Geddy Lee jazz needs constant truss rod adjustments

[svlilioukalani]

None of the Geddys have rods in the neck.

Thanks!!! That explains a lot.

I have a personal theory that stiffening rods lessen tone to a slight degree. My best sounding basses don’t have these Rods. I do love the stability they add to a neck.

I have a Mike Lull and a Nash bass with the same pickups. The Nash has no rods and has a more organic woody tone. The Mike Lull sounds amazing; clear, deep, and articulate. But it is less organic. I think the Nash sounds better, but the Lull plays better.

 

[Analogeezer]

Interesting thread, I was just going to post some questions about my MIJ Geddy Lee bass. It has never needed a truss rod adjustment but now it does.

I suspect this happened because I moved and the old place it was in the basement with fairly high (too high really) humidity and lower temperatures.

The new place is much better climate controlled wise and I keep my basses in a closet in a bedroom of a basement in the corner of the house. This room stays pretty cool (but not as cool as the old basement) and the closet door is closed all the time.

Over all humidity is much lower here, which is actually a good thing; the previous environment was frankly a bit humid (partially finished basement).

My Squier Classic P-Bass also needs a truss rod adjustment and also my Ric 4003. So I am thinking the change in storage environment has made this necessary.

Unfortunately my GL has a replacement vintage red pickguard which has no cutout for the truss rod, so I have to remove the neck to get to it.

The bass needed a setup when I bought it so the guitar shop (great place which sadly later closed) I purchased it from did a full setup and truss rod adjustment when he installed the pickguard.

The one thing I remember the guy saying was "wow this REALLY IS like an old Jazz, gotta remove the neck to tweak the rod.

Alas I found out my Rick 4003 is the same way (it is a 1986), later on they moved the adjustment nuts to the top but on mine it is at the bottom, so I will have to remove the front pickguard (it is a two piece pickguard) to get at the adjustment.

So getting back to the topic (since I have never had to do this before).....give these only a quarter turn, then let them sit a while and play them some before cranking them some more if necessary, right?

Interesting thing is my neck through Ibanez SR1200, purchased two years before the GL Jazz does not need a truss rod adjustment, even after moving here to the new place.

Analogeezer

 

[lug]

Might be easier to remove the pickguard rather than the neck if the trussrod is accessible in that config.

 

[Analogeezer]

Might be easier to remove the pickguard rather than the neck if the trussrod is accessible in that config.

That's the issue, is there is no cutout in the body either, when the guy did the setup he just took the neck off and tweaked the rod a tad, it played perfect after that for a good 15+ years.

The Rick 4003 is even more of a PITA because the nuts are at the bottom of the neck, they went to the nuts being at the top of the neck a short bit after my bass was made.

So I have to remove that front pickguard, and get a thin walled socket that is short enough to fit into the space cutout in the body.

At least the Classic Vibe Precision will be easy, since the adjustment is at the top.

I just got a Peterson strobe tuner (old school mechanical one, a 490) so after I do this I want to adjust my intonation as well, just get all three basses all tuned up.

Analogeezer

 

[Black Out Jazz]

That's the issue, is there is no cutout in the body either, when the guy did the setup he just took the neck off and tweaked the rod a tad, it played perfect after that for a good 15+ years.

The Rick 4003 is even more of a PITA because the nuts are at the bottom of the neck, they went to the nuts being at the top of the neck a short bit after my bass was made.

So I have to remove that front pickguard, and get a thin walled socket that is short enough to fit into the space cutout in the body.

At least the Classic Vibe Precision will be easy, since the adjustment is at the top.

I just got a Peterson strobe tuner (old school mechanical one, a 490) so after I do this I want to adjust my intonation as well, just get all three basses all tuned up.

Analogeezer

Tweak and tune em, man.

 

[Rnr..........4]

This issue with the MIM Geddy's (and MIJ) necks wouldn't be much of a problem if only Fender would put the truss rod adjust at the headstock like their MIM Jazz basses. What ultimately made me sell my MIM Geddy and go for a regular MIM Jazz.