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How long can a bass neck endure with no strings?

Bass strings have a life span, when their dead, their dead!
Two bassists were talking while playing their basses.
The first one said, "These strings suck. I think they're dead."
"You should put them over there," said the second, as he pointed to the trashcan.

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Well, IME it's not a bad idea to keep the neck under a consistent amount of tension. Agreed that this doesn't make any difference to most necks--but I have run across a few that didn't immediately go back to exactly the relief they had before I took the strings off, and required some fussing with. So I got into the habit of keeping all my basses strung to pitch and changing strings one at a time.

It's easy, if one uses the alcohol soak to get more use out of strings, as I do. Just have two sets in rotation: one on the bass and one in the soak. I find I can get two soaks (which equals three uses) out of a set of stainless rounds. When a set wears out I junk it and replace it with a new set, keeping the rotation going.
 
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Things will be fine, I'm sure. This would be a good time, if you're up for it, to take your truss rod nut all the out, inspect it, clean it and apply a little Johnson's wax on it and on the threads and a little dab or two on a toothpick to apply to the threaded end of the truss rod along with any area of contact that the truss rod nut makes.

Makes for smooth truss rod operation for years.
 
Hi I am trying to clean my bass strings by soaking them in denatured alcohol.

That means, I would have to leave my bass for about whole night without any strings on it.

Do you think it's ok to leave the bass without strings for a few hours?

How would companies like Warmoth and Mighty Mite be able to ship their necks to you without ruining them if constant tension, or lack of it, was an issue?
 
This would be a good time, if you're up for it, to take your truss rod nut all the out, inspect it, clean it and apply a little Johnson's wax on it and on the threads and a little dab or two on a toothpick to apply to the threaded end of the truss rod along with any area of contact that the truss rod nut makes.

My guitar tech swears by a mixture of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and Liquid Wrench (lubricating oil). Talk about slick!
 
My guitar tech swears by a mixture of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and Liquid Wrench (lubricating oil). Talk about slick!

Yep..that'll work too, but what I do like about the wax is that it's a " dry" lubricant. That's just my way of thinking. I do use Vaseline on open gear tuners though.

A nicely adjustable truss rod is the bee's knees no matter how you go about it. I've been working on and setting up my basses on my own for years and I've found things that work for me.

It's all good if it's all good.

heh.