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C

capncal

Apr 14, 2009
389
5
#1
so just about two months ago i got a sweet new set of Steve Harris signature flats for my '08 American Standard P Bass. these strings are much higher tension than the nickel d'addario's or whatever i had on there so obviously the action raised up a bit so i adjusted the saddle and after about two weeks, i cranked the truss rod one quarter turn.

played it for another 2 weeks and adjusted the saddle and gave the truss rod another quarter turn.

here i am another couple weeks later and my action is still a bit higher than i'd like. should i adjust and tweak my truss rod again? should i be concerned? are these strings too high tension for my bass?

i'm loving the tone and feel of the flat strings but i don't want to sacrifice the longevity of my bass.
 
#2
Is your neck bowed or are you just blindly turning the truss rod? I can't comment about your particular neck, but a half or 3/4 turn total isn't disaster.
50-75-94-110 flatwounds should have a lot of tension, but your bass should be able to handle it. I can see the need to turn the rod. I just didn't see where you checked the neck bow.
 
#3
neck is less bowed than it was two weeks after i put the flats on, but has become more bowed since my last adjustment about two weeks ago. i didn't adjust the truss rod right away because i figured there'd be a bit of bowing due to the higher tension strings. i'm not blindly cranking the truss rod.

this is the first time i've used flat strings and just wanted to know if this is something that is typical when moving from round wounds to flats, or if i should be worried.
 
#4
You've only gone a half turn so far. These strings should be high tension. I'd give it a another go and see what happens. I am not a string expert, so I don't know if the Steve Harris strings are hex-core or not. Hex-core is higher tension anyway. Good luck. BTW, Steve uses a Precision. His neck is beefier. Hopefully someone else will chime in here. I understand what you're going through. I'd probably do the worry thing myself.
 
#5
Limited experience, but I'd say "don't panic". The flats on my VM put an awful lot of tension on it and when I received it (used) was bowed terribly. I took the 1/4 turns over a period of days leading into weeks, holding down at the 1st and 15/16th frets to take the nut and the bridge out of the equation, but it finally got there. Along the way, it seemed to have leveled out only to bow back again after standing.

The VM's Indonesian necks seem, to me, softer than others so yours should be OK. My Korean Jazz has flat D'Ad 45-105 and has held up well.
 
#8
tighten the rod until the neck's almost straight, no reason to wait or anything. get the neck straight, get on with your day. (that's how we techs do it, none of this "1/4 turn, wait a day" nonsense.)

+1 to loosening the strings or even pushing the neck into backbow to help the rod do its job while you tighten if it seems hard to turn.
 

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