Old Ibanez Rg "wizard" Necks Are Built With Relief;

[Rocket]

I have about 6 Ibanez RG's with Wizard necks (1987-1991 models) & I have noticed that with strings off and truss rod slackened there is .010" of relief in the middle of the neck (fretboard). All of them.

Why would they be made like this? Seems like they'd be making more work for the truss rod, which I can attest to - I really have to crank on them if I want no relief when strung up with just .009's.

[WezV]

i would say its years of string tension rather than a factory feature.

[SwedishLuthier]

Or, they used a single action truss rod and wanted the customers to be able to adjust their guitars to a normal to considerable relief in the neck when using super light strings. I did that to my first couple of guitars (no access to double action trussrods before the age of internet). Its quite simple. Glue the board to the neck, tighten the truss rod to create a bit of back bow and do the final sanding of the fretboard. It might also prevent a rattling truss rod as it will more likely always be "activated".

[WezV]

i am aware of that technique - just not aware of factories doing it that often

tbh i dont see many old wizard necks that are still perfectly straight

[Metalhead28]

I would be shocked to find one that was straight.

[Rocket]

Yes, they are all single-action truss rods.

Metalhead28, why do you say that?

Edited April 16, 2010 by Rocket

[soapbarstrat]

You can't expect a 20 year old guitar neck to remain as flat as when it was made. It's *wood*, the string tension is around 80 pounds, it was made when that freakin' Bon Jovi "livin on a prayer" video was playing on MTV every hour.

[Moth]

Yes, they are all single-action truss rods.

Metalhead28, why do you say that?

Wizard necks, and most ibanez necks have some of the thinnest profiles out there. Its not a surprise to me that most of the guitars that come in with fret buzz problems are Ibanez RGs and S series guitars. Also, the fretboards on Wizard necks are not radiused. Its easier to bend something flat than it is to bend something round.

[Our Souls inc.]

Yes, they are all single-action truss rods.

Metalhead28, why do you say that?

Wizard necks, and most ibanez necks have some of the thinnest profiles out there. Its not a surprise to me that most of the guitars that come in with fret buzz problems are Ibanez RGs and S series guitars. Also, the fretboards on Wizard necks are not radiused. Its easier to bend something flat than it is to bend something round.

Say Wha ??

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f16/do-i-hav...eded-80914.html

[WezV]

flatter radius but not completely flat - i dont think this makes much difference to long term stability, the really thin neck is enough

[Moth]

oh... well they're advertised in their catalogs as flat

[Our Souls inc.]

So is my sense of humor.

[soapbarstrat]

" Slice-away" view in case anyone's interested.

[SwedishLuthier]

The pics of the Wizard neck suggests a double action rod!

[orgmorg]

The pics of the Wizard neck suggests a double action rod!

Not necessarily. Many single action rods have two rods.

Warmoth bass necks are made with a forward bow.

[NotYou]

Factories do weird thing like that sometimes. I have a Korean made Hamer from around 1999 that has the relief carved into the fretboard and the neck is straight. Makes sense, I guess, if you have the means.

[chops1983]

Factories do weird thing like that sometimes. I have a Korean made Hamer from around 1999 that has the relief carved into the fretboard and the neck is straight. Makes sense, I guess, if you have the means.

Or some korean guy got to excited in the middle when he was radiusing!

Edited April 18, 2010 by chops1983

[erikbojerik]

Having radiused many fretboards, the natural inclination - if you're doing it by hand with a radiused sanding block - is to remove more material from the middle. You have to consciously work the ends and check yourself if you don't want it to happen.

[Quarter]

Having radiused many fretboards, the natural inclination - if you're doing it by hand with a radiused sanding block - is to remove more material from the middle. You have to consciously work the ends and check yourself if you don't want it to happen.

That makes sence and may be what is going on. When hand sanding anything actually, if you use the typical back and forth / up and down action, the ends naturally have less sandpaper contact time than the middle areas.

[cherokee6]

a lot of gits have the relief built in. in fact, luthier micheletti of micheletti guitars and luhier's cool tools, recommends mading the adjustment when building his fingerboard radius jig. it builds in something like .010 in. relief in the middle of the neck. (I'm at work as I write this so I don't have the exact figs. available to me). apparently it gives the strings a bit more vibration room.