Adding relief to a Warmoth neck ?

[tjclem]

I have a fretless octave 8 Warmoth neck. Can I adjust these by turning the trussrod adjustment counterclockwise like an LMI or Stewmac truss rod? There is no relief at all

[SDB Guitars]

Doubtful... IIRC the Warmoth site says that their truss rods are a variant of the double-rod/single acting style... therefore loosening the nut wouldn't do anything unless there was already tension on the rod.

You might tighten the rod slightly to put a little back-bow in it, plane the fretboard flat, then release the tension on the rod, allowing a bit of relief... I'd only recommend that with an unfinished fingerboard, though.

[Greenman]

Loosen the adjustment nut completely and tune it up a step. Lean the headstock on a soft raised surface and let it sit a couple days. Worth a try.

[SDB Guitars]

Yeah, couldn't hurt... what's the fingerboard material?

[tjclem]

Thanks guys I was afraid of that. Why would anybody be stupid enough to build a neck without a double action truss rod? It is an unlined ebony fingerboard.Tom

[Dusty G]

I like my necks nice and straight. If you have a zero fret, you can put a slightly higher one in, or shim your nut w/ a couple pieces of paper, perhaps only on the treble side. Then you can adjust the bridge and lower the action.

[jrfrond]

Warmoth necks with ebony boards are notoriously flat (a good thing) but resistant to truss rod adjustment (bad thing). This is because of the board thickness. I've had to backbow and "level" frets on several of their guitar necks to gain a bit of relief. Of course, I wasn't leveling the frets, rather sanding some relief in as a result of the backbow.

Adding a backbow and planing in relief is your best bet, and probably your only one.

[wilser]

Originally Posted by tjclem

Thanks guys I was afraid of that. Why would anybody be stupid enough to build a neck without a double action truss rod? It is an unlined ebony fingerboard.Tom

being that countless gibsons, fenders, etc are out there with single acting rods, who knows how many others from other makers and certainly all of warmoth's necks I wouldn't necessarily call this decision 'stupid'. Most common woods used in necks will 'give in' to string tension. Dual rods are good and have been very useful in my personal building, but a lot of factories sand in or glue in relief in their necks, so there would be no need for forward pushing in these cases.

[tjclem]

These warmoth necks are built like a brick house, thick and with the steel rods. Overkill, but I didn't know that a few years back when I bought it. At $130 I couldn't resist. I should have. Oh well live and learn...t