The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

[Binnerscot]

As luck would have it - I bought a NOS Charvel Traditional Pro series. Everything was great until I gave the truss rod a quarter turn to reduce the amount of relief - *snap*! They haven't made these guitars in a few years, so I don't think I'll be getting a replacement under warranty. The Warmoth neck is already ordered....

I have three others (Models A and A+), and they rank with my US made older shred guitars. Every manufacter gets a bad one out the door and I found this one.

I just thought I would post it considering it is the first one I have ever run into (bad truss rod that is) after a few too many guitars to count.......and I still have nothing but great to say about these Charvel Pro series. Its life, what are you going to do?

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

The nice thing about Bolt-ons. I'd be so heartbroken if the truss rod in my Green buddy or my Gibson snapped.

Regardless, that sucks dude! At least you had the money to get a new neck.

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Yeah, and all the specs are straight out of the Fender handbook for sizes. Worse things have happened, but it was disappointing.

 

[sosomething]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

I've never heard of a truss rod snapping from being loosened. If you bought it new, shouldn't a replacement be covered under the manufacturer's warranty?

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

After seeing a couple of these horror stories in the past couple of days, I'll once again suggest that people learn how to properly set trussrod adjustments -- namely, only while the neck is back-loaded and after previously loosening the nut or adjustor.

These will prevent all -- or nearly all -- trussrod damage.

 

[Mephis]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Back loaded?

 

[rog951]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Back loaded?

I think he means to kinda "help" the truss rod by pulling the neck in the direction you're adjusting it to. By doing this, you can take a lot of pressure off the truss rod during adjustment. Of course, you've gotta be really careful not to over-do it or you risk cracking the neck instead of the truss rod. It usually doesn't take much pressure...

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Back loaded?

Yeah. You can see detailed pictoral demonstrations in some maintenance books, including Erlewine's I think, but in essence it's just carefully and judiciously supporting the opposite ends of the fingerboard of the strung instrument on an immovable surface or brace, then applying pressure to the center of the back of the neck.

By flexing the neck backwards, you remove most or all of the pressure on the trussrod. Then, you carefully break loose the nut or adjustor by loosening it first rather than tightening it. Then, with the pressure off the trussrod in the "back-loaded" neck, you gradually tighten it, release the pressure on the neck and check the adjustment. Repeat until you have the neck adjustment where you want it.

That's the pro way of doing it and it saves trussrod lives.

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Of course, you've gotta be really careful not to over-do it or you risk cracking the neck instead of the truss rod.

Yes, remember:

There's no helping a fool.

This is always a delecate adjustment and it assumes the person has some tactile sensitivity and certain common sense about mechanical stresses.

If he doesn't (and he certainly may not) he should NEVER do his own work.

eBay is full of examples.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

There's a reason that long time players end up with Gibson, Fender, and Martin, and you just reminded me of one more reason. Eventually, we all come around.
And that's not a snob answer......if you disagree, you just need a few more years, and then it'll all come into focus. ROFL

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Weren't you advertising Taylor to some poor guy just yesterday Joe? Besides that, I agree. Fender and Gibson are all I'll ever buy (besides things like my Green buddy).

 

[WhoFan]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

As luck would have it - I bought a NOS Charvel Traditional Pro series. Everything was great until I gave the truss rod a quarter turn to reduce the amount of relief - *snap*! They haven't made these guitars in a few years, so I don't think I'll be getting a replacement under warranty. The Warmoth neck is already ordered....

I have three others (Models A and A+), and they rank with my US made older shred guitars. Every manufacter gets a bad one out the door and I found this one.

I just thought I would post it considering it is the first one I have ever run into (bad truss rod that is) after a few too many guitars to count.......and I still have nothing but great to say about these Charvel Pro series. Its life, what are you going to do?

thats a shame.... sorry to hear that... Where did it snap? was it a double expanding rod and the weld broke?

The Warmoth neck may not fit the pocket of a Charvel quite right... Charvel's mostly have a wider heel on their necks so a Fender spec Warmoth may have some space either side of the warmoth neck...

Even if they stoped making that guitar i'd deal with Charvel and try and get a neck that fits... They should stand behind their product or at least help you get a replacement part like a neck...

 

[Malicious Matt]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

What can you say except uh oh, Spaghetti o's!

Could be worse, at least its a bolt-on!

 

[Markk]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

I just looked at my guitar and thought, "Don't worry baby, I'll never snap your truss rod."

:chairfall

 

[Zerberus]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

As luck would have it - I bought a NOS Charvel Traditional Pro series. Everything was great until I gave the truss rod a quarter turn to reduce the amount of relief - *snap*! They haven't made these guitars in a few years, so I don't think I'll be getting a replacement under warranty.

Considering that Jackson also has to adhere to European (spec. German) Laws as they also sell their instruments over here, you should be able to get a new neck without issues. German law dictates that a physical product must be supported for at least 10 years or until it no longer meets the "status quo" of similar products (whichever is sooner). Neither is anywhere close in this case

The Warmoth neck is already ordered....

I´m not sure anymore, was the traditional 22 or 24 frets?? if it had 24, I highly recommend cancelling your order, because a Warmoth 24 fretter will neither fit properly nor intonate.

I have three others (Models A and A+), and they rank with my US made older shred guitars. Every manufacter gets a bad one out the door and I found this one.

I just thought I would post it considering it is the first one I have ever run into (bad truss rod that is) after a few too many guitars to count.......and I still have nothing but great to say about these Charvel Pro series. Its life, what are you going to do?

_

The only thing that strikes me as odd is that you snapped the rod while loosening it... that normally doesn´t happen, I´ve seen it happen once over hte last 15 years and it turned out the rod was reverse threaded, ie. "loosening" was in actuality "tightening":eek13:

*edit*^^ Forget that part, had my brain in reverse there

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Warmoth 21/22 fret necks or Fender spec, won't fit the old San Dimas era Charvel neck pocket exactly, but I'm not knowlegable of the later re-issue type models.

I've played around experimenting with different necks briefly just to see what it sounded like. The bolt holes locations of Fender spec necks, and that of a older Charvel body are slightly different.

If that's also the case, in your case, you may be able to get it to work close enough, by filling the neck's bolt holes with hard wood dowls. You could then set the neck into the pocket and re-mark and re-tap the neck to correctly match the Charvel bolt spacing.

I'd try to get a real Charvel replacement first though.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

I just took some quick measurements. Assuming yours is the same as an early San Dimas Charvel, it's just the bolt holes that are slightly different. The general neck pocket dimensions and the scale length come out exactly the same with Fender spec.

 

[big_black]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

I've never heard of a truss rod snapping from being loosened. If you bought it new, shouldn't a replacement be covered under the manufacturer's warranty?

"Reducing relief" means he was tightening it.

 

[jeremy]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

i would try and get a replacement neck under warrenty. the last snapped truss rod i had to fix was a gibson 1960 lp ri. the rod was glued in place so it was just a matter of time

 

[J Moose]

Re: The odds caught up to me - snapped truss rod

Isn't it possible, at least in some cases, to remove & replace a broken truss rod?

What's involved with that? Delaminating the fretboard maybe?