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Fixing a neck... is this a video good or not?

#83
OK after several heat treatments and the neck is now in back bow ... truss rods nuts are loosened and strings are not installed. The fretboard did not pop off. There was one side effect, one of the fret marker stickers developed a very small bubble ...

I will try to restring is soon.
 
#84
Update:

I restrung the bass with heavier strings, lowered the bridge saddles and the truss rod nuts are just tight enough so they don't rattle. I tuned it to BEADG 1/2 step down which is my normal tuning these days for my SRV tribute band. The neck is straighter. It still has a twist where it meets the body. I don't think I can fix that seeing how it is neck through. Also once you get lower than fret 14 the neck now has a slight back bow, as opposed to the ski jump front bow with maxed out truss rods a couple days ago. I will let the bass sit and see what happens. This neck has a history of moving over time so I am looking for a flat or very slight front bow when strung up and in tune eventually.

Remember this bass started out its life as a 4 string bass. I got it cheap on ebay as an unsuccessful 4 to 5 conversion. I love the look and the tone. So it will probably get a lot more playing time.
 
#85
I wish I knew how to do this 20 years ago I had this cool bass here with a front bow.

4003s5redbt.jpg


Rimg0714.jpg


4003s5red.jpg
 
#86
So the neck was staying in back bow so I did a really quick 10 minute heat treatment of 10 minutes to flatten it out.

I am amazed how a very little heat very quickly moves the neck.

Also the heat treatments made the frets sprout and I had to deal with that.
 
#87
So I took the bass to band rehearsal in my band

Cold Shot SRV Tribute

and the massive low end, the treble and hi mid growl, and the fret buzz when I dig in makes this bass work perfectly for the band.

I still need to tweak the neck a little more, but it is playable. For slow blues soloing the neck pickup is amazing.
 
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#90
Happened to me on a (really) cheaper bass: I bought an used PBass Affinity for my son and the truss rod was maxed but still more relief than needed (~.020).

During a couple of days, I clamped the neck in a very extreme back bow with heat. Amazing how you can bend a maple neck without breaking!

Anyway, now, with truss rod maxed, I get around .012.

I’ve just bought an used Squier neck from eBay to replace it as this neck will always tend to return to its initial curve IMHO.

**This bass was probably left in a too dry environment not played or was maybe even like that from factory.
 
#92
The heat treatment pretty conclusively works, to the point that Warpedneck.com has made a business of it. How long the effect lasts is another issue as the heat doesnt change the underlying problem that caused the neck to bow in the first place: wood stretches under tension long term. Bruce Johnson's solution of adding a carbon fiber TOW backstrap seems logical, but requires some "surgery". I'm curious if the heat technique would be effective on the more common " Fender 12th fret hump", or "ski jump".
 
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#93
Gilmourisgod said:
The heat treatment pretty conclusively works, to the point that Warpedneck.com has made a business of it. How long the effect lasts is another issue as the heat doesnt change the underlying problem that caused the neck to bow in the first place: wood stretches under tension long term. Bruce Johnson's solution of adding a carbon fiber TOW backstrap seems logical, but requires some "surgery". I'm curious if the heat technique would be effective on the more common " Fender 12th fret hump", or "ski jump".
Click to expand...

It is. Warpedneck.com did two ski jump fixes for me that are both still holding. One for 4 years, and one for 3.
 
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#96
So with humidity levels rising above 40% in my basement I was able to back off both truss rods where both are loose, and it plays fine, this is the same bass that I had to detune to ADGCF and use the lightest strings that could be found, and all the while the truss rods were maxed out and the neck was still not flat. now just the wood itself is resisting the pull of 5 strings.
 

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