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Bass needs truss rod adjustments often. Any ideas why?
- Thread starter Blownauratone
- Start date
@Deleted member 271037 The humidity does trend down in winter, closer to 30%. But strangely, things have been pretty steady around 50% throughout the period I've seen this issue occur. Weird, eh?
D
Well, that's probably your "problem" then. Wood needs some time to adapt to seasonal changes in humidity, which means the changes to the neck relief can happen slowly/gradually. If you're the kind of person who checks the neck relief regularly and always wants it to be SPOT ON, you may need to make several adjustments during this phase.
30% is lower than ideal for musical instruments. That's a humidity range where solid top acoustics may crack. Going between 30% in the winter and close to 60% in the summer is a HUGE difference. You're probably just looking at normal seasonal variations, unless your problem has been going on for several years, with a constant need for loosening but never tightening the truss rod.
Of course, some necks are less stable than others, and it's all about the WOOD. The quality of the wood is THE most important factor when building a bass. Poor quality wood = poor quality neck = poor quality instrument no matter much much money you spend on upgrading the pickups, tuners, bridge...
Most necks shouldn't really need more than two adjustments throughout the year though, unless you're extremely picky about the neck relief (fretless basses are the exception, the neck relief is obviously far more critical with fretless basses).
But I'm assuming this isn't something that has been going on for years. If you HAVE gone through several years of gradually loosening the truss rod, but never tightening it I would be a bit more worried. This would suggest a more serious issue with the neck/truss rod.
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I would also like to point out that some of the opinions/suggestions in this thread are very misleading, and could lead to people damaging their instruments. I mean, suggesting using a humidifier with these symptoms, and when the relative humidity is already 58%... That's shockingly poor advice. I also find it strange that people who don't seem to have a clue how wood reacts to fluctuations in humidity and how it interacts with the truss rod, somehow STILL feel the need to offer their very misleading "advice".
Turnaround
Commercial User
Definitely the wood is reacting to changes in relative humidity. It may settle down as the wood ages
Less relief is not a result of the wood shrinking. It’s an indicator that the wood is expanding as a result of moisture absorption.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
Im going through this very thing. I have 3 basses - a Carvin LB-76f, Bongo JM Artist series and a 96 Ric 4003.s.
The humidity here in Chicagos NW burbs hovers around 55-65% in the house, and none of my basses is playable without truss adjustments.
I have to keep them cased, which helps, and I have a large dehumidifier in the room (which also helps), but every bass goes CLANK on nearly every string, and up to the fifth fret on the Ric.
Makes a carbon fiber or graphite necked bass sound pretty good lol.
The humidity here in Chicagos NW burbs hovers around 55-65% in the house, and none of my basses is playable without truss adjustments.
I have to keep them cased, which helps, and I have a large dehumidifier in the room (which also helps), but every bass goes CLANK on nearly every string, and up to the fifth fret on the Ric.
Makes a carbon fiber or graphite necked bass sound pretty good lol.
Interesting. I wonder if there is some difference made by current manufacturing processes? I lived in Chicago from '72 until '84 with my Rick 4001. I was always within a quarter mile of the lakeshore - - Evanston, then Uptown, then the Near North Side. Kept the Rick in its case when I wasn't playing, never needed a truss rod adjustment, or any changes to the bridge. Never a clank. Granted, weather has gotten worse since those days, but I wonder if they are rushing new basses out before the wood has dried enough?
