Unable to get my 620's neck straight...please help

[rickyvox]

Hi, Ignacio:

I'm sorry I did not see this thread before. As Jeffrey pointed before (thanks, Jeff), I can give you some advice to find the proper luthier here in Spain for this job. He knows Rickenbackers. I hope he can bring you some help with this guitar.

[Nacho]

Hi, Ignacio:

I'm sorry I did not see this thread before. As Jeffrey pointed before (thanks, Jeff), I can give you some advice to find the proper luthier here in Spain for this job. He knows Rickenbackers. I hope he can bring you some help with this guitar.

Gracias Julio,

As stated before, I will try to this on my own. The guitar is only two years old and doesn't seem to be defective, so this kind of set up is something I had to learn sooner or later. But please, pm with the details of this luthier just in case I am not able to have it done right.

My previous question is still open.. Should I do the superglue thing inmediately? or is it safe to wait some weeks to avoid throwing a new set of strings away?

[ken_j]

My previous question is still open.. Should I do the superglue thing inmediately? or is it safe to wait some weeks to avoid throwing a new set of strings away?

I wouldn't wait. I can't tell you if it will hurt or not, but I would proabably reuse the strings. Just loosen the strings enough to pull off the tailpiece and set it aside leaving the stings wound on the tuners.

[Nacho]

Just applied the glue.

Last question:

WHERE should I put the additional star washers? Inmediately after the one that's already there?

I can't really see the effect of having a double or triple washer there.

Thanks

[ken_j]

Looking at the pics I would initially try it without adding any. If you need them add the additional star washerers at the body end. This will only lengthen the grip length of the rods and put them where they need to be. If not then there may be too much thread sticking through the adjustment nuts at the headstock. This will be a judgement call for you as if additional washers are needed and how many per rod.

[jingle_jangle]

Assuming you haven't done the superglue thing, you need water-thin superglue (available at hobby stores and home centers). The stuff you can get at convenience stores is a bit too thick, and you want penetration. You need to drip in in at both ends so it penetrates the end grain where the spacer touches at the headstock end, and where the star washers sit at the body end. Then you need to wait 5 or 10 minutes till this sets up, and apply more. The point at which the end grain won't absorb any more is when you stop, wait ten minutes again, and re-install the rods and washers.

[Nacho]

I applied water-thin superglue, pretty liquid, following your procedure, Paul.
I am installing the rods right now and they are very very hard to reinstall. The cavity at the boy end seems to have diminished its diameter a bit. Can this be possible? In order to helkp them get into the channels I need to tap them firmly but I am scared of breaking something else. At this moment, I can see half of each acorn nut still showing out of the body end. I will need to keep on tapping until they are fully in. With this scenario, I finally decided not to install any additional washer. I hope I won't damage the rods anymore. They will definitely be hard to remove from the neck.....

Thanks guys.

[ken_j]

The cavity at the boy end seems to have diminished its diameter a bit.

It sounds like the wood has mushroomed into the cavity. I would consider dressing the edges of the cavity with a file to open the end back up.

[johnallg]

And the reason for the washers at the body end where the acorn nuts are is because the wood had compressed here and lets the rod go too far into the neck itself, which then has too much rod sticking out at the other end, which then has the truss nuts on too far and you run out of threads to adjust. (How's that for a run-on sentence!) You add washers at the body end to keep the rod from going too far in and leaving thread at the other end to adjust later. Add whatever number of washers is needed for each rod to make the acorn head just flush with the end of the neck when the washers bottom onto the super-glued holes.

[Nacho]

Once the rods were out, I realised that one of the rods was slightly bended at the threaded area. Come on! I promise I didn't force them this time. In fact I applied much less torque than I did the first time (when one of the nuts broke off), prebending the neck and so on, as stated in my first post. These things are turning to be very delicate IMO.

So....
both rods are in (not an easy task) and the guitar also has the strings on it. The acorn nuts are flush (and a bit deformed due to the taping) with the neck pickup. I just turned the nuts to snug and it's time for the 1/2 turn per day procedure
The relief is again exagerated at this moment, which is logical. This time I will be more careful if possible to avoid damaging or bending the rods.This will be my last attemp to set this guitar up. I have not much hope as my previous experience has not been very successful..

I'll keep you updated.

[johnallg]

Please do - I sure hope this does the trick. At least the rods have a chance to work properly.

[Nacho]

Ok, folks

I followed the same procedure (prebending + 1/2 turn per day) and some days after the first turn I noticed that the nuts at the neck end were starting to point up, like if the rods were getting bended. There were several threads still available in both rods and they didn't feel hard to turn at all, so I decided to continue with the adjustment process. A couples of days after, the nuts started to harden, but the relief was as down as half mm at each side. At this point, the angle at the nuts was quite noticeable so I decided to stop and put back the truss rod cover. I know that the neck is not dead straight, I know that the rods are probably damaged under their nut(I DIDN'T APPLY ANY OVERTORQUE BUT THE NUTS ARE WITH NO DOUBTS POINTING UP) , but at least the guitar is totally playable now. Now it's time to setup the brigde and intonation and I will be done.

Four days later, the relief seems to be the same (therefore, stable) and the guitar plays and sounds beautifully. I don't know whether all that has happened to me is quite normal (wood compression, rods bending with no overtorque, neck with relief with no strings at all) but even if I am not totally happy, my guitar is way better now in terms of playability and sound in comparison to the beginning, so I believe all this process has been worth. In any case I keep the idea of taking the guitar to a professional luthier some day in the future.

I wish to really THANK YOU all for the absolutely fantastic support given.

GRACIAS !

[jingle_jangle]

Glad it worked out, but note that the bending of the rod is probably from using the tool; because of the tool's angle, it will tug the end of the rod, and nut, up. You can use a small c-clamp and a padded neck caul to push the tips back down again, but this is only really necessary if their ends interfere with the mounting of the TRC.

Even with the new-style rods, pre-bending makes things easier on neck and owner in stubborn cases such as this.

[akhv]

Looks like i got the same problem with acorn nut driving into neck. I wonder how often does this happen to rics.
But at least thanks to you guys now i know what to do.

[akhv]

I guess wood compression may not be the only cause of acorn nuts diving into neck. If you apply too much force while adjusting truss rod so it starts turning inside the neck then star washer at the body end of rod effectively becomes a drill.
Sure enough when i removed truss rods from the neck there were tiny bits of wood in the truss rod hole (see attached picture).