----- at least it's working for me.
I had a neck in for some wicked warping to see if I could get it into better shape.
Someone had taken all the strings off the bass - a really nice 1986 Fender P and then stored the whole thing back in it's hardcase and it was left* forgotten in a closet for many years.
The trussrod was never released and was still compensating for strings which weren't there. Why are people so uninformed and think it's a good idea to remove the strings for storage?
It's such a nice bass and after one local luthier said it needed a new neck I decided I might not be able to get any decent results either as it was.
After all, a luthier gave up on it, so what were my possible attempts going to get too?
The neck had no twist to speak of and it was just back-bowed about 1 1/2 inches too far.
A few days in his press hasn't worked - although it was now only 3/4 of an inch back bowed.
At this same time I have also been making some Dobro-conversion nuts that overlay the standard nut on a steel string guitar, and I had an idea to try a really high nut on this bass and adjust the string tension up to pitch and let it sit a week in my bathroom.
Why my bathroom? HUMIDITY from the shower should help I thought. I shower twice a day and my wife usually does too, so there's a lot of moisture in the air on a daily basis.
I've heard that atmospherics can make necks go wonky, although I've never seen it on any of my gear - but I was going into uncharted (and 'luthier-condemned') territory here, so I decided it couldn't hurt anyway.
A week and a half into this evolution, and the back bow is less that 1/4 inch out of whack right now; but I've got to keep tuning up to pitch several times a day, so something good is happening!
Another week and I'll try the neck without the ridiculously high nut to see if things stay put or not.
Just FYI.
BTW: I'm still out for proof of the humidity having any effect - especially on a totally sealed/finished neck that all intents appears usable for a canoe paddle and bass neck with no untoward problems from either usage.
I had a neck in for some wicked warping to see if I could get it into better shape.
Someone had taken all the strings off the bass - a really nice 1986 Fender P and then stored the whole thing back in it's hardcase and it was left* forgotten in a closet for many years.
The trussrod was never released and was still compensating for strings which weren't there. Why are people so uninformed and think it's a good idea to remove the strings for storage?
It's such a nice bass and after one local luthier said it needed a new neck I decided I might not be able to get any decent results either as it was.
After all, a luthier gave up on it, so what were my possible attempts going to get too?
The neck had no twist to speak of and it was just back-bowed about 1 1/2 inches too far.
A few days in his press hasn't worked - although it was now only 3/4 of an inch back bowed.
At this same time I have also been making some Dobro-conversion nuts that overlay the standard nut on a steel string guitar, and I had an idea to try a really high nut on this bass and adjust the string tension up to pitch and let it sit a week in my bathroom.
Why my bathroom? HUMIDITY from the shower should help I thought. I shower twice a day and my wife usually does too, so there's a lot of moisture in the air on a daily basis.
I've heard that atmospherics can make necks go wonky, although I've never seen it on any of my gear - but I was going into uncharted (and 'luthier-condemned') territory here, so I decided it couldn't hurt anyway.
A week and a half into this evolution, and the back bow is less that 1/4 inch out of whack right now; but I've got to keep tuning up to pitch several times a day, so something good is happening!
Another week and I'll try the neck without the ridiculously high nut to see if things stay put or not.
Just FYI.
BTW: I'm still out for proof of the humidity having any effect - especially on a totally sealed/finished neck that all intents appears usable for a canoe paddle and bass neck with no untoward problems from either usage.
