Bass needs truss rod adjustments often. Any ideas why?

[Blownauratone]

Hi all!

I have a USA-made Ernie Ball SUB Stingray bass, and in general I love it. When adjusted correctly, it has near-perfect action.

The strange bit is, every couple of weeks I pull it out of its bag and the neck has too little relief. I loosen the truss rod a bit, and all is well. While it's an easy fix, I know eventually I'll run out of truss rod nut travel if this behavior keeps up.

The bass mostly lives in a room that stays at a pretty normal "room temperature" and middling humidity (around 57%), so it doesn't seem like environmental changes are to blame. The neck has the normal all-over black satin paint that all of these basses have, so there's no glaring entry or exit point for moisture beyond perhaps the rosewood fingerboard

I've never seen this behavior in other basses. Any ideas on what's happening, or how to manage it? Thanks!

 

[31HZ]

Is air blowing on it? Does the sun shine on it at certain parts of the day? Is it a new bass? Do you live in a dry climate?

A shift towards less relief tells me that the wood is shrinking, i.e. it's drying out, which one normally wouldn't see where I live (mid-Atlantic USA) in the warm humid months.

Disclaimer: I am not a pro

 

[Blownauratone]

Thanks for the ideas, @31HZ .

The bass does not seem to have any sort of changing environmental conditions affecting it, besides being put away in a case sometimes (same room) and brought out.

 

[s_wood]

Blownauratone, how old is the bass? Does it still have the original neck? I ask because one thing that could cause the problem you’ve identified is a neck or fingerboard made of insufficiently-dried wood. However, if the neck and fingerboard are more than a year or two old I would think that the drying process has been completed and the problem is something else.

If a dry fingerboard is the problem you might find that oiling it helps. If the fingerboard is sealed maple, there’s no need to oil it, and in fact you shouldn’t! Disclaimer: there’s a lot of disagreement about whether fingerboards should ever be oiled. My tech, who is a world class repairman who routinely works on pre-war Martins and such believes that fingerboards should rarely, if ever, be oiled unless they are at least 30 or 40 years old. On the other hand, my friends at Alembic think that fingerboards should be oiled once every year or two. If you dig around on TB you’ll see that to oil or not is a rat hole you can easily fall into. FWIW, I oil my fingerboards every couple of years.

Last thought: is your truss rod completely loose? If it is, it’s no longer doing much of anything and that could be the problem.

Like 31Hz, I’m not a pro…

 

[Hawk620]

While it's possible that it may just be a neck with issues another possibility is that in it's case it's not getting the benefit of the ambient humidity in the room. You might try putting a couple of HumidiPaks in the case and see if that makes any difference.

https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Accessories-Guitar-Humidifier-Packs/dp/B003HNY1IY/ref=sr_1_6?

 

[Gervais Cote]

FYI : I had a neck made of maple with rosewood fretboard that was unstable for 2 years on a brand new bass and became okay the third year only.

Now it only needs a shot of truss rod adjustment in fall and spring season in a Canadian environment.

 

[nickpc]

It's a USA EB SUB, so it's not a new bass - discontinued in 2006. The neck is painted (unless that's been stripped) so the wood grain isn't really open to the environment. Nice rosewood FB, too. (Yep, I have one - really nice bass!) and the neck is very stable.

Things I'd look at:

• Is the truss rod somehow loosening in the case? Mark the adjustment wheel when you put it away - is it in the same spot when you pull it back out?
• Is it holding tune, or is the tuning a bit flat when you pull it back out of the case?
  • How old are the strings? Are they shot and stretching under tension?
  • Are the tuners slipping and letting the strings detune under tension?
• When you put it away is it positioned in some way that puts more relief in the neck (the headstock against the wall in a gig bag, for example) that lowering the action when that tension is removed?

Or is someone pranking you, messing with it to drive you crazy??

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Temperature and humidity changes would be the cause.

If it were truly in a controlled environment, you wouldn't need to adjust neck so often, if at all.

 

[Crackle]

Some of my basses are rock solid and almost never require adjustments to their truss rods. Others are hyper-sensitive to changes in the climate and require adjustments every day. I am very particular about my action and keep truss rod tools within reach anytime I am playing. I frequently make truss rod adjustments during shows - even several times within one set.

I understand that Jaco also made truss rod adjustments onstage, so I don't feel weird about it at all.

For the record, I live in north Texas where the temperature and humidity varies wildly between seasons and even within the same day.

 

[JeroB666]

Im up in Canada and I my Bongo 6 has to be adjusted every month or so due to the low humidity and wild temp swings we have here.

I've never had an issue adjusting it in 15 years.

 

[billiard]

Due to humidity, a quarter turn to a truss rod I too much per 24 hours. Let it settle down and slow and steady wins the race.

 

[coyote1]

Hi all!

I have a USA-made Ernie Ball SUB Stingray bass, and in general I love it. When adjusted correctly, it has near-perfect action.

The strange bit is, every couple of weeks I pull it out of its bag and the neck has too little relief. I loosen the truss rod a bit, and all is well. While it's an easy fix, I know eventually I'll run out of truss rod nut travel if this behavior keeps up.

