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Neck too thin, truss rod is breaking out !! :(
- Thread starter barbe-et-hache
- Start date
That looks like you could glue it back together, and after finishing probably not see it much. Whether it would just crack again somewhere else is a different question. But at this point you have nothing to loose by trying. Good luck!
I live in fear of this happening on my builds! How much wood did you leave under the rod? Common TB wisdom seems to be 1/8" as a bare minimum, which is how I'm planning on doing it on my current build. I left more like 3/16" on my Ric clones, but they feel a little chunkier than I'd hoped.
@Gilmourisgod There was 1/16". I removed the piece of wood and measured its thickness with a caliper. And this is roaster maple that appear weaker than the regular maple. I will try to glue it back, and we will see. As @Jeff Siddall said, I have nothing to lose at this point.
I don't see how a brass nut would help here. A brass nut is the part that places the strings on the fingerboard for me, but it can also be, well, a brass nut, the friend of a bolt, which kind of make sens, but I don't see how I should put one of those on the truss rod at this point.
Ouch! 1/16” is a little hairy! In your shoes, I think I’d glue the chip, pull the board, find a shallower rod if possible. The BBG rods are 3/8” deep, what did you use? I think both the LMI and Stewmac DA rods are a hair deeper. If you used an SA rod, it arcs up at the nut and heel, but that’s means in filling the trussrod slot back to solid wood and re-routing a curved slot. I don’t know if that’s any quicker than making a new neck though,
Yes 1/16 is too thin. Likely the failure will happen again. I concur with your original assessment that a new neck is in order. Make some neck shaping templates (see picture) to guide when carving and help prevent over thinning the neck. I make them for the 1st, 12th and for the 17th-18th at the heel with consideration for the truss rod depth. I typically keep over 0.200" of thickness at the first fret.
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Roasted maple ... people swear by that stuff but, it's not really wood anymore after it's roasted.
Depending on how much you want to save it...
You have a few options...
1. Lay up some carbon fiber or fibre glass over the neck. One layer would be enough. Then smooth and paint. Bruce does this with neck breaks all the time. A wooden laminate would probably work too. The complex factor is whether you want to keep the laminated walnut look.
2. Pull the board and glue a thin layer in the truss rod slot and another thin layer between the neck and board.
Anything can be saved.
You have a few options...
1. Lay up some carbon fiber or fibre glass over the neck. One layer would be enough. Then smooth and paint. Bruce does this with neck breaks all the time. A wooden laminate would probably work too. The complex factor is whether you want to keep the laminated walnut look.
2. Pull the board and glue a thin layer in the truss rod slot and another thin layer between the neck and board.
Anything can be saved.
Yes, like reverendrally is suggesting, you can fix the neck by adding a stripe down the back, of carbon fiber stranding and epoxy. Tint it dark brown, make the edges neat and straight, and it will look like it was part of the intended design!
I don't think I'd go that far.....But roasted maple is definitely weaker and more brittle than unroasted maple. But it is usually more stable. The big advantage of roasted maple is with highly figured boards like flamed and bird's eye. Un-roasted, those boards are very unstable. Roasted, they are much more stable. But, they are brittle and weak. You have to allow for that in the design.
Salvage the fingerboard and make a new neck. In the short run it will be a little more work but you won't forever have that nagging repair insecurity form the add on disease.
We've all been there; it is part of the learning curve. The next one will be better because of it.
We've all been there; it is part of the learning curve. The next one will be better because of it.
You could remove the fret board and put a contstructional (thick) veneer in the bottom and another between the neck and the fretboard. This would make your neck thicker by moving the fret board up a bit. You'll get a cool pinstripe down your neck too. Otherwise, route the back of your fret board by the thickness of your veneer to maintain the overall thinness.
If you're worried that wooden veneer isn't strong enough, epoxy a thin metal strip to the bottom of your truss rod cavity. A piece of shim stock would do.
If you're worried that wooden veneer isn't strong enough, epoxy a thin metal strip to the bottom of your truss rod cavity. A piece of shim stock would do.
Ouch well I'll throw out a couple suggestions.
Remove the fingerboard and rod. Glue the cracked bit back in place.
Fill the bottom of the channel with at least another 1/16". I'd suggest a really dense wood for the internal patch.
I do like the idea of CF for this perhaps.
Or I guess you could route a skunk stripe once the rod and fingerboard is removed, and route through the back.
Reinstall the rod and fingerboard.
My condolences, yes this is my #1 neck shaping fear as well.
Good luck,
Dirk
Remove the fingerboard and rod. Glue the cracked bit back in place.
Fill the bottom of the channel with at least another 1/16". I'd suggest a really dense wood for the internal patch.
I do like the idea of CF for this perhaps.
Or I guess you could route a skunk stripe once the rod and fingerboard is removed, and route through the back.
Reinstall the rod and fingerboard.
My condolences, yes this is my #1 neck shaping fear as well.
Good luck,
Dirk
imo, that fingerboard looks very thick. it's possible that's what deprived you of material on the shaft when you finalized your overall neck thickness and profile causing the blowout. assuming that your t-rod slot isn't too deep and your desired thickness isn't too unusual of course.
craftsmanship demands a new neck, but repair experience requires a fix. it's your call.
craftsmanship demands a new neck, but repair experience requires a fix. it's your call.
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Roasted maple is technically a little more brittle than regular maple, but it's still plenty strong, if you are smart in how you use it. The Vikings built warships out of roasted wood (the process has been known for a quite a while) - they did that because it held up better in the environment than regular wood. If roasting made wood a lot weaker, you wouldn't build warships out of the stuff.
All my necks are roasted maple, with tiltback headstocks, but they have scarf joints. I'd much rather have that neck than an unroasted one without a scarf joint. I the case of the OP's neck adits failure mode, 1/16th is too thin - with regular or roasted maple - the roasting isn't what caused the failure, the thin cross section did.
That's exactly where my mind went, though I'd probably do a couple of layers.
