Should I RMA my neck? Relief problem

[Eleventh]

My wenge neck with rosewood fingerboard has some relief problems and I am wondering if it’s worth going to the expense, hassle, and time of sending it to Warmoth for a warranty inspection.

I simply can’t get more than maybe 8-9 thousandths of relief (measured at the 8th fret with the first capoed and the 21st held down). The truss rod nut is completely loose (modern neck construction) and I’ve performed the truss rod reset per the steps on Warmoths site. I’m using 10s with a hardtail bridge, if it matters.

Do to think I should send it in for the warranty inspection? Is there something I’m doing wrong? Is there something else I should look at or try?

 

[Cagey]

.008"-.009" is typical. Any more than that, and it's likely you're trying to compensate for other problems that relief is not intended to alleviate. I can't speak for Warmoth, but I suspect that's what they'd say.

New Warmoth necks, if you have them fretted, have the frets installed and the ends beveled to ~30°-35°. They're not leveled, dressed or polished. That's part of setup, and is on the proud new owner to take care of. Since it's a freshly milled fretboard, the frets are usually fairly level, but only to the extent the fretboard is level. Think of a new OEM guitar, like a Fender Strat. Still, there will be 3 to 5 frets (give or take a few) that sit a little proud, so to get it perfect you have to go through a leveling. Dressing isn't necessary, but for comfort's sake it's highly recommended. Once the frets are leveled, some are going to need to be recrowned. Of course, after all that's done, a good polishing is in order.

Also, the nut slots are cut a bit shallow. Once the thing is strung up, those can be cut to the appropriate depth for your gauge set.

You can play their necks straight out of the box, and many guys do because even untouched they're better than a lotta OEM parts. But, if you're looking for lower action with clean notes and comfy play, you gotta do the setup.

If you don't have a luthier nearby that you can trust, there's a guy here named "Cagey" who does that sort of work real reasonable :laughing7:

 

[Eleventh]

Thanks for the reply cagey.  I’ve leveled and dressed the frets already.  Buzz isn’t really a problem, I’m just surprised I couldn’t get more relief if I wanted it.  Seems like I should be able back the truss rod adjust but out more than I can without it just being totally loose. I guess I’m wrong about that?

 

[Cagey]

I've seen lotsa other necks where you could get more relief, but never Warmoth's. In fact, there's been more than once I was barely able to get the .008" I wanted. At one time, I though maybe they undercut the fret slots by a .001" or so to ensure tightness and the fretting ate up some of the relief, but I've had numerous unfretted necks of theirs here and that doesn't seem to be the case. It might have something to do with their gluing the frets in and making the fretboard more rigid as a result, but I'm just speculating.