I "think" my truss rod broke.

[Matt Liebenau]

I have a 5/32 in allen key. According to my calculations it is 0.04 mm smaller than 4mm, is this still enough to cause potential harm??

Like Rojo said, only a 4mm hex key. If you get right down to it not all 4mm, or whatever size, hex keys are created equally. If you have several that are labeled the same size I wouldn’t be surprised if some fit the nut more snugly than others.

 

[rojo412]

That's for sure! I have a few on hand all the time on my bench, for that reason alone.
Also, the fact that this is a stiff interaction, having the most secure fit you can manage is VERY helpful. And any looseness can be VERY disastrous if it rounds off the nut in a DA truss rod. They are not fun to attempt to replace.

 

[Eric Aquilina]

If you are still under Ibanez warranty there is hope.

I had the same issue with a Spector I purchased from Sweetwater. It was beyond their return period, but still inside the 1 year manufacturers warranty. I sent it back to Sweetwater who contacted Spector on my behalf. Spector then sent a new neck to Sweetwater. Sweetwater installed the new neck and gave the bass a setup and sent it back to me.

I don't know if GC will do all of this, but it's worth asking the question.

yeah really not sure if GC would help, but I contacted Ibanez directly and they seem like they would be willing to help.

 

[Eric Aquilina]

Well with the correct wrench size, some WD-40, and some elbow grease, I was successfully able to loosen the bolt a bit

Hang on, if you can't tighten OR loosen the truss rod there might still be hope. The complaints I've seen from other EHB owners was the the truss rod was bottomed out from the factory. If you can't move yours in either direction it might just be stuck. Truss rods sometimes get a bit stuck if they haven't been used in a while. Sometimes they need a little jolt to get them moving. Try using slightly more force, and give it a little jolt, but LOOSEN it when you do this. And then when you've (maybe, hopefully) managed to loosen it, you can start tightening it. If this works, go slowly. Do 1/8 of a turn, test/evaluate. If you still need less neck relief, tighten it another 1/8 turn, test/evaluate, etc. etc. Make sure to check the tuning every time you've tightened it. If you end up needing to tighten it more than 1/2 a turn (from where you originally started) it might be a good idea to leave it overnight to stabilize before you tighten it any further. A little bit of WD40 can help with loosening it, but a little goes a long way, don't make a mess!

Make 100% sure you use the correct size allen wrench. I believe Ibanez use 4 mm on all their basses, and they include a multi tool with a 4 mm allen wrench with all their instruments except their cheapest entry level models. Do NOT use the closest sized SAE (inches) allen wrench, which may seem like a good fit, but is in fact slightly smaller than 4mm, which means in can slip more easily and damage the truss rod nut.

Btw, a couple of months into the winter is EXACTLY the time when truss rods often need to be tightened a bit, to prevent excessive neck relief (and consequently higher action). This is perfectly normal and in itself no a cause for concern. It's not about the temperature, but humidity. Electrical heating inside your home will dry out the air even further, and make conditions even worse for musical instruments made of wood.

I noticed that you don't actually mention anything about neck relief, only that the string action is higher. High action can be caused by other things as well. The string action shouldn't even be considered until the neck relief is adjusted correctly. Action is adjusted by filing the nut slots and raising/lowering the saddles, but only AFTER the neck relief/truss rod has been adjusted. Higher action is a side effect of too much neck relief of course, but it's not the way your should evaluate neck relief. You should either measure it with appropriate tools, eyeball it by sighting down the neck (which may require some experience) or the BY FAR best method (IMO): Play the bass and gradually tighten the truss rod for the straightest possible neck that doesn't cause buzzing or choked notes in lower parts of the neck with YOUR playing style and YOUR choice of strings. You can read setup guides online which will tell you how to do all kinds of measurements and set up basses "by numbers" but the correct amount of neck relief will ALWAYS be the straightest neck you can get away with.

