One of my 4003's just started with a neck issue. I hadn't played it in about a week and when I did I noticed a fair amount of fret buzz. Mostly E and A strings around the 3-5 frets. Hot weather (humidity) is upon us and I assumed expansion of the wood and thus backbow. I really couldn't see it, but started backing off the truss tension in small increments over several days with some minor improvement, but not solved.
I read with interest the topic in this forum about the truss rod and tools, especially Paul W's advice on truss-rod and neck adjustment. I removed the strings and released all truss tension for a little over a day. Checking with a straight edge there is still backbow in the neck around the 7 and 8 frets. So I guess here is the question; with no truss tension and backbow still in the neck, how can I remove it? I mean the solution would normally be to release some tension....but there is none.
Note this neck has always been straight as an arrow....I have only had to do minor tightening on the E side...and I mean very minor over 3 years.
Perhaps restringing with no tension on the truss rods and then checking and proceeding is the way to go?
Backbow
Moderator: jingle_jangle
Re: Backbow
Ok...restrung with having the nuts just snug. Backbow is gone, now there is some bow 7-9th frets on the E side. This was probably the issue all along and that will explain why backing the nuts off did not solve it. I've tightened the G side about 1/4 turn, about 1/2 or so on the E side. I'll start the 1/8 to 1/4 tightening on the E side each day until the bow is straight unless someone thinks some other method is more appropriate.
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, there you are.
Re: Backbow
I've had that type of neck problem happen on two of my Ricks. What I ended up finding is the truss rod(s) have a large curve bent in it (them) and I had to remove it (them) and straighten. RIC has stated the large curve to the rods is usual, so my guess is the rod rotated 180 degrees in the slot and now causes backbow. After removing a curved rod(s), my necks both straightened out, without rods or strings. Reinserting straightened rods made the neck behave as you would expect. You might want to look into this if the problem persists.
Re: Backbow
Neck is straight today...all things are good.
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, there you are.
Re: Backbow
That's good to hear!
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
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jingle_jangle
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Re: Backbow
Just think of the truss rods as the Bizarro strings. (Remember? Superman? the Bizarro world? Where everybody talked like Koko the gorilla and were drawn like poor wireframe models?)
They do to one side of the neck exactly the opposite of what the strings do to the other side. The neck becomes a compression member trapped in the force fields of two tension members. You want to balance out those forces so the neck ends up nice and straight. When the neck bends to one side, you tighten the opposite member to bring it into line. Except one member (the strings) must be at a specific tension (in tune), so once that's achieved, the adjustment must all be on the truss rod side; tighten if there's too much relief; loosen if there's a backbow.
Remember that results will take time to become evident, as wood does not immediately snap to attention the way you wish it would.
The issue of removing the tension and still seeing a backbow could be a result of the normal bend put into Rick truss rods as they're inserted. But you done OK (talking Bizarro now...). Take it back to "equilibrium", strings detuned and rods fully slack, let sit for a few days and it might have gone back to dead flat, but in any case tuning up and retensioning was the way to go. A couple of touch-ups and you're set to go.
My 4005 has a neck so sensitive that I use it as a barometer...I've attached a pencil to its midpoint and I can plot humidity on a piece of graph paper...JOKE but you get my point. It was fine a month ago, unplayable yesterday after several somewhat warm, dry days here.
They do to one side of the neck exactly the opposite of what the strings do to the other side. The neck becomes a compression member trapped in the force fields of two tension members. You want to balance out those forces so the neck ends up nice and straight. When the neck bends to one side, you tighten the opposite member to bring it into line. Except one member (the strings) must be at a specific tension (in tune), so once that's achieved, the adjustment must all be on the truss rod side; tighten if there's too much relief; loosen if there's a backbow.
Remember that results will take time to become evident, as wood does not immediately snap to attention the way you wish it would.
The issue of removing the tension and still seeing a backbow could be a result of the normal bend put into Rick truss rods as they're inserted. But you done OK (talking Bizarro now...). Take it back to "equilibrium", strings detuned and rods fully slack, let sit for a few days and it might have gone back to dead flat, but in any case tuning up and retensioning was the way to go. A couple of touch-ups and you're set to go.
My 4005 has a neck so sensitive that I use it as a barometer...I've attached a pencil to its midpoint and I can plot humidity on a piece of graph paper...JOKE but you get my point. It was fine a month ago, unplayable yesterday after several somewhat warm, dry days here.