Is my truss rod not functioning correctly?

[Rex_Rocker]

Well, that fucking blows.

The guitar is 13 years old. It's certainly more beat up than what it originally was from the factory, so someone certainly enjoyed it.

The neck thing doesn't seem like it happend overnight either, so I don't know.

I'm giving the neck one last shot. I just strung it up with 11-54's. which is the gauge directly below 12-56. I set the relief to be almost flat, just not quite, just how I like it.

It fucking sucks that the neck dictates which string gauges I can use. I've never had that issue before. Not with paper-thin Ibanez neck or cheap Squier or Epiphone necks. But I like the guitar, so I want to give it a shot.

If it doesn't settle in by Sunday, fuck it. I'm not going to wait months for it. I'm getting a new baked maple neck or something, and I'm posting a video taking a hammer to the bad neck or whatever, LOL.

 

[GuitarDoc]

You sure you're turning the truss rod adjustment the right direction?

I have never in over 65 years and over 60 guitars had such a problem. Even with the cheapest $35 import necks. But you're not a noobie to guitars so I trust that this problem exists exactly as you have said. It IS possible that the threads on the truss rod are stripped.

So, I'd suggest that you forget about this neck and get a new one. You've done all you can do. Don't waste any more time on an unsolvable problem.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

You sure you're turning the truss rod adjustment the right direction?

I have never in over 65 years and over 60 guitars had such a problem. Even with the cheapest $35 import necks. But you're not a noobie to guitars so I trust that this problem exists exactly as you have said. It IS possible that the threads on the truss rod are stripped.

So, I'd suggest that you forget about this neck and get a new one. You've done all you can do. Don't waste any more time on an unsolvable problem.

Pretty sure, yes. I can tell because, when I check, there is X-relief. I turn the truss rod, I check, and there is less than X-relief for a few hours. Then it goes back how it was.

I haven't checked it this morning, though. I'm not holding my breath, TBH. Don't see how the 11's in Drop C is going to magically fix it when it didn't handle the 12's in Drop C or the 12's in Drop B.



Yeah, already looking for a neck. Looking at the MIM baked Maple replacements.

 

[ErikH]

New neck.... Warmoth. If you go roasted maple / baked maple, get it with moonglow or MOP side dots. Do not go with black. I wish I got a lighter side dot on my roasted maple neck. It may have been fine when brand new but with playing, it's gotten a little darker making the black side dots harder to see. I'm going to order a stick of Luminlay and replace the black with that.

 

[larryguitar]

Wood is..,well, wood. Each piece (even from the same tree, or same board) varies in lots of ways, including strength and stiffness. If the wood is particularly flexible, the truss rod isn't going to hold it stable; truss rods are designed to compliment a normal neck's stiffness, not reinforce one that's understrength.

I'd be looking for a new neck, TBH.

Larry

 

[GuitarDoc]

Wood is..,well, wood. Each piece (even from the same tree, or same board) varies in lots of ways, including strength and stiffness.

Absolutely true.

If the wood is particularly flexible, the truss rod isn't going to hold it stable; truss rods are designed to compliment a normal neck's stiffness, not reinforce one that's understrength.

Not so true.

Truss rods are steel and are strong enough to bend and hold stable even very, very stiff woods (like Rambutan, Wenge or Ironwood) and multi laminated necks. They can easily hold much softer woods stable. Maple is NOT one of the softer woods and it SHOULD be very stable, whether flat sawn or quarter sawn.

If the OP's neck was soft, with all of the truss rod adjustments that he has made, it would have such a back bow you could shoot arrows with it. Obviously the rod can't hold the neck. The only reason I can think of for this is that the rod has stripped threads (or that the truss rod channel was routed too wide and is allowing the rod to pull through the channel...this is very, very, very unlikely however).

In any case, the truss rod could be replaced, but that would cost more than a new neck.