Set it and forget it?

[Bar Band Bassman]

To each his own. I adjust the truss rods on my basses frequently. I learned by breaking the truss rod on my very first bass (a very not good Lafayette Radio Catalog violin bass). Believe it or not, they sent me a replacement! I'm much more skilled now. This week several days of 80+ degree dry, sunny weather. Today rain most of the day and mid-60's. I adjusted 4 basses, 2 for Friday's gig, 2 for Saturday's. Maybe I'm picky. Maybe I'm neurotic. I will check all of them day of the gigs.

BBB

 

[FightMilk]

I mean my resonator doesn’t have traditional saddles. And even though it’s an adjustable spider bridge, the only way to adjust the action (to an extent) is the truss rod.

 

[ctmullins]

I'm always amazed by the people who say that they tweak a truss rod very, very often -- like every few days -- to keep the neck EXACTLY where they want it.
Personally, I get a newly acquired bass professionally set up once, then happily deal with the seasonal fluctuations in the action. As long as there is no buzzing, I go back and forth between stiff flats and "loose" rounds without truss rod adjustment, no problem.
(Intonation does matter a lot to me, though.)
I guess this is because I'm a dinosaur who came up in the crude days when there were fewer options, no internet tutorials, no TalkBass, and you just got the job done! If I play a bass every single day, the slow seasonal changes are absorbed by me naturally, I suppose.
Who's with me?

I’m with ya. Once a bass is set up, I never touch the truss rod again.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

My first bass was a 78' Ric 4001, which had the double "Hairpin" trussrods, which many people claim never need adjustment. That wasn't true in my case, it needed adjustment every couple of months. Since every piece of wood is unique, I don't think it's possible to generalize about what any particular bass "should" need as far as truss rod adjustment A lot of it depends on your local climate.. At any rate, learning to do your own setups in the age of YT is stupid-easy, and requiring only a few basic tools most people already own. I havent' found a better series than this on basic setup. If you do parts 1-4 in order, you will have a decent setup. His numbers are conservative, so you can always tweak the relief and string action a little lower, but his basic approach WORKS:

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I'm always amazed by the people who say that they tweak a truss rod very, very often -- like every few days -- to keep the neck EXACTLY where they want it.
Personally, I get a newly acquired bass professionally set up once, then happily deal with the seasonal fluctuations in the action. As long as there is no buzzing, I go back and forth between stiff flats and "loose" rounds without truss rod adjustment, no problem.
(Intonation does matter a lot to me, though.)
I guess this is because I'm a dinosaur who came up in the crude days when there were fewer options, no internet tutorials, no TalkBass, and you just got the job done! If I play a bass every single day, the slow seasonal changes are absorbed by me naturally, I suppose.
Who's with me?

I guess I'm old now. I started playing guitars and basses in the early 1990s. I have 22 guitars and 12 basses. Maybe not so many after all these decades. Or maybe it's too much. Either way, I have done very few truss rod adjustments over these many years. Once the instrument is in a place where it plays like I want or need- which tends to be fairly low but not super-shredder low action- it tends to stay there.

Maybe I'm lucky.
Maybe I'm not picky- at least in that way.
Maybe my instruments tend to stay in stable environments.

I don't know.

I guess all of which is to say that I feel lucky I don't have to deal with frequent trust rod adjustments SO FAR. I guess for those that feel they have to deal with that, well perhaps that is the price to pay for them to have the instrument playing at it's 99%-100% best at every possible moment the instrument is touched, and that's ok too.

Not that you are saying it is, but I don't feel I have better values, or priorities or I'm doing things better or more correctly. The thing about this I feel the most, is simply luck and gratitude I don't need or feel the need to mess with the truss rod often. That is all.

 

[ole Jason]

I used to be into absurdly low action, think Victor Wooten, and that type of setup would require pretty routine adjustment to keep things in check. With normal action I rarely have to touch things.

 

[Nuisance]

For some of my basses, the OP's statement holds true.

My Steinberger does not move at all. I have other basses that maybe move a little seasonally (as would be expected).

My main player is an EBMM Stingray Special and that needs frequent adjustment. I'm hoping the roasted maple settles in at some point.....but there's no way I could go more than a month without adjusting it. And this is with the same set of strings on it.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I had thought the whole point of roasting necks was to give vintage wood tone, and stability.

 

[sissy kathy]

I had thought the whole point of roasting necks was to give vintage wood tone, and stability.

