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Truss rod snapped......want to cry.

#41
Absolutely.

The size of the removal does not somehow legitimize an improper repair. And while it may be expedient, very few customers would be happy if their tech performed that kind of surgery on their instrument, custom truss rod cover or not.

This repair is not less destructive, it is in fact exactly destructive. The evidence will always exist for those that care to look.

Removing and replacing the fingerboard is not destructive in any way. All of the repair work i.e. removal of the filet and broken truss rod and the replacement of both with new parts, will be hidden forever.

There are standard practices in every profession. The same is true for every craft.

First, do no harm.
Second, no one should be able to see evidence that anything had to be done.
 
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#42
chadds said:
I have a good tech, a great tech. He worked at Fender & early Alembic. He then worked on the Jefferson Airplane's gear. His advice? Mine for you in the future? Leave those adjustments to very experienced techs. Its a feel thing. It's tightened or loosened a little then they wait for the adjustments to slowly happen. It's a finese thing.

Once you have a good setup you may only need truss rod adjustments twice a year depending on your climate.
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A good tech who apparently likes to protect his source of income.

There is no reason that every bass player shouldn't be able to do simple adjustments on their instruments especially as it relates to playability. Comments like this help perpetuate the myth that there's something magical about adjusting the truss rod. There isn't - you just need to be careful about it and adjust in small increments as noted by every viable source on how to do setups. (BTW- OP didn't mention how it snapped - no need to remind him of this fact, just responding to techs comment)

Obviously some people feel more comfortable doing this type of thing and have varying level of comfort with tools and making adjustments but given that the truss rod has the biggest impact of playability (assuming frets are ok) it would be silly not to have a basic understanding for how it works and the ability to adjust. Last time I checked there are no "No user serviceable parts" signs on basses and most come with truss rod and bridge saddle height adjustment wrenches.

As for strings under tension or loosened, there's certainly no harm in loosening strings but there's also no need to. Again assuming you're careful about making small adjustments. I suspect fender recommends loosening the neck to help avoid over tightening. Rather than lossen strings, better to loosen the truss rod a bit before tightening some more.

FWIW, I adjust mine with the strings on and under tension expect in a couple cases where I have take the neck off for vintage style basses. Ernie Ball has the best system by far with the truss rod wheel. I wish every company would adopt this system.
 
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#44
chadds said:
I have a good tech, a great tech. He worked at Fender & early Alembic. He then worked on the Jefferson Airplane's gear. His advice? Mine for you in the future? Leave those adjustments to very experienced techs. Its a feel thing. It's tightened or loosened a little then they wait for the adjustments to slowly happen. It's a finese thing.

Once you have a good setup you may only need truss rod adjustments twice a year depending on your climate.
Click to expand...
funny thing is, now that the OP has "felt" what it's like to break a truss rod, he might be more qualified to adjust them in the future!

also, if the original problem was that the rod was really tight without successfully straightening the neck, leading to the overtightening in the first place, then the rod itself may not have even been the issue!

a properly working neck can be adjusted into backbow or upbow without a lot of force on the rod.
 
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#45
Britbonic said:
...Ernie Ball has the best system by far with the truss rod wheel. I wish every company would adopt this system.
Click to expand...

Yes! I recently played a Precision AVRI '58 that blew me away and very nearly inspired a spontaneous purchase, but one of the big drawbacks in my mind was the truss rod adjustment - Apparently, Fender thought it was more important to be period-specific and utilize the design that requires the neck to be removed.

It made me wonder why they don't adopt the clearly superior flywheel design. I suppose it 'damages the brand' if they acknowledge that another company came up with a good idea.
 
#46
G-MonRV5 said:
Yes! I recently played a Precision AVRI '58 that blew me away and very nearly inspired a spontaneous purchase, but one of the big drawbacks in my mind was the truss rod adjustment - Apparently, Fender thought it was more important to be period-specific and utilize the design that requires the neck to be removed.

