Super strange neck bow...

lkngro · #1 09-05-2010, 08:19 AM

I recently acquired an MTD Kingston Heir 5 bass, and so far I love it save for some very annoying fret buzz which occurs on alot of the frets. What I think is the problem is a very peculiar neck bow that it has. When I look down the neck on the side with the low B string, there is a dip, not necessarily a bow, around the 7th fret. Then when I look down the neck on the side with the G string, there's some back bow.

This back bow on the treble side of the neck gives me some nasty buzz down on the 1st and 2nd frets for the A, D, and G strings, but my E and B strings have buzz near the 7th fret (where the dip is). Now, I think this has something to do with the assymetrical neck profile. The thicker side is more resistant to the truss rod, and vice versa. Keep in mind this bass has a zero fret (I don't know if that will change anything).

What do you think I can do to get a straight neck all the way down?

JLS · #2 09-05-2010, 10:57 AM

Yech.... this sounds like a fairly serious twist, which won't respond to trussrod adjustments. Get thee to someone who can plane this neck flat; this will not be cheap.

darkstorm · #3 09-05-2010, 05:07 PM

Agrees with JLS. Big problem not ussually fixable. MTD is a very nice company. Might be worth calling them and asking about fix. I dont remember if those had lifetime warranties or not. Well the warranty may not transfer. However some companies are so interested in their customers that something like bad twisted neck might get replaced at low cost or even just for shipping costs.

Big B. · #4 09-06-2010, 10:35 AM

I hate to say it but these guys are right. A bowed neck can be fixed with the truss rod. You have twisted neck and thats another thing entirely. No matter how you adjust that neck something is going to buzz. You will never be able to straighten a piece of wood that has that strong of a twist in it. Plane it flat and sooner or later it will start to twist again. I would call the builder. MTD and Mike Tobias are well respected and stake their reputation on the quality of their instruments.

LaklandMike · #5 10-02-2010, 07:44 PM

Any updates on what ended up happening?