The bass mostly lives in a room that stays at a pretty normal "room temperature" and middling humidity (around 57%), so it doesn't seem like environmental changes are to blame. The neck has the normal all-over black satin paint that all of these basses have, so there's no glaring entry or exit point for moisture beyond perhaps the rosewood fingerboard

I've never seen this behavior in other basses. Any ideas on what's happening, or how to manage it? Thanks!

I had this with my Ibanez Portamento 6 string fretless. Was part of why I chose to part with it. In the case of that instrument, the action needed to be quite precise in order to obtain the desired ‘mwah’ sound… and being an inexpensive instrument compared to other similar configurations, the wood was not the best.

Dunno why it happens with your bass.

 

[Isaac_James]

If the fingerboard is sealed maple, there’s no need to oil it, and in fact you shouldn’t!

I've never heard this. Do you know if this applies to some finishes but not others? If I have a rosewood board and a poly finished maple neck, do I need to watch out for drips down the side? I've never bothered to mask off the edges of my fretboards so I'm sure that I've put oil on my maple necks, and it hasn't been an issue yet (at least as far as I can tell).

 

[rtslinger]

maybe this will help

• Wood compression:
  The wood around the truss rod may be compressing, preventing the rod from holding its adjustment. Adding a washer under the truss rod nut can help distribute the force and potentially alleviate this issue.

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

I’m a bit paranoid about that sort of thing, so i keep my basses in their case or gigbag unless i’m actively playing them. That seems to help keep them moderately stable no matter the environment, and they’ve often gone years (and multiple string changes) without needing a truss rod adjustment.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Wood and weather. A tricky combination. As mentioned above, I am rather particular about my set-ups. Some of my basses need a lot of TLC, some little if any. I have not seen any appreciable correlation between neck size (thin/thick, wide/narrow), roasted or not, fingerboard material, etc., etc. If you like the bass and can do your own maintenance, great! If not, maybe not a good fit for you.

BBB

 

[Blownauratone]

Thanks so much, everyone! I got stuck in at work for a few hours and BLAM, so much good info.

I'm gonna learn from all everyone's shared here. Hope you have a great week!

 

[J Wilson]

Entirely anecdotal, but you never know. . .

I bought a Squier Jazz Bass with a laurel fretboard. Same thing, I was chasing the truss rod the first several months. I was hoping it was just new-bass-still-green-wood-itis, and it would settle down over time.

After several months, I went to change the strings, took all of them off to clean the fingerboard and it really looked dry.

Got out the F1 fingerboard oil. It drank the first AND second application like a Russian sailor, then I finally got to wipe off a little of the third go round. Restrung it, adjusted the truss rod. . . . and I've only had to touch it once since then.

No idea if this would help, but thought I'd pass it along.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Some of the suggestions in this thread will probably make the problem with your bass WORSE.

An increase in humidity will cause LESS neck relief (a straighter neck, or even a backbow in extreme cases). This happens because of the interaction between the wood which is affected by seasonal changes in humidity, and the truss rod which isn't. An increase in humidity will effectively do the same as tightening the truss rod.

Less neck relief is NOT a symptom of insufficiently dried wood that is now drying. If anything, the opposite would have happened.

You should definitely not use any kind of humidifier, this will almost certainly make it worse. At least in your current situation. However, it might make sense to use a humidifier during cold/dry winters to hopefully make this less of a problem (assuming it's now summer in your area). Basically try to avoid too much fluctuations in humidity throughout the year.

Has there been a change in weather recently, towards higher humidity? Like over the last couple of weeks/months? That could explain what you're experiencing. If not... it might suggest an issue with the neck/truss rod.

For how long has this been going on? How many times have you had to loosen the truss rod? During the transition from winter to summer, some basses might need the truss rod to be loosened once or twice. Anything more than that would be abnormal and maybe suggest an issue with the instrument. If this has been going on for several years, and you've only ever had to loose the truss rod, never tighten it, this would also suggest an issue with the bass/truss rod.

Very good quality necks will sometimes not require any adjustment at all throughout the year, but that's usually necks with additional steel or graphite bars in the neck, and it will of course also depend on your local climate. Some parts of the world have far more variations in humidity throughout the year than others.

I own around 40 basses. About 1/3 of them don't need any adjustments at all throughout the year. Most of the others will need an adjustment twice a year to always be PERFECT but they can be adjusted for a neck relief that will be within acceptable for the entire year, if I accept slightly more neck relief in the winter. And then there are a couple that definitely need to be adjusted at least twice a year.

57% relative humidity is bordering on high for musical instruments, It should be fine, but the ideal range is between 40%-50%.

Does it stay around 57% throughout the year? It normally shouldn't unless you store the bass permanently inside a climate controlled room...

 

[BassicJazzy]

I have never had this experience, been playing since 18, 70 now. All that I find is that I find my basses drift a bit while in the case for a few days and either go sharp or flat across all strings, usually with a change in ambient temp, only a minor tuning adjustment. I always store in case and retune when I remove from case. Chasing truss rod adjustments would be totally alien to me.