Maple/Pau-ferro neck arrived! But is a bit bowed...

[dilney]

:headbang1:
It's this one:
http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_necks.cfm?type=guitar&itemNumber=SN5470

I already tightened the trus-rod nut at the heel, but it seems that it came already somewhat tight (didn't have much room to tighten it more).  How long should I wait to see if the neck is flat?

Thanks!

I'll try to post a mock up of the whole guitar soon.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

niiice :headbang:

 

[Wyliee]

Have you installed it and strung it up?  String tension will pull the neck into relief.

 

[dilney]

Have you installed it and strung it up?  String tension will pull the neck into relief.

Not yet.  I did as per the instructions (tighten truss rod to make it flat).  If I had strung it, it would be even more bowed.  I've tightened the truss rod, but don't want to apply too much force onto the truss rod nut.  Will wait until tomorrow and see (it already looks flatter now).

 

[-CB-]

Loosen the truss rod. 

A neck "stand alone" will be flat or very slightly backbowed (middle of the neck closer to the strings), when the truss rod is loose.  Once you put strings on it, you can see how much the truss rod will need to be tightened.  Ordinarily, the neck will front bow (middle of the neck away from the strings) under string tension, and this tension is countered with the force of the slightly tightened truss rod.

Since you've tightened the truss rod completely - and the neck is all twisty now... you may want to consider letting someone else (who knows what they're doing) put the guitar together for you.

 

[simple]

Loosen the truss rod. 

A neck "stand alone" will be flat or very slightly backbowed (middle of the neck closer to the strings), when the truss rod is loose.  Once you put strings on it, you can see how much the truss rod will need to be tightened.  Ordinarily, the neck will front bow (middle of the neck away from the strings) under string tension, and this tension is countered with the force of the slightly tightened truss rod.

Since you've tightened the truss rod completely - and the neck is all twisty now... you may want to consider letting someone else (who knows what they're doing) put the guitar together for you.

I'm sorry, on the contrary, Warmoth necks normally ship with the truss rod loose and a bit of relief (forward bow in the string direction). When necks arrive at thier destination they may change given the climate the neck encounters.

What I will usually do when putting a new neck on is to straighten the neck as straight as I can get it by tightening the truss rod a few turns. Then assemble and the string tension usually puts back the slight forward bow (relief) I need for optimal playing. With your Warmoth Pro neck, you can use the side adjust for fine tuning the truss rod tension...(don't forget to loosen the strings while you're tightening the side adjust).

If you feel on the main primary truss rod adjustment that you are running out of threads, you can also add a truss rod washer or two underneath the nut to gain more play. This instance is rare and if you thinking about that, call Rob Rounds at Warmoth to discuss first to make sure this is the right course of action for you. Thanks.

 

[ZGOZZ]

Nice

 

[dilney]

Thanks for all the replies.

I tightened the truss rod and waited...  Now it is completely flat, so I'll finish it in tru-oil and finish building the guitar...

Thanks again everyone!  :headbang1:

 

[-CB-]

A neck "stand alone" will be flat or very slightly backbowed (middle of the neck closer to the strings), when the truss rod is loose. 

I'm sorry, on the contrary, Warmoth necks normally ship with the truss rod loose and a bit of relief (forward bow in the string direction). When necks arrive at thier destination they may change given the climate the neck encounters.

Maybe its the humidity here in FL, Gregg, but the necks I've gotten, all thru the years (what 8 now?) have all been as I said - pretty near flat to a slight (ever so) back bow.  I can see this happening with the humidity because its exactly what happens here in the winter - when the A/C is off.  All the actions get lower... all the relief gets minuscule, to the point that I adjust relief in the winter to "perfection" and let it go where it wants to when the A/C is back in come March or so.

 

[jackthehack]

A neck "stand alone" will be flat or very slightly backbowed (middle of the neck closer to the strings), when the truss rod is loose. 

I'm sorry, on the contrary, Warmoth necks normally ship with the truss rod loose and a bit of relief (forward bow in the string direction). When necks arrive at thier destination they may change given the climate the neck encounters.

Maybe its the humidity here in FL, Gregg, but the necks I've gotten, all thru the years (what 8 now?) have all been as I said - pretty near flat to a slight (ever so) back bow.  I can see this happening with the humidity because its exactly what happens here in the winter - when the A/C is off.  All the actions get lower... all the relief gets minuscule, to the point that I adjust relief in the winter to "perfection" and let it go where it wants to when the A/C is back in come March or so.

I'm in a completely different climate and have purchased around 20 necks from Warmoth with the same experience, i.e., two or three had a VERY slight underbow, the rest were pretty much dead on straight, and have been shipped to me when the temperature varied from 20-100F.

Personally, I would never even THINK about touching the truss rod adjustment before the neck was mounted and strung to tension. I set up all my builds with light gauge - .009/.010 1st - strings and typically the adjustment is in the general vicinity of between 1/4 and 1/2 turn tightening. I've had a couple of necks (one was one of the ones that had a slight underbow) that needed no adjustment at all.

Of the four bass necks I've bought, all were pretty much exactly straight out of the box and set up with .045-.105 string sets, the couple I've finished/set up so far took around 1 1/2 - 2 turns tightening.

 

[tfarny]

Well I haven't counted, but I think all the W necks I've bought have needed a bit of tightening after being under tension for a day or so. I've never even worried about the relief before I've seen how it acts under tension. And this is in dry and mild LA weather, opposite of FL.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

+1 to Jack and tfarny. As long as a neck isn't mounted and under normal string tension for a day or two, saying anything about how staight or crooked it is, is akin to reading a crystal ball. Also very important is to remember that a neck doesn't react to truss rod adustments immediately. Do small adjustments and then leave it for several hours to settle down.