Neck twist
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:30 am
Repairable? Also, what causes this to happen?
A fear of me messing something up like this is what keeps me from trying to adjust my own truss rods:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1996-Rickenbacker-3 ... 1c0e32b812
"OK, first of all, let's begin by telling you this guitar has an issue with neck twist. While is isn't serious enough to render the instrument unplayable it certainly must be covered. The neck is twisted about 2 degrees with the treble side being lower than the bass side as you sight down the neck from the headstock. I have had the guitar set up by one of Jacksonville's best guitar techs and it is correctly intonated up to at least the 17th fret(after fret 17, you will get some fret buzz - but who plays that high on a 12 string?) The set-up tech (who has a rather extensive vintage guitar collection) states the the guitar - in his opinion - plays as well as the actual vintage models from back in the day, but not as well as the current reissues. Please bear in mind that this is an OPINION. For what it's worth, it's an opinion I share with him.
As a result of this twist, the guitar has a fair bit of relief in the neck (especially for a Ric, as these necks are normally set at, or close to, dead straight) This condition also predicates that the guitar be strung with very light strings. So, if you're think of buying it and putting Pyramid Flatwounds on it - forget it - it just won't work.
As for action and relief measurements: the action (with no capo on the first fret) on the bass side at frets 5 and 7 is 4/64" - at frets 12 and 15 it's 5/64" - On the treble side the action is a little higher: fret 5 is 4.5/64" - fret 7 is 5/64" - frets 12 and 15 are 7/64" - Remember though the strings are lighter/thinner on the treble side and most players don't do much in the way of heavy bends on 12 strings anyway."
A fear of me messing something up like this is what keeps me from trying to adjust my own truss rods:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1996-Rickenbacker-3 ... 1c0e32b812
"OK, first of all, let's begin by telling you this guitar has an issue with neck twist. While is isn't serious enough to render the instrument unplayable it certainly must be covered. The neck is twisted about 2 degrees with the treble side being lower than the bass side as you sight down the neck from the headstock. I have had the guitar set up by one of Jacksonville's best guitar techs and it is correctly intonated up to at least the 17th fret(after fret 17, you will get some fret buzz - but who plays that high on a 12 string?) The set-up tech (who has a rather extensive vintage guitar collection) states the the guitar - in his opinion - plays as well as the actual vintage models from back in the day, but not as well as the current reissues. Please bear in mind that this is an OPINION. For what it's worth, it's an opinion I share with him.
As a result of this twist, the guitar has a fair bit of relief in the neck (especially for a Ric, as these necks are normally set at, or close to, dead straight) This condition also predicates that the guitar be strung with very light strings. So, if you're think of buying it and putting Pyramid Flatwounds on it - forget it - it just won't work.
As for action and relief measurements: the action (with no capo on the first fret) on the bass side at frets 5 and 7 is 4/64" - at frets 12 and 15 it's 5/64" - On the treble side the action is a little higher: fret 5 is 4.5/64" - fret 7 is 5/64" - frets 12 and 15 are 7/64" - Remember though the strings are lighter/thinner on the treble side and most players don't do much in the way of heavy bends on 12 strings anyway."
