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Geddy Lee jazz needs constant truss rod adjustments

corganmurray

corganmurray

Feb 10, 2012
52
144
#1
Hey guys, I got a MIM GL jazz bass 2 years ago, and I am constantly dealing with the neck and adjusting the truss rod to fix the relief (reducing the action or height of the strings). I assumed it was just a summer problem due to high humidity where I live, but now it's the middle of the winter and I still find myself having to tighten the truss rod about a quarter turn once or twice a week. I get it feeling good again, have a few nice days of practice, and then I wake up to find the strings are too high at the 12th and need to be lowered. I've had it setup by a pro, the action/intonation is great when the (maple) neck is freshly adjusted, but then it starts to lift again.

I have 3 other basses that don't have this problem, including a Stingray special (strong, roasted neck) and a cheapy MIM P-bass (maple neck), so my only theory is that it's related to how thin the neck on this J-bass is.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue on a similar model, or have any advice to share? I'm nervous one of these days I'm going to break the truss rod or something.
 
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#4
I'd say 90% chance that it's perfectly normal - virtually all basses need TR adjustments to maintain fine to very fine relief settings (eg. if you like a very low action) when the temp or humidity changes.

As for the other 10%, if you end up with the TR completely bottomed out after a while, though, you may have a problem.

One of my Tony Franklin's, for example, ended up with the TR bottomed out after about the first month after I bought it. It turned out that the fingerboard is defective on it - it was milled incorrectly during manufacture with too much of the thickness removed in the middle of it. So the truss rod has to work harder to keep it flat.

I didn't discover this until after it was a used bass and it was too late to return it. So I did the washer-under-the-TR-nut trick from The Good Old Days, which allows overtightening the TR a little bit to compensate for it. It appears to have settled down more or less and the rod hasn't yet broken. Hopefully it'll stay that way for the life of the bass.

So, all that is a fancy way of saying you may have a problem, but the chances are you probably don't. I'd keep an eye on it, though. If you do eventually bottom out the TR nut, well then you'll know you have a problem, and time for a trip to the hardware store... :).

L
 
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#6
corganmurray said:
Has anyone else dealt with this issue on a similar model, or have any advice to share?
Click to expand...

Ditto, but not twice a week... and it's a USA Geddy. While I have to adjust about once a year (not a string change), that's probably considered 'normal'.

I have other basses in the same environment which do not require adjustment at all, though.

Is the truss rod nut spinning on you? Once you get the relief you want, mark the nut's position (if you can) and check it in a week.

Good luck with it!
 
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#7
Nev375 said:
... or finding a different bass.
Click to expand...

Sacrilege.

giphy(1).gif
 
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#10
Almost sounds as if the TR nut is over-compressing the underlying wood. I'd remove the neck, TR nut, and place (2) 5m (?) washers underneath. Add some graphite powder and re-install. Normally, this is employed when the TR nut has reached the end of its travel. In this case, it may add an enhanced footprint and more evenly distribute any pressure.

Also, don't forget to manually flex the neck while tightening the TR. Just cranking on it without some degree of pressure relief creates undue stress on the mechanism.

Riis
 
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#11
Mine is a 2005 MIJ neck… I purchased in 2012 and put it on an American Special P body & an American pg (w/truss rod c/o).

I do have to adjust mine, at least twice per year - due to extreme humidity changes (in Batimore… Mid-Atlantic region)… but also tweak - here & there. I suppose you can use a screwdriver - but I purchased this CruzTOOLS driver - as it has a wide blade.

31DBCD51-F90E-4878-9B03-A24CCD2CB18D.jpeg
D86EC799-3F46-4C13-BB3D-A7411DE50E78.jpeg
 
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#12
I have heard this is fairly common with these...YouTuber, Dave's World of Fun Stuff, repairs and sets up guitars and basses in a video blog type media...i recall seeing quite a few of these having to be set up quite often.
To be fair, they aren't the only ones with this issue, but i do recall seeing a commonality on these particular ones. (USA as well).
I have a bass that is in the $5K price range, and it too has frustrating neck movement. Consistent humidity in summer/winter does help, but I think its the nature of the neck itself - likely a flaw in the way it was made.

Edit: found one of his videos from a few years ago - this was a MIJ model...but at the 30 sec mark, he says its his 8th or 10th one he has done...


There are a few vids of him tweaking these...Cheers
 
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#13
staurosjohn said:
Mine is a 2005 MIJ neck… I purchased in 2012 and put it on an American Special P body & an American pg (w/truss rod c/o).

I do have to adjust mine, at least twice per year - due to extreme humidity changes (in Batimore… Mid-Atlantic region)… but also tweak - here & there. I suppose you can use a screwdriver - but I purchased this CruzTOOLS driver - as it has a wide blade.

