Lunch Report- May 31, 2011-Last day of May!

Lunch- It might have to be a Five guys burger and fries today, I haven’t decided yet.

I should re-introduce myself to all of the new members of this board.
My name is Bill, I am 58 years old and I live north of Washington D.C. In a Maryland suburb and I have a wife and three children, a son and two daughters.
My kids are all in their mid–twenties and out of school. Two have left home so that is leaving me more time with my wife and hopefully more time to play bass. I have been posting to this board since 2002 and I love playing my G&L basses but I also love repairing any old and neglected bass to bring it back to a useful condition.

This brings me to today’s bass project:

A few years ago I was in my favorite Music Store and I saw a Spector bass with a broken truss rod.
The bass was priced to move so I brought it and took it home to see if I could salvage the pickups or try to fix the neck.
I contacted Spector and they will repair the truss rod for $75 bucks if I ship the bass to their shop in New York.
I considered this to be a very reasonable offer since I have no warranty and this is one of the European made Spector NS2 models and they know of this problem with the bass.
I also want to see if I can do this myself.
I look on these projects as learning opportunities and as such I decided to investigate weather the rod could be removed by loosening it and pulling it out of the neck without removing the fingerboard.
This is the big advantage of a double-acting truss rod. It has no connection to the wood in the neck and since it is independent they should be removable from the neck by pulling it out of the adjustment hole in the end of the neck.
I took the chance and pulled the rod out with a pair of needle nose pliers!
Here are some pictures to show what this looks like:

Here is a body shot of the bass:

Here is the bass with the truss rod beside it:


The problem with this rod became very apparent after I pulled the rod out. The rod works by having one side of the double rod stay straight while the other flexes to put tension on the neck and straighten it. The saddle nut had broken and the rod could not be flexed to do its job.
I was able to use multiple washers and reinstall the original rod. It now works perfectly.

G&L questions:
Do you like the new design truss rod and neck?
Do you adjust your guitar or bass yourself or do you take it to a shop?
Does the change of seasons affect your instruments in your neck of the woods or do you find your guitar or bass stays pretty much the same throughout the year?

Have a Great Tuesday!

-bassman

I like the new rod design, it is what I am used to in double action rods. The neck is good and stable, that is all that matters to me. I do all my own adjustments (and stunts), I am not paying someone 40-50$ for a job I can do in 5 minutes. I have one bass with a really hard to turn truss rod though, regardless of position, have to get a little courage going to adjust that beast.

Seasons are rough on guitars in Canada, I had fret sprout heavily 2 months after I got my G&L in October, I have been adjusting it every time I pull it out currently. My bass went through its big shift and is now pretty good for summer. My 3rd guitar is by far the most stable of the bunch (which an oiled maple neck)

Good work on the truss rod, would never have thought of doing it that way but you saved yourself needing a new fretboard (and all the work that entails). My goal is to get a junker to practice fretwork on, so that when it comes time to dress up my G&L due to wear I will be able to.

Good work on getting the bass back in action.

Truss rods? I like the new design and find the new necks to be very fine. Although, I also really like the Leo era ones. I adjust my own truss rods. I have not had to do other neck or fret work on a G&L. Change of season is not a huge issue for me in MT, I think because it's SO dry all year. But I always have a break in period where things seem to go a little wonky...really about a year I guess.

Nice job on the bass Bassman. I have been lucky and never had a truss rod problem except for one. I have a Fender double and it is rather tight to adjust and it is difficult to remove the relief. I may just take the neck in and have it steamed. That is popular and seems to do the job. It is a dual action truss rod and I wonder if I take all the tension off, if I could remove it. I may check that out.

I have not had a truss rod issue on any of my G&Ls but it seems that others have. The new rod is probably a good change. The most stable that I seem to have are the vintage rods as they seem to change very little. Minnesota seasons are quite a swing and truss rods will normally require adjustment about 3 to 4 times a year and yes, I do all my own work and adjustments. That is half the fun of owning guitars. Like you, I will try almost anything within reason.-- Darwin.

That looks familiar.

The problem with this rod became very apparent after I pulled the rod out. The rod works by having one side of the double rod stay straight while the other flexes to put tension on the neck and straighten it. The saddle nut had broken and the rod could not be flexed to do its job.

What do you mean by the saddle nut?

I was able to use multiple washers and reinstall the original rod. It now works perfectly.

Where did you put the washers?

G&L questions:
Do you like the new design truss rod and neck?
Do you adjust your guitar or bass yourself or do you take it to a shop?
Does the change of seasons affect your instruments in your neck of the woods or do you find your guitar or bass stays pretty much the same throughout the year?

I like the new rod. It's really simple once you see how it works. Lots of range and it's pretty hard to screw up.

I do my own setups.

When my L-2500 was new, it was fairly sensitive to the weather. Now its rock stable. Unlike myself.

Ken...

Bassman,

Now I'm going to have to make a Five Guys run too...

I've avoided truss rod adjustments, but most of my G&Ls seem to be in need of frequent tweaking so I might start experimenting. None of my guitars would hold pitch from one day to the next during the past winter, but I think that was due to wide fluctuations in humidity in the apartment I was renting. Oddly, the worst stability problems (in an ASAT Classic with a bird's eye neck) took the form of the instrument playing about a quarter step sharp on every string every time I took it out of the case. Now that the wonderful Maryland humidity is back (or maybe that I'm out of that apartment) she seems much more stable from night to night.

