Permanantly bent neck...?

[GLJazz]

Hey all,

I don't know if this belongs here at all, but i think i might go nuts if i don't do SOMETHING about this.

A year or so back i took a Geddy Lee bass in trade for a drum kit. The bass sounded incredible, but the neck had bow like a canoe. I figured that a good setup would set her straight and let my excitement at the prospect of a geddy get ahead of my better judgment. Long story short, with the truss rod all the way tightened the neck still has bow, and two local shops could only get the neck MOSTLY there with no buzz, etc. Still way too high action for my (or really anyone i've talked to's) taste.

Story with the bass was that the guy was too wealthy for his own good, bought the bass on a whim, strung it up too tight without knowing what he was doing, decided he didn't like it and stuck it in a closet with too much tension for about seven years...

I'm getting ready to leave for school and no one is going to miss it back home, so i got to thinking about leaving the bass unstrung with a bit of truss tension for the months that it will not be in use. I know that this is a BAD practice for gutiars with good necks, but could i hurt the wood permanantly by introducing a bit of intentional back bow like that? Sanity check...

Thanks!

GLJazz

[beandip]

Re: Permanantly bent neck...?

You might want to try clamping the neck straight or with a slight back bow and tighten the truss rod. It's helped me many times, you just have to be careful to know when enough is enough with that truss rod nut.

Another option is buying another neck. Then you know it's good.

[BTMN]

Re: Permanantly bent neck...?

I have an '82 Hamer Cruise Bass with nasty bow to the Mahogany setneck. Three piece neck. Same deal, tucked away for a long period with tension on it. Any thoughts?