Big Oopss, need new truss rod now
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
Well, the neck is a non-responder. The natural state (no rod tension, no strings) shows nearly 1/16" of relief in the middle of the neck. The rods can flatten it out but only with the strings off. I have sent Jack a list of options that I can think of for dealing with this. If anyone has any to add please feel free. They are listed in order from least desirable (IMHO) to most.
1) Dump the bass and start over. This does not solve the problem it just hands it off to someone else. If you divulge the problem to the buyer it will probably devalue the bass considerably. If you don't divulge the problem you could make an enemy when it is discovered.
2) Heat pressing. A lot of luthiers and repairmen advocate the heating and over-bending of guitar necks to correct excessive bow. This method has value at times but is somewhat barbaric and there is considerable risk of damage to plastics and the finish. The heat press works two ways. It heats the water in the wood causing it to steam from the inside. This steam softens the wood allowing it to become somewhat pliable. While it does work, the steam must ultimately escape and usually does by collecting in bubbles under the finish - not pretty. The other thing heat does is soften the glue between the fingerboard and the neck allowing the two to realign a bit. When the heat is removed, the glue resets and locks the pieces in the new orientation. I think the up bow is too severe to be solved with heat pressing alone.
3) Compression fretting. This is a technique that uses fret wire with slightly over sized tangs. The tang is the part that is pressed into the fingerboard. The tang of any fret displaces the wood and causes the fingerboard to back bow very slightly. The larger the tang, the greater the resulting back bow. This is a very reliable technique that advocated by virtually all of the master builders and repairmen. The downsides are that compression fretting can remove only about .020" of relief. In the case of your bass we are looking at about .060. The required fret wire is called refret wire and in only available in one size which is slightly narrower than what is on current Ricks and slightly taller. Probably not a major problem.
4) Leveling the fingerboard. In most cases of severe bow, leveling is the best approach. It is somewhat extreme in that all of the frets are pulled and the fingerboard is re-leveled. This means that the fingerboard must be re-finished afterwords. Very small amounts of wood are removed from the high points with very sharp sandpaper mounted on a device called a sanding beam. The beam is perfectly straight and is radiused on it's face to preserve the radius of the fingerboard. Once this is done, the natural state of the fingerboard will be flat and true. The amount of wood removed will not be noticeable. When the rods are tightened, the neck should back bow slightly as a good neck should. Leveling can be combined / extended with items 2 and 3 if needed. It would be a trivial matter to finish the walnut wings (Jack asked about having walnut wings installed) when the fingerboard is re-fined.
1) Dump the bass and start over. This does not solve the problem it just hands it off to someone else. If you divulge the problem to the buyer it will probably devalue the bass considerably. If you don't divulge the problem you could make an enemy when it is discovered.
2) Heat pressing. A lot of luthiers and repairmen advocate the heating and over-bending of guitar necks to correct excessive bow. This method has value at times but is somewhat barbaric and there is considerable risk of damage to plastics and the finish. The heat press works two ways. It heats the water in the wood causing it to steam from the inside. This steam softens the wood allowing it to become somewhat pliable. While it does work, the steam must ultimately escape and usually does by collecting in bubbles under the finish - not pretty. The other thing heat does is soften the glue between the fingerboard and the neck allowing the two to realign a bit. When the heat is removed, the glue resets and locks the pieces in the new orientation. I think the up bow is too severe to be solved with heat pressing alone.
3) Compression fretting. This is a technique that uses fret wire with slightly over sized tangs. The tang is the part that is pressed into the fingerboard. The tang of any fret displaces the wood and causes the fingerboard to back bow very slightly. The larger the tang, the greater the resulting back bow. This is a very reliable technique that advocated by virtually all of the master builders and repairmen. The downsides are that compression fretting can remove only about .020" of relief. In the case of your bass we are looking at about .060. The required fret wire is called refret wire and in only available in one size which is slightly narrower than what is on current Ricks and slightly taller. Probably not a major problem.
4) Leveling the fingerboard. In most cases of severe bow, leveling is the best approach. It is somewhat extreme in that all of the frets are pulled and the fingerboard is re-leveled. This means that the fingerboard must be re-finished afterwords. Very small amounts of wood are removed from the high points with very sharp sandpaper mounted on a device called a sanding beam. The beam is perfectly straight and is radiused on it's face to preserve the radius of the fingerboard. Once this is done, the natural state of the fingerboard will be flat and true. The amount of wood removed will not be noticeable. When the rods are tightened, the neck should back bow slightly as a good neck should. Leveling can be combined / extended with items 2 and 3 if needed. It would be a trivial matter to finish the walnut wings (Jack asked about having walnut wings installed) when the fingerboard is re-fined.