My method for my own basses is to simply tighten the truss rod until I start to get buzzing in low frets, and then SLIGHTLY loosen it. This gives me a PERFECT result every single time, and is a LOT faster than messing around with feeler gauges for a "setup by numbers". No setup guide can predict the correct amount of relief for any given neck, or the correct neck relief for YOUR playing style and YOUR choice of strings. Some necks/players/strings need more neck relief than others. The same goes for nut slot heights and saddle heights. There really is no "one size fits all" when it comes to bass setups. At least not if you want the perfect setup for YOUR bass/strings/playing style.

Then again, maybe really your bass really is faulty. This is impossble for me (or anyone else) to say without actually testing it. Unfortunately there does seem to be far too many complaints about the truss rod on these EHBs.

I have Just loosened it, with the help of the proper 4mm allen key, some WD-40 and some elbow grease. I'm going to bring the strings back to "almost" full tension and see where we are at, then begin making adjustments accordingly. Hoping for the best!

 

[mikecd1]

Yes, use any warranty first but if none then warming up the neck with a hair dryer might be worth a try before trying to move it after lubrication. Just a thought if its stuck the heat might help since its cold and dry in the northeast.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I Purchased from a GC in new condition, it was a floor model though but the return period has passed for GC at least. I did email Ibanez just to see what they would say, and they said they have a year warranty from purchase. So I should be in the clear for that.

Then let the Ibanez path work its way. Don’t do anything where they can claim customer neglect.

 

[Eric Aquilina]

Then let the Ibanez path work its way. Don’t do anything where they can claim customer neglect.

Im going to have to go to the guitar center and talk to them about it, because there are a couple dings on this bass near the truss rod access that were there when i purchased it, which I think were from the GC employee trying to adjust that truss rod initially before putting the bass out on the floor. I'll definitely have to do some bargaining, because this definitely is faulty.

 

[Eric Aquilina]

Hang on, if you can't tighten OR loosen the truss rod there might still be hope. The complaints I've seen from other EHB owners was the the truss rod was bottomed out from the factory. If you can't move yours in either direction it might just be stuck. Truss rods sometimes get a bit stuck if they haven't been used in a while. Sometimes they need a little jolt to get them moving. Try using slightly more force, and give it a little jolt, but LOOSEN it when you do this. And then when you've (maybe, hopefully) managed to loosen it, you can start tightening it. If this works, go slowly. Do 1/8 of a turn, test/evaluate. If you still need less neck relief, tighten it another 1/8 turn, test/evaluate, etc. etc. Make sure to check the tuning every time you've tightened it. If you end up needing to tighten it more than 1/2 a turn (from where you originally started) it might be a good idea to leave it overnight to stabilize before you tighten it any further. A little bit of WD40 can help with loosening it, but a little goes a long way, don't make a mess!

Make 100% sure you use the correct size allen wrench. I believe Ibanez use 4 mm on all their basses, and they include a multi tool with a 4 mm allen wrench with all their instruments except their cheapest entry level models. Do NOT use the closest sized SAE (inches) allen wrench, which may seem like a good fit, but is in fact slightly smaller than 4mm, which means in can slip more easily and damage the truss rod nut.

Btw, a couple of months into the winter is EXACTLY the time when truss rods often need to be tightened a bit, to prevent excessive neck relief (and consequently higher action). This is perfectly normal and in itself no a cause for concern. It's not about the temperature, but humidity. Electrical heating inside your home will dry out the air even further, and make conditions even worse for musical instruments made of wood.

I noticed that you don't actually mention anything about neck relief, only that the string action is higher. High action can be caused by other things as well. The string action shouldn't even be considered until the neck relief is adjusted correctly. Action is adjusted by filing the nut slots and raising/lowering the saddles, but only AFTER the neck relief/truss rod has been adjusted. Higher action is a side effect of too much neck relief of course, but it's not the way your should evaluate neck relief. You should either measure it with appropriate tools, eyeball it by sighting down the neck (which may require some experience) or the BY FAR best method (IMO): Play the bass and gradually tighten the truss rod for the straightest possible neck that doesn't cause buzzing or choked notes in lower parts of the neck with YOUR playing style and YOUR choice of strings. You can read setup guides online which will tell you how to do all kinds of measurements and set up basses "by numbers" but the correct amount of neck relief will ALWAYS be the straightest neck you can get away with.

