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Truss rods maxed out, neck still bent - PLEASE HELP !!!!

Airfish

Airfish

Sep 12, 2012
159
54
Bratislava, Slovakia, Europe
#1
Hi there.

I don´t know much about instrument setup, so please forgive my probably stupid question....

I have the truss rods on my bass (almost) maxed out (maximum tension) and the neck is still bent into a U-shape. Is there anything a luthier could do with that, or there´s no point asking him and I should just use that instrument as firewood? :atoz:

It´s a 6-string Peavey Grind Bass, neck thru, string thru, mahogany, dual truss rod....

Thank you in advance for any advice.
 
#5
I would get a luthier to look at it. Could be a natural bow in your neck. In which case it is playable but the action will be high forever. I had a similar thing happen to a warwick thumb BO 6 string. Or one of the truss rods are broken. I personally am not a fan of dual truss rods at all. Dual truss rod means their are two rods in the neck. Instead of the usual one.
 
#7
Kukkiwanblack said:
I would get a luthier to look at it. Could be a natural bow in your neck. In which case it is playable but the action will be high forever. I had a similar thing happen to a warwick thumb BO 6 string. Or one of the truss rods are broken. I personally am not a fan of dual truss rods at all. Dual truss rod means their are two rods in the neck. Instead of the usual one.
Click to expand...

yep, it is playable, but the action is really high... funny thing is, that not equally on both sides. on the B-string side the neck is almost straight, only sligtly bent between approx. the 12th and 24th fret.... the action here is relatively ok.... but on the C-string side the whole neck is bent, from 0 to 24.... and the action is bloody high....
OK, I show it to the luthier, just needed to have an idea in advacne, whether there´s any point bothering him at all....
 
#8
Airfish said:
a washer? and how thick?
btw: where is the nut on a neck-thru bass? I´ve only seen in it on bolt-on necks, but just on pictures, never disassembled the neck myself... do the neck-thru instruments have that nut at the other end of the neck, next to the head?
Click to expand...

OK, I'm confused. How do you know the truss rod is maxed if you haven't located the nut to tighten it?

There is usually a small plastic cover on the headstock, under the strings. This is the truss rod cover. You would remove that to adjust the truss rod.

Check this, and let us know if there is one nut under there, or two. Dual truss rod would usually mean there are two (not uncommon on a 6er). A dual-action truss rod would be something else.

Let us know, and we'll help further. Don't burn that bass yet!
 
#11
oh, you mean THAT nut under the truss rod cover? sure, I seen that one and tried to adjust the neck with it - I mean with them, because there´s really two of them.... so I came to a point where they stopped (resistance too high, didn´t want to force them any more) and the neck is still bent, as I described...
 
#12
Airfish said:
oh, you mean THAT nut under the truss rod cover? sure, I seen that one and tried to adjust the neck with it - I mean with them, because there´s really two of them.... so I came to a point where they stopped (resistance too high, didn´t want to force them any more) and the neck is still bent, as I described...
Click to expand...

Did you try turning the treble side truss rod in the opposite direction while leaving the bass side alone?
 
#13
carvinbassplyr said:
Did you try turning the treble side truss rod in the opposite direction while leaving the bass side alone?
Click to expand...

nope.... I turned them both in the same direction, bass, treble, bass, treble.... in small steps, like 1/8 of a turn, or even less.... now they both are stopped, the bass side bent less, the treble side more, as I wrote previously....
So you advise me to release the tension on the treble side without releasing it on the bass side? Am I getting your point?
 
#14
Airfish said:
nope.... I turned them both in the same direction, bass, treble, bass, treble.... in small steps, like 1/8 of a turn, or even less.... now they both are stopped, the bass side bent less, the treble side more, as I wrote previously....
So you advise me to release the tension on the treble side without releasing it on the bass side? Am I getting your point?
Click to expand...

Basically...
 
#16
Airfish said:
oh, you mean THAT nut under the truss rod cover? sure, I seen that one and tried to adjust the neck with it - I mean with them, because there´s really two of them.... so I came to a point where they stopped (resistance too high, didn´t want to force them any more) and the neck is still bent, as I described...
Click to expand...

I've never maxed a truss rod out, but they don't just spin freely, it does require some force to turn them. If they were spinning freely it would mean the truss rod was applying no tension whatsoever. Is it hard to turn, or impossible to turn?
 

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