Strat neck won't straighten out!

D

devilfish

New member
Hello,

Looking to straighten the neck on my highway strat to do a fret dress but I believe the truss rod is broken in some way..

I've loosened it right off, tried pulling back slightly then tightening the rod to encourage it to straighten but no dice, Tightening the rod seems to do very little, it remains with a significant bow around the 7-9 fret area.

It's playable with the current action, but I need to dress the frets to eliminate that as a cause for fret buzz..

Any ideas? Don't have much experience with truss rods.. this is the first one I've encountered to be broken/not working..

Thanks
 
Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

If you're messing with the truss rod, you have to turn it in quarter increments and let it sit for a little bit. It's takes a few minutes for the wood to settle with the adjustment all the way.

2nd, is the bow at the 7/9 fret area convex or concave....bubbled up or dipping?

Is the neck warped, frets seated properly? do you have anything to check and see if the fretboard is shaped properly, like a notched straight edge? Is the nut cut properly?

You should really rule out any of the above stuff before cranking on the truss rod nut or attempting a fret level.
 
Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

9finger said:
If you're messing with the truss rod, you have to turn it in quarter increments and let it sit for a little bit. It's takes a few minutes for the wood to settle with the adjustment all the way.

2nd, is the bow at the 7/9 fret area convex or concave....bubbled up or dipping?

Is the neck warped, frets seated properly? do you have anything to check and see if the fretboard is shaped properly, like a notched straight edge? Is the nut cut properly?

You should really rule out any of the above stuff before cranking on the truss rod nut or attempting a fret level.
Click to expand...

this
 
Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

Re: Strat neck won't sraighten out!

i've had a few necks that have sticky truss rods... you can remove the tention and the neck stays curved... a little quick back bend of the neck at the headstock... or a CPR style push to the back of the neck in the middle of the neck, (neck on a table, fingerboard facing down and with the headstock resting on a book to give the center some room to move when i push down, should free it up...)
 
Re: Strat neck won't straighten out!

Er, how long since the neck was last under tension?

I notice from another of your threads that you are having issues with two Stratocaster style guitars. I can not help wondering whether your expectations of neck straightness and a low action are beyond the talents of the instruments?

Many of the world's leading blues Strat players tend to have an action that would be considered medium or medium high. This gives something into which to "dig".
 
Re: Strat neck won't straighten out!

Hate to say it, but you might need to re-shape the fret board. My axe had HUUUUGE problems, would work fine for about a week if I changed strings on it, but then it would fret buzz/choke like mad. Would even choke all bends above the 12th fret on high E to G.

Took it to a tech, who found nothing wrong with the neck, but turned out the fret board had somehow warped a bit, cuasing it to "bubble" in a few spots. In the end, I had no choice but to remove all the frets, reshape the fingerboard and then re-fret it. Cost me an arm and a leg too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top