Asymmetrical Neck Bow

[RutleDirk]

I've seen this on a number of guitars, Ricks included: One side of the neck appears perfectly straight, while the other has some bowing. I believe in every case, it has been the treble side with the bowing. In my experience, truss rod adjustments don't solve this problem. Adjusting so that the treble side is straight(er) results in visible back-bowing on the bass side.

I wouldn't call this a "twist." To my eye, the frets appear parallel all the way down. The bow is most noticeable when sighting along the edges of the fretboard.

I've seen a couple of Ricks like this, on which someone had apparently tried to correct the condition by tightening one rod much more than the other, to no avail. As I understand it, this isn't exactly what the dual rods are meant to do, however I've heard advice to the contrary, as well.

Is this a fairly common condition? Is there any way to correct this without extensive work on the neck?

[RutleDirk]

Sorry if my terminology is a bit askew. What I'm seeing is relief on the treble side, and none on the bass side. Adjusting the relief out of the treble side results in bowing on the bass side.

On the most recent Rick on which I've seen this, and before making any adjustments, I found that the treble-side rod was very tight compared to the bass side. I can't say whether this was a side effect of the condition, or whether someone else had attempted to correct it by adjusting it this way.

Hope this clears it up, a bit.

[antipodean]

I have seen a few basses with more relief on the bass side. This problem can be addressed on instruments with dual truss rods to some extent, but as you note, the rods are interactive - adjusting one rod has an impact on the whole neck. The secret to getting the adjustment right is to follow the age-old truss rod rule of "gradual is better" - small incremental adjustments are more likely to solve the issue than large adjustements. Experience tells me that over-adjusting will probably result in wood compression at one or both ends of the truss rods (or damaged rods), rendering the rods useless without remedial work.

A neck that has been allowed to settle into this kind of position may take some time to readjust and resettle, so you may need the patience of a saint to see it through.

I'd also note that a little asymmetric relief is probably more common than many of us think. I have on bass with a quite obvious issue (but only one truss rod) and a luthier just looked at it and said "that's ok - it's still very playable" and he went on to demonstrate exactly how playable it was...