Neck Bent, No Truss Rod

[frasmotic]

my fiancee's dad has an old handmade jazz box. it's crap but it is of sentimental value to him and having it fixed would be a pretty decent christmas present for him. the neck is very bent (upwards) and it doesn't have a truss rod. any suggestions? anyone? please?

[Supernova9]

my fiancee's dad has an old handmade jazz box. it's crap but it is of sentimental value to him and having it fixed would be a pretty decent christmas present for him. the neck is very bent (upwards) and it doesn't have a truss rod. any suggestions? anyone? please?

Buy him socks. You won't fix a neck bent like that without a truss rod. It's the reason they're put in guitars.

Edit: Or listen to Setch. Far more knowledgeable than I is he.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Supernova9

[verhoevenc]

clamp flat for a lengthy period of time and pray??

Chris

[Setch]

1: Check that it really doesn't have a truss rod (what makes you say it hasn't?)

2: If it really doesn't, heat the fretboard with a household iron, until you can feel the heat on the back of the neck. Monitor constantly to ensure you don't damage finish, inlay, or binding. Then, clamp the neck to a rigid board or piece of wood. metla etc, using shims to over correct the bow. Leave the neck to cool overnight. Unclamp in the morning, and see how your bow is. If it's good, string 'er up. if not, repeat until it is good. Play with the height of your shims to get the correct relief set.

[unclej]

1: Check that it really doesn't have a truss rod (what makes you say it hasn't?)

2: If it really doesn't, heat the fretboard with a household iron, until you can feel the heat on the back of the neck. Monitor constantly to ensure you don't damage finish, inlay, or binding. Then, clamp the neck to a rigid board or piece of wood. metla etc, using shims to over correct the bow. Leave the neck to cool overnight. Unclamp in the morning, and see how your bow is. If it's good, string 'er up. if not, repeat until it is good. Play with the height of your shims to get the correct relief set.

good advice..i wish everyone understood that if wood warps one way it can be warped the other. years ago before i really knew anything about repairing guitars i fixed a bowed neck by laying the guitar face down between two chairs and putting four or five encyclopedias on the body for several weeks until it straightened out.

by the way frasmotic..good luck with your fix.

[frasmotic]

1: Check that it really doesn't have a truss rod (what makes you say it hasn't?)

there is nowhere to stick an allen key at either end of the neck. that's normally quite a reliable sign that there is no truss rod.

thanks for all your replies.

[Setch]

You'd be surprised. We've had people assume their guitar had no trussrod, until it's suggested that they take a peek through the soundhole. If you're sure it doesn't have a rod, then follow the directions I gave earlier.

[coolio49085]

I read in a book, it might have been melvyn's, something about older martin's not having any truss rods in them and you could use wider frets to straighten the bend?

Has anyone heard about that?

[spazzyone]

I read in a book, it might have been melvyn's, something about older martin's not having any truss rods in them and you could use wider frets to straighten the bend?

Has anyone heard about that?

Thats called "Compression Fretting" and is a nightmare for an inexperianced to highly experianced

repair person. you have to have mad skills and made many mistakes to fully understand it

but yes it can control a necks relif or help with a backbow/upbow problem

as well as enhance or destroy tone

And take what Setch says to heart he knows what he is talking about

Edited December 2, 2006 by spazzyone

[Hoser Rob]

Those Martins that you'd do compression fretting actually did have truss rods. They just weren't adjutable. I suspect this archtop is similar.

Heat pressing is probably the best route to take.

[Setch]

Nope. If they had trussrods, they'd be adjustable. What they had were 'neck reinforcements'.