finding washers that small is kinda hard. And what if you get the wrong size and they get stuck! You asked before how you replace the nut. You just unscrew until it comes out and you screw the new one in. I think a luthier is your best bet even if they are scarse. He probably knows other ways to get rid of neck relief. How much relief does your neck have anyway?

[SBassman]

I think it's time for some pics.

- Close up of the relief

- Entire neck

- Truss rod hole and nut, if possible

[therex]

Originally Posted by mario222

The link you posted shows a truss rod nut but it looks like one for the base of the neck not headstock type. You said yours is a headstock one and this brings up another problem, that the hole the nut goes in is usually small. Finding washers that small is kinda hard. And what if you get the wrong size and they get stuck! You asked before how you replace the nut. You just unscrew until it comes out and you screw the new one in. I think a luthier is your best bet even if they are scarse. He probably knows other ways to get rid of neck relief. How much relief does your neck have anyway?

but how do i unscrew it? do i just loose the truss rod nut until it just comes out?

also i dont think i can post pics for a while

[therex]

guys i need more help!!!
i cant loose the trus rod nut!!!, something is wrong here!!
help!! guys!!