Too much neck relief-truss rod tightened all the way

[sax_man]

I recently bought a used 1993 MIM P-Bass. While setting it up, it appears that the neck is pulled into a front bow. I have tightened the truss rod all the way, and there is still too much relief to the neck (approx. 3 mm at the 12th fret). Is this neck junk, or is there some way to address this problem? Thanks.

[seanm]

That is a huge amount of relief! It should be a tenth of that at the 7th or 8th fret. Did you hold down the string down at both the first and last frets when you measured?

It might be best to take it to a repairman. It sounds like something is really wrong.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by sax_man

I recently bought a used 1993 MIM P-Bass. While setting it up, it appears that the neck is pulled into a front bow. I have tightened the truss rod all the way, and there is still too much relief to the neck (approx. 3 mm at the 12th fret). Is this neck junk, or is there some way to address this problem? Thanks.

You may be able to fix it by adding washers to the truss rod under the adjustment nut to give more room for the tightening action of the rod to take effect. It's worked for me many times, particularly on Fenders. This question comes up on a regular basis, so go back and do a search and read all about it.

[seanm]

Originally Posted by 62bass

You may be able to fix it by adding washers to the truss rod under the adjustment nut to give more room for the tightening action of the rod to take effect. It's worked for me many times, particularly on Fenders. This question comes up on a regular basis, so go back and do a search and read all about it.

I don't think this will help. 3mm is about .118 inches. He would need close to 0.106" of washers. That is a lot of washers! Something else is wrong.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by seanm

I don't think this will help. 3mm is about .118 inches. He would need close to 0.106" of washers. That is a lot of washers! Something else is wrong.

You're right. That's a pretty serious bow and washers may not help enough. Well, there's also the clamp and heat method of last resort which has also been covered extensively recently in this forum, with a good step by step description by someone who actually did it. If that fails, then I can't see keeping the neck. After all, it's only a Mexican P bass neck so the repair may not be worth the cost of a replacement neck.

[sax_man]

Thanks for the responses. I actually have the neck off of the body, and I measured the relief by placing a straight edge across the frets, coming into contact with the first and the last one. I have a feeling that this is a hopeless cause, and being a MIM Fender, it doesn't seem to be cost effective to take it to a luthier. It would probably be cheaper to replace the neck.

[seanm]

You can't measure relief without the strings in place. It is the strings you are working against. Put the neck back on, string it up and try again.

[sax_man]

If anything, the strings will only put more stress on the neck in the direction that I don't want to go. I took the neck off to see how far I could get the neck to move with no other stress on it, and I still can't get it flat, much less a negative relief. I understand your point, and usually that is the way that I would go, if there was not enough relief, and I was trying to adjust against the tension of the strings.

[seanm]

Then try loosening the truss all the way and physically try to put a back bow in the neck. If that doesn't work, try the heat method that 62bass refers to.

[GeoffByrne]

Ebay - replacement neck. Be radical, try a J Bass neck on a P Bass - you'll love it!!!

G.

[Metal Mitch]

Is the truss rod broken???