It made me wonder why they don't adopt the clearly superior flywheel design. I suppose it 'damages the brand' if they acknowledge that another company came up with a good idea.
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it's no big deal to convert these to the american standard bass system, which works the same except you have a hex-hole truss rod nut and a notch cut out in the body/pickguard so you can fit a wrench in there.
 
#47
I would definitely want that over the 'remove the neck' style, but my point is, the wheel truss rod adjustment (a la Ernie Ball, Sadowsky) is SO much easier that I'm surprised it hasn't become more popular to use.

Edit: In any case, my apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread.
 
#49
202dy said:
Second, no one should be able to see evidence that anything had to be done.
Click to expand...
Before
P1080318.jpg


After
P1080434.jpg


It is exactly the same.
 
#51
No one likes it when there is a criticism of work you have done or have had done to your instrument. Regardless of what was done and how well it was done, there still are recognized "best practices". It can be "pretty good" or "really good" and still not be "best practice". I'm with 202y on this one - pretty good. Maybe even really good, but since the instrument had to be altered I would not consider it best practice.

I'm not being elitist here, just caring a lot about good instruments.
 
#52
Turnaround said:
No one likes it when there is a criticism of work you have done or have had done to your instrument. Regardless of what was done and how well it was done, there still are recognized "best practices". It can be "pretty good" or "really good" and still not be "best practice". I'm with 202y on this one - pretty good. Maybe even really good, but since the instrument had to be altered I would not consider it best practice.

I'm not being elitist here, just caring a lot about good instruments.
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either the headstock lam was going to come off or the fretboard to change the rod out on the mlp. why would you prefer pulling the entire board?
 
#54
Seems to me that it's possible the neck was not made properly to begin with. If the neck was playing properly there would have been no need for further adjustment. I see this all the time, rods are maxed out and still way to much relief in the neck. $500 would be a bargain if the results are good.
 
#55
narud said:
either the headstock lam was going to come off or the fretboard to change the rod out on the mlp. why would you prefer pulling the entire board?
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I was referring to the job where the headstock was cut to make room for the extraction of the truss rod. That is invasive since it cuts away some of the existing wood. Removing and replacing the fingerboard cuts nothing and allows the instrument to be put back to it's original condition entirely.
 
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#56
Turnaround said:
I was referring to the job where the headstock was cut to make room for the extraction of the truss rod. That is invasive since it cuts away some of the existing wood. Removing and replacing the fingerboard cuts nothing and allows the instrument to be put back to it's original condition entirely.
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gotcha. it looked like the "pretty good" comments were regarding the before/after picture of the mlp which wasnt destructive.
 
#57
For the truss rod voodoo people, proper steel bolts(which a truss rod is essentially), should be able to withstand much more torque than you can turn with your hands. Screws are designed to stretch when tightened. The nut has to stop turning and give you feedback, well before snapping. If it snapped before any sign of not wanting to move, it's manufacturing defect. Headbolts on an engine could be torqued down with ridiculous force before snapping. And that's against a non compressible metal surface, unlike wood.
 
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#58
As the title says, it just snapped without touching it? Or did it break while turning it?
Hot Rats said:
So, this just popped off the end of my truss rod...
P1110408_zps3d32f074.gif


It went to this.....
IMG_0440_zps200a200a.jpg

my Mayones BE Exotic.

I am pretty sure it's double expanding rod like this:
thumbnailasp_zps421b165d.gif
and cannot be replaced without removing the fretboard.

Anybody have an idea what it might cost to have this done?
Can it be done?
Is the neck junk now?
Of coarse this happens today, of all days to not be able to contact the local distributor.

Well, Merry Christmas to all.


any thoughts? any at all? Even to tell me how screwed I am...........
Click to expand...
 
#60
Hot Rats said:
while turning it.
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this is the key point: were you having to crank it really hard trying to get the neck to straighten out? if so, the busted rod may not have even been the problem, but a symptom of the real problem, a neck that wouldn't straighten easily.
 

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