It improves stability, so changes are less dramatic; it does not stop them. On the down side the wood becomes brittle, and perhaps weaker as well.

 

[Wyvern]

I had thought the whole point of roasting necks was to give vintage wood tone, and stability.

If the FB is ebony or rosewood, they can fight too.

Or if the neck blank was particularly green or sappy, it might have roasted unevenly.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

About the only wood neck I ever saw that didn’t move was a Kubicki Ex Factor, something like 30 layers of wood laminated together, like an LVL beam. Extremely rigid neck. It’s a fairly easy problem to solve: just don’t use solid wood, or reinforce it with something like CF that won’t let it move. Most trussrods are NOT designed to straighten a neck that’s naturally bowed.

 

[brianrost]

My 53 P was set up back in 2005. I have not touched it since, not even to change strings.

 

[DWA2469]

I check my relief every time I change my strings, even if they are exactly the same and adjust if needed!

 

[Tommy Sparks]

I have one bass that needs seasonal truss rod adjustments. It’s not too bad and I have given up on adjustments a couple years ago. My other ones I rarely have to ever touch the truss rods.
I also started in the 70s and we didn’t know much better then or have any reference materials to work with.
So, I guess I’m with you.

 

[96tbird]

I like low action. Some of my basses needs seasonal truss adjustments, some do not. Those that do need it, it’s less than 1/4 turn. Simple.

 

[bassdude51]

I'm always amazed by the people who say that they tweak a truss rod very, very often -- like every few days -- to keep the neck EXACTLY where they want it.
Personally, I get a newly acquired bass professionally set up once, then happily deal with the seasonal fluctuations in the action. As long as there is no buzzing, I go back and forth between stiff flats and "loose" rounds without truss rod adjustment, no problem.
(Intonation does matter a lot to me, though.)
I guess this is because I'm a dinosaur who came up in the crude days when there were fewer options, no internet tutorials, no TalkBass, and you just got the job done! If I play a bass every single day, the slow seasonal changes are absorbed by me naturally, I suppose.
Who's with me?

Generally, and I do mean generally, if our truss rod is adjusted correctly and if we keep using the same brand and type of strings, in most cases, the truss rod is done.

 

[madmaskbass]

I know when it feels a bit off because i play with low actions and it if starts buzzing then i will get the tools out. If i am changing strings or getting ready for recording i am far more attentive to it all. Will play with higher actions until its annoying. I have one bass that has a broken truss rod but thankfully is pretty stable so far but may have to keep adjusting string gauges to play that one lol.

 

[Jack]

I had a Fender Flea Jazz for a bit that had a neck about the thickness of a toothpick and that needed about weekly adjustments. I am sure it would have settled into the strings it was wearing over time but I'm not sure how much of it was due to temperature and humidity. Everything else either gets checked when it gets new strings or if I notice that it's gone bad, which is hardly ever.

 

[Bassdirty]

I live in NE (constantly changing climate), I like my basses to have LOW action. I Rarely have to tweak the TR on any of my basses.
All my (main) "playing" basses are Ibanez SR 5 strings (various 'levels' from 500-$2000). I also use the same Gage round wound strings on all.

One bass I had to 'fight' with (or, do a LOT of tweaking to get almost right-still not 100%) has a 'bum neck' (probably why it was so cheap).

The Other Bass I had to Constantly tweak the TR was a 4 str Fender P bass (MIM). I suspect THIS bass also had a Neck/ TR issue (another "good deal" bass).



I know I'm a few pages in, But I think it would be .. noteworthy if people listed: not only what State (or country) or "Climate" they live in & what Basses they are (or aren't) tweaking Truss rods on. Just an Idea.


T$

 

[TomB]

If you live in CA, Arizona, or New Mexico you might NEVER need to adjust your rod, but New England? Not so much. Wood moves in response to changes in humidity, which is a daily occurrence in NE. String tension alone will cause most necks to develop a gradual forward bow over time. it's inherent to wood, which is not even close to the best available material for a bass or guitar neck. Anyone who's owned a Carbon Fiber neck like a Steinberger can testify to the difference. I've been putting (2) pultruded CF bars in my neck builds, one either side of the DA trussrod, and it's noticeably more stable than necks without them, but there are multiple routes to the same effect.

I live in New England and have found overall that age / aging is the biggest determinant in truss rod usage. All my really old necks are stable, my newer ones less so. That’s an oversimplification, true, but it’s based on a lot of experience.