truss rod broken on Yamaha TRB 1005F

golem · #1 01-20-2010, 03:06 PM

2 months ago I bought a 3-4 years old bass, but it had to much neck relief, about 5mm at the 7th fret. The truss rod was almost lose with that setting. So I decided to adjust it. The bass was in my apartment all the time since, no draft or moist environment, only together with my other music instruments and amplifiers.

After adjusting the truss rod for over 1 month only turning it max. 1/4 turn every other day there was still a bit to much neck relief about 2-3mm. I had the bass sitting for 1-2 weeks to settle in and then did the fine adjusting less than 1/4 turn for getting the best neck relief versus string action.
edit: I loosened the strings for much of the adjustments, not to risk anything.

Over 2-3 weeks I had adjusted it to be almost straight, with about 1-2mm relief, and then loosening it to get a bit more neck relief. Today, 2 weeks after, there seemed to be a bit to much relief again (2-3mm) and I wanted to tighten it a bit. I just turned it 1/10 turn and then a big snap and the truss rod just keeps turning. I assume that the truss rod broke.

This should not be able to happen. This was completely normal adjustment and readjustment.

I was really really careful following instructions from luthiers and online instructions. The truss rod never felt overly tight or too hard to turn. I could also see the result from doing a fine adjustment.

This bass has the Yamaha Limited Lifetime Warranty, so I want to know how to deal with this?
edit: not in the EU, ups ... no now what?

any help is much appreciated ...

tbone0813 · #2 01-20-2010, 03:22 PM

Sorry to hear about that. I'm thinking that you are going to be hard pressed to get them to believe this was a manufacturer's defect which is what the warranty is going to cover. Good luck though.

JasonLamb · #3 01-21-2010, 08:37 AM

The store that I work for is a yamaha dealer, and if you were to contact either the dealer or yamaha they would probably do something for you..they could possibly be one of the best companies to deal with in regards to customer service. The only issue is that the model that you have has been discontinued as of this year.

golem · #4 01-21-2010, 12:24 PM

... yes I know...

my first fretless

I live in Denmark and very close to Germany.

I will contact the German Yamaha Guitar & Bass Service Center (Hamburg, which is 150km - 1½ hours away) for with and after warranty.

If anybody has some ideas I will really try to organise something.

Sending to the US is def. a possibility, but I will try to seek help in EU first.