My method for my own basses is to simply tighten the truss rod until I start to get buzzing in low frets, and then SLIGHTLY loosen it. This gives me a PERFECT result every single time, and is a LOT faster than messing around with feeler gauges for a "setup by numbers". No setup guide can predict the correct amount of relief for any given neck, or the correct neck relief for YOUR playing style and YOUR choice of strings. Some necks/players/strings need more neck relief than others. The same goes for nut slot heights and saddle heights. There really is no "one size fits all" when it comes to bass setups. At least not if you want the perfect setup for YOUR bass/strings/playing style.

Then again, maybe really your bass really is faulty. This is impossble for me (or anyone else) to say without actually testing it. Unfortunately there does seem to be far too many complaints about the truss rod on these EHBs.

Well, seems like im out of luck, after I managed to loosen it a little bit I tried tightening it again, I did maybe up to 1/2 turn total and saw ZERO change in the relief. Im afraid ibanez may consider this user error rather than a defect unfortunately but I will have to bargain with them.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I have a 5/32 in allen key. According to my calculations it is 0.04 mm smaller than 4mm, is this still enough to cause potential harm??

Yes. Use a 4mm key,

It MIGHT be fine, but this is exactly the kind of scenario I was referring to. Especially when you will need to use a bit of force.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Well, seems like im out of luck, after I managed to loosen it a little bit I tried tightening it again, I did maybe up to 1/2 turn total and saw ZERO change in the relief. Im afraid ibanez may consider this user error rather than a defect unfortunately but I will have to bargain with them.

Ah, that's a shame. But let it sit for a day or so and check again. Sometimes the neck/wood needs a bit of time to react.

If you still need less neck relief, and the truss rod can still be tightened further, try it, but don't use excessive force if you've reached a point where it feels like the truss rod is bottomed out. You don't want to strip the truss rod nut. As long as it can still be tightened further without using excessive force, there's VERY little chance that you will do any damage. Clamping down the neck while you're tightening the truss rod might also help, but only if there is still room for adjustment.

I don't see how Ibanez can call this user error. Especially when there are several reports of similar issues with these basses. I mean, it's not as if you've mangled the truss rod nut or damaged the instrument in any way. Whether they will accept responsibility and repair/replace your bass is a different matter of course...

Worst case scenario if the problem isn't resolved: Maybe you could try lower tension strings? It's a compromise, but who knows, maybe you will like it.

And of course, it can almost certainly be fixed if you're willing to pay for it. This will however mean a rather expensive repair, because the fingerboard will need to be removed.

 

[Belcanto]

I just pulled out my trussrod on an 1005sms, No need to remove the fretboard.
Trussrod repair

 

[Eric Aquilina]

I just pulled out my trussrod on an 1005sms, No need to remove the fretboard.
Trussrod repair

Wow Im impressed! Did you get a new one in there yet?

 

[vaesto]

The air gets dry in the winter so the wood shrinks by loosing moisture. The TR is piece of metal and it doesn't do that. Result: neck bends as if you've loosened the TR. You can actually wait to the summer (wet and hot) and the neck will do the opposite

If TR nut feels stuck and you still need to do more - then you need to help your TR - bend the neck by hands (in your case - straighten it) to the point TR nut starts to turn with literally no resistance. This way you take off the force from TR which it would need to apply to the neck. through the nut's threads. And this is a weak point of any double-action TR with 4mm nut - the thread is not strong enough and gets stripped occasionally.

If it doesn't help - then either the TR is out of thread for nut go further, TR is indeed broken (rarely) of the neck had developed a curve which TR is not able to counter-act. In such case I'd suggest contacting warpedneck.com and heat-treat the neck.