I've had one acquisition - a '96 Legacy - go back to Guitar Center over a truss rod that wouldn't move enough to correct a bowed neck. When I bought the instrument it seemed in need of a minor set-up, but two techs both said nothing could be done due to the truss rod. The store honored their warranty and took it back, although six months later I think they still have that guitar for sale.

Ken

1. I have no idea which truss rod I have. My guitar is a 2005. When did the new truss rods come into effect?
2. A combination of both. I set up my cheaper guitars here, but the G&L goes to the dealer. Not so much because I can't do it, but because I can't do it without blemishing the instrument.
3. I've had various guitars over the past 30 years and I've only once had a problem with seasonal changes,but that was because the guitar had a hairline crack in the soundboard that I didn't notice when I bought it and the neck went south in early winter.

Humidity and temps here in Portland, Oregon, are pretty stable; so I rarely have to do a rod adjustment. I usually do them myself, and knock on wood, none of my current guitars have had any problems with their truss rods. I think all of my G&Ls have the older, Bi-Cut neck.

Really, the only guitar I've ever really had a neck problem with was my 1976 Les Paul '55 Special Re-Issue. It had a small back bow, with the nut fully loosened. With 10-46, strings though it was "almost" flat, but playble. I probably could have put 11s on it and it would have been perfect. I was going to get it fixed, but when I got into financial trouble in 2001, I sold the guitar, with great regret. The P-90s on that guitar really sang--I think the best P-90s I've ever heard. LOL! It was probably the bad neck that made them so good.

The last G&L Legacy I bought, the guy had the rod cranked REALLY hard to get the neck flat. I got really worried when I started to loosen it, realizing how tight it was. But it did give, and the guitar simply plays and sounds SO much better with the proper relief. That's the third G&L I've bought that was adjusted badly--and I think the mis-adjustments were why the original owners sold them.

Hooray for me!

Bill

I must confess that as a relative newbie to guitars I do not know what many of you are talking about here

In the UK it is cold and temp can fluctuate alot but humidity less so. I own a nice sized house that is well ventilated and I do not keep my guitars near radiators or in direct sunlight. I've not had any problems I am aware of. The guitars stay in tune, feel nice to play, and sound excellent. So I leave well alone. Of course, I expect adjustments to be needed over time but certainly not 3 or 4 times a year.

I have noticed that my musician friends that muck about with their own guitars alot - tend to have most of the problems. Those of us that leave well alone (assuming there is no initial problem) tend to have fewer problems. Coincidence? I think not.

I am generally reluctant to muck about with higher-end guitars - but then, I'm not playaing in a band and not giving them the stick some of you guys are. I have also heard and seen a great deal of nonsense about guitars and their setups.

A friend of mine was told that the neck on a guitar should be straight and not have any deviation in it. My understanding is necks do need to 'bow' ever so slightly (relief). Needless to say, he was over adjusting everything for a while until someone pointed this out to him. Beyond changing my own strings - i leave it to the pros.

Ken I may not be using the right terminology, but the Spector rod does not use a sleeve like the G&L rod. One end of the active rod is welded to the main rod but behind the truss rod nut was a brass block (saddle nut since it was unthreaded) that put pressure on the active rod as the rod nut was tightened. That brass block cracked in half and was no longer putting pressure on the active rod.

The washers took the place of the brass block and again put pressure on the active rod.

Your demo of the G&L rod is great. Thanks for posting it.

bassman Bill

That looks familiar.

The problem with this rod became very apparent after I pulled the rod out. The rod works by having one side of the double rod stay straight while the other flexes to put tension on the neck and straighten it. The saddle nut had broken and the rod could not be flexed to do its job.

What do you mean by the saddle nut?

I was able to use multiple washers and reinstall the original rod. It now works perfectly.

Where did you put the washers?

Ken I may not be using the right terminology, but the Spector rod does not use a sleeve like the G&L rod. One end of the active rod is welded to the main rod but behind the truss rod nut was a brass block (saddle nut since it was unthreaded) that put pressure on the active rod as the rod nut was tightened. That brass block cracked in half and was no longer putting pressure on the active rod.

The plastic sleeve isn't functional from a standpoint of the operation of the rod. It just keeps glue off the rod from when the fingerboard is attached, allowing them to use enough glue to do the job without worrying about gumming up the rod.

The washers took the place of the brass block and again put pressure on the active rod.

Okay - gotcha. I just needed to build a mental picture. A washer stack ought to serve well

Ken...

G&L questions:
Do you like the new design truss rod and neck?
Do you adjust your guitar or bass yourself or do you take it to a shop?
Does the change of seasons affect your instruments in your neck of the woods or do you find your guitar or bass stays pretty much the same throughout the year?

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have never had to touch a truss rod.
I've been playing my SC-1 for almost 30 years and since the initial professional setup I haven't had to touch a thing--intonation and action haven't changed. I initially told my tech to lower the frets and bring the action down as low as possible without buzzing even with aggressive picking. I don't know if he had to adjust the truss rod at that time or not. Even when I changed from '9's to '10's a couple years ago, I did not have to adjust anything.
Maybe the California climate was just kind to my guitars, but even after 5 years on the west coast of B.C. everything still seems to be just fine.
Never had fret sprout issues in over 40 years of playing.
This last year is the first time I have used a humidifier for my acoustic, since my Guild D-55 was the first high-end acoustic I have owned. I use the Planet Waves soundhole model and the sponge seems to dry out within a week with the guitar in its case.