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Need help keeping my necks straight.

epic!

epic!

Jan 16, 2010
199
83
#1
Live in CO which had low humidity. I think it’s contributing to my necks warping (both twisting and bowing). My guitar tech thinks it’s a combo of the low humidity and string tension.

My two 4 string basses that are having issues are set up in drop B with string gauge 65-130. Could I be running too thick of a gauge? Any suggestions on how to keep the necks straight?
 
#4
I'm just a couple hundred miles straight north of you, and can attest, this winter has done a lot of crazy things to my bass necks.
Like AK Bass Guy, they are hanging, tuned and ready to play. They've all needed a significant amount of loosening to re-introduce some relief. They're all ~2+k instruments from reputable builders (Sadowsky, MTD) and a good half turn minimum has been needed to get rid of buzzing, especially on the first handful of frets.

This includes the highly venerated torrefied/roasted maples. Okay - they look kind of nice, but I don't think a pinch of stability is gained, as that was the neck that needed 2-3 cranks over a week or two to finally settle back into relief. More than any other of my instruments. Real world experience is suggesting to me that the roasting actually makes it harder to adjust while the stability argument is just plain bunk. Stiffer? Hell yes. More stable? Hell no. It is still a porous organic material reacting to it's surroundings and still needs seasonal adjustments for proper performance.

Point being, necks are going to move. I've learned to stop sweating it, and simply get good at setting the neck, intonation and string heights on my own.
Or save up for at least 1-2 visits to the guitar shop tech for readjustment each year.

String gauges twisting the neck? Maybe, but I think the culprit there is more often the cut of lumber. All basses exert uneven tension across the neck, from that floppy 130 down to that high tension 45 (65 in your case), there are hundreds of thousands of necks out there that take it with no twisting. There's just a certain percentage that fail, due to the unpredictable nature of lumber.
 
#5
jTrolt said:
I'm just a couple hundred miles straight north of you, and can attest, this winter has done a lot of crazy things to my bass necks.
Like AK Bass Guy, they are hanging, tuned and ready to play. They've all needed a significant amount of loosening to re-introduce some relief. They're all ~2+k instruments from reputable builders (Sadowsky, MTD) and a good half turn minimum has been needed to get rid of buzzing, especially on the first handful of frets.

This includes the highly venerated torrefied/roasted maples. Okay - they look kind of nice, but I don't think a pinch of stability is gained, as that was the neck that needed 2-3 cranks over a week or two to finally settle back into relief. More than any other of my instruments. Real world experience is suggesting to me that the roasting actually makes it harder to adjust while the stability argument is just plain bunk. Stiffer? Hell yes. More stable? Hell no. It is still a porous organic material reacting to it's surroundings and still needs seasonal adjustments for proper performance.

Point being, necks are going to move. I've learned to stop sweating it, and simply get good at setting the neck, intonation and string heights on my own.
Or save up for at least 1-2 visits to the guitar shop tech for readjustment each year.

String gauges twisting the neck? Maybe, but I think the culprit there is more often the cut of lumber. All basses exert uneven tension across the neck, from that floppy 130 down to that high tension 45 (65 in your case), there are hundreds of thousands of necks out there that take it with no twisting. There's just a certain percentage that fail, due to the unpredictable nature of lumber.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I live in Alaska, massive temp and humidity changes between seasons. I always have to readjust truss rods on necks on seasons change. Only necks I’ve had that didn’t shift much are the Warmoth necks because they have 2 support rods in the neck, one to each side of the truss rod. Those necks required very little adjustment between seasons. They would also hold tune for a ridiculous amount of time.
 
#6
epic! said:
Live in CO which had low humidity. I think it’s contributing to my necks warping (both twisting and bowing). My guitar tech thinks it’s a combo of the low humidity and string tension.

My two 4 string basses that are having issues are set up in drop B with string gauge 65-130. Could I be running too thick of a gauge? Any suggestions on how to keep the necks straight?
Click to expand...
FYI the tension on running a BEAD setup is about the same or even lower than a "normal" set of strings.
 
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#9
My 2015 MIM p bass with a maple neck moves every season change.

So I turn up the truss rod 3 shots in December or January and turn down 3 shots in April.

My bass with a roasted maple neck from Warmoth doesn’t move at all and the truss rod has been untouched for the last 4 years. Very good for someone based in Montreal, Canada !
 
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#12
An aluminum neck wouldn’t warp. Aluminati makes them hollowed out with carbon fiber fretboards and they are great necks:
aluminatiguitars.com

Aluminati Guitar Company: Perpetually Modern, Instantly Classic

Our sustainably built guitars and necks will drastically improve your playing and tone instantly. Our aluminum guitars & basses, aluminum guitar and bass necks, and aluminum guitar bridges are hand built in Asheville, North Carolina USA. Aluminati Guitar Company builds the lightest aluminum...
aluminatiguitars.com aluminatiguitars.com
 
#13
I lived a few miles south of Death Valley where 5% humidity is not uncommon, but 100% happens fast, not to mention days that swing 70 degrees night to day. My wooden neck bass became very troublesome to maintain. My answer was a change to carbon fiber/graphite neck basses exclusively. Truss rod adjustments went from very frequent/extreme to set and forget with changes made by preference, not necessity.
 
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#17
Wisconsin weather has been all over the place this winter. I’ve had to adjust two of my three wood necks twice this winter. Oddly enough, my G & L is usually the fussy one (Tribute L-2000 neck on a JB-2 body) but it hasn’t needed to be touched. Obviously my Modulus stays put, but between warm and cold you can feel how the strings react differently. It probably sounds dumb but I notice a difference in the strings flexibility on Modulus with temp and humidity swings.
 
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