View attachment 4529981 View attachment 4529982
Click to expand...
PS: whew, I just checked my LPB Tony Franklin, which has been in the case since the summer. Neck relief is holding and the rod hasn't broken... I was kinda sweating taking it out of the case... :)

PPS: I didn't know about this tool - I'm getting one of these yesterday for my Jacos.....

L
 
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#14
Not to be a downer, but I’ve owned merely one Mexican instrument that wasn’t a wet noodle neck when it was made.

Making them to a price point means the wood isn’t dried properly always and the result is humidity sensitivity. I’ve had much worse Chinese acoustic guitars. MUCH worse in fact.
But just wait til that Mexican bass ages more than a few years and the make up comes off.
You get what you pay for. There’s a reason the touring artists with Mexican models play custom shop versions and you’ve begun to discover that they aren’t reliable (some are of course, like I said, I’ve bad one of maybe 7)

My advice is sell it and move on. The AmPer is a big step up in terms of the wood. Of G&L or Gibson. Laklnd. Hell even the world music Korea has gotten better than Mexico at the wood treatment.

and I don’t care what some YouTube guy says about squires or Mexican fenders. They aren’t professional grade. Paul Reed Smith is the only honest guy as he puts STUDENT EDITION On all the ones that won’t hack it.

If youre skilled enough to notice the problems with budget instruments it’s a sign that you can justify the price of a quality one Imo.
 
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#16
corganmurray said:
Hey guys, I got a MIM GL jazz bass 2 years ago, and I am constantly dealing with the neck and adjusting the truss rod to fix the relief (reducing the action or height of the strings). I assumed it was just a summer problem due to high humidity where I live, but now it's the middle of the winter and I still find myself having to tighten the truss rod about a quarter turn once or twice a week. I get it feeling good again, have a few nice days of practice, and then I wake up to find the strings are too high at the 12th and need to be lowered. I've had it setup by a pro, the action/intonation is great when the (maple) neck is freshly adjusted, but then it starts to lift again.

I have 3 other basses that don't have this problem, including a Stingray special (strong, roasted neck) and a cheapy MIM P-bass (maple neck), so my only theory is that it's related to how thin the neck on this J-bass is.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue on a similar model, or have any advice to share? I'm nervous one of these days I'm going to break the truss rod or something.
Click to expand...
I have a 2013 MIM GL signature. I have to adjust the truss rod about twice per year - winter and summer. I would suspect the thinner neck combined with the fact that it is one piece (one piece neck and fingerboard), is a contributing factor. If it was thicker, and/or a laminate neck, and/or had a separate fingerboard, and/or had stabilizer rods, it probably would not move as much.

Weekly adjustments seems excessive. It could be an issue with the truss rod itself, it could be the gauge (tension) of the strings you are using, ... I would start by swapping out for lighter gauge/tension strings and see if that helps.
 
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#18
Do you ever actually loosen the truss rod? I read the op twice and it doesn’t really say.
I’ve had [a similar] issue on two basses - one of which has a roasted maple neck and stiffening rods…where I kept needing to tighten the rod - until the nut adjustment was maxed out. On this particular neck, I got some washers as stated above, and shimmed the rod nut out to give some more adjustment. It seems this is the “sweet spot” of the neck and now either loosen or tighten the nut with the seasons about 1/4 turn.

The other neck is a Squier gloss-coated VM Jazz V neck. Its truss rod is also maxed out at this point, but I think there’s something wrong with the rod. I shimmed out the rod nut with a spacer as with the other, but this hasn’t fixed the issue, the nut will max out and bind either way. When I remove the strings and totally loosen the rod nut, the neck is still bowed with no tension in either direction. I will have to clamp it in a jig for a few days and hope the neck straightens out. If not: garbage.

I have a 2nd VM JV neck that has a slightly thicker profile, and it hasn’t needed adjustment in probably 2 years now. My G&L has a 4-piece baseball bat neck, and I recently had to adjust it…probably the first time in 10 years.
Chalk it up to probably a very thin profile and maybe wood that just doesn’t want to stay put…perhaps it wasn’t dried enough before it was milled into a neck.

I did once own a Dean 5-string that was 35” scale, 24 fret, and a very thin profile. It was a really long neck. This one DID need just about weekly adjustments, but it would be tighten or loosen - never just tighten. I got tired of making the adjustments (and the ergonomics of the bass itself) and sold it.
 
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#20
I have a (MIJ from the original run) Geddy neck on one of my basses and it is one of the slimmest necks I have. It needs the most frequent adjustment of all my basses. Not as much if I play it often, but noticeably more than "usual" on other necks. Clearly it's very responsive to temp and humidity. Nothing wrong with the neck, its slender profile just reacts more often.
I had a Pedulla that was really squirrely and needed adjustment every other day. Had to flip that one.
 
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