Truss rod paranoia

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 12:49 pm

The neck will probably gradually straighten out by itself in a few days if the old strings were of a heavier tension, it is a gradual process sometimes. And sometimes if you change to TI's from higher tension strings and adjust the neck for the reduced tension the neck will relax even more in a few days and you may have to re-tighten them slightly, when changing to TI's it can take some time for the neck to fully adapt to the new lower tension, at least in my experience. That is why I keep the truss rod cover off for a few days.

m_cuffa · Post by **m_cuffa** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 3:50 am

Thanks. The neck is pretty straight now. I was not able
to completely eliminate the bow.. I probably could have, but
the truss rods suddenly became harder to turn and I didn't want to force.
But it's a very small bow, and maybe it will disappear in a few days anyway.
BTW, does anyone else have problems intonating their G string?
I've pushed the saddle up as far as it can go but it's still a little bit sharp.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:36 am

This is probably a dumb response...but have you tried loosening the strings and pushing the bridge over slightly?

m_cuffa · Post by **m_cuffa** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:57 am

I'm not sure I understand your meaning.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:16 am

The bridge on your(our!) bass is balanced on the tailpeice by the two height adjustment allen screws. The strings keep it in place. If you were to take all of the strings completely off, the whole bridge assembly would lift right out of the tailpeice. You have a little bit of freedom (maybe an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch) to tilt the bridge assembly when you're stringing up the guitar. Yours may be tilted too far and may need to come back some.

m_cuffa · Post by **m_cuffa** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 8:58 am

Hmm! Didn't think of that. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 9:46 am

No prob. Its fun to play know-it-all guy!

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:08 am

Michael, when you said "I've pushed the saddle up as far as it can go but it's still a little bit sharp.", which direction did you push? The saddle should be pulled away from the neck if your G string is sharp.

I personally prefer the bridge piece to be absolutely paralel to the tailpiece. I put a 1/4"X2" strip of medium-thick business card between the mute and the bridge to achieve that.

m_cuffa · Post by **m_cuffa** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:23 am

I should have written "pushed down", i.e. I turned the
screw clockwise to bring the saddle closer to the tailpiece.
I have a feeling though that when I restrung the bass I might have inadvertently
moved the bridge a little so that it's now crooked (I didn't know it
could be moved like that). I suppose I'll find out when I get home.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 11:38 am

Chances are that your bridge piece tilts towards the neck now. Try inserting a said business card strip between it and the mute pad to "uncrook" it or even tilt it towards the end strap button and see if you can achieve good intonation for the G string.

If that doesn't improve the intonation enough, try reversing the G saddle (provided the change of distance between the G and D strings is acceptable) so you have more room for string length adjustment. I had to reverse the E and A saddles of my '98 to get perfect intonation.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:13 pm

I own 6 Ric basses and usually the bridges aren't set high enough to tilt, it depends on many things. The thickness of the fretboard, the amount of relief in the neck, and the neck angle are three big variables as far as whether your bridge will have to be set high enough to tilt.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:16 pm

Some basses have their bridges high enough so that they tilt and some don't. Most of mine are flat and don't tilt either way, that is also the way I like it. There are three reasons that I can think of that can cause you to have to have the bridge high enough so that it will tilt. The neck angle, the amount of relief in the neck, and the thickness of the fretboard.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:14 pm

I had a hard time getting my 4001 to intonate properly ... I put in a new nut ... and I reversed the saddle and pushed it all the way back ...

with all the saddles back like that the whole bridge wants to tilt back as well ...

also a couple of my 4003s5 bridges I had to push the b string saddle to the limit to get it to intonate ...

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:13 am

My bridge is like Jeff's on my 4001 too. In addition I did the MA mod so I can adjust the intonation easier.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:14 am

What's the MA mod?