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Working on your bass - Neck Damage prevention questions

P

PrestonSF

Jan 22, 2009
9
3
San Francisco, CA
#1
So, I was going to work on a bass soon, specifically a Lakland 5501. It is set up pretty nice already, and I'd like to replace the pickups without messing up the truss rod and intonation setup that's working nice already. Do you think it's okay to take the strings off without loosening the truss rod all the way? Will this damage the neck? I've read various different opinions on this matter, and hear different things, anywhere from "don't ever take all the strings off your guitar/bass" all the way to "it's okay, just try to work fast." What should I believe? I feel like it makes the most sense to loosen your truss rod all the way if you're going to need to take the strings off an instrument... but I don't necessarily want to do that... My intuition tells me that the truss rod will bend the neck the wrong way if the strings are not there to compensate, but like I said, I don't want to touch the truss rod since it's already in a good place

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

-Preston
 
#2
If you plan on doing the work over the course of a few hours, don't worry about the truss rod. If you figure it's going to take you a few days to complete the job, then I would recommend slacking the rod.

BTW, what do you hope to acheive by replacing the pickups? Are you sure it's not the pre-amp that's limiting your sound?
 
#3
Over the years I've left strings off for days on several instruments while ugrading/modding/cleaning/etc and have NEVER loosened the truss rod or had any problems with any of them.

For some reason people are afraid of truss rods. They are not magical or mystical. Just tweak them sparingly and allow the neck to settle between adjustments.
 
#5
When I remove the strings on any of my basses, I always speak in a gentle voice to the truss rod during the process so it knows that whatever I am doing is for its own good. If a particular truss rod and I are not speaking, I dim the lights, fire up a stick of incense and say a few incantations over it before removing the strings. Generally speaking, my truss rods know better than to mess with me. Of course, it helps if certain planets are aligned as well...
 

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