neck relief?

[Jim Engen]

Well i went ahead and carved the 3 piece mahogany neck to .80 at the 1st fret .88 at the 12th(pretty thin). I used epoxy to glue the fingerboard on. after carving the neck the neck started to get a forward bow. About 1/16". I went ahead and put the frets in thinking that might straighten it out. My last build got a little back bow after fretting. Anyways, i can get it straight with the truss rod but i have to give almost a half turn. My concern is that when there is string tension on it the truss rod will not hold and i get nervous tightening it up even more.

What do you guys think?

Jim

 

[Freddy G]

A bit of a forward bow with no truss rod tension is fine. A heck of a lot better than a bit of a back bow with no truss rod tension.

 

[Jim Engen]

A bit of a forward bow with no truss rod tension is fine. A heck of a lot better than a bit of a back bow with no truss rod tension.

do you think the truss rod will hold up to the string tension? My concern is that if i have to crank it to get it straight, do a fret level, then string it up, the string tension will pull it even more. It doesn't seem like a good idea to have to crank the truss rod that much. I guess i don't have much choice.

Thanks, Jim

 

[Freddy G]

How far can you crank the truss rod before it starts to feel dangerous? That's how I would determine if it will be OK. If you can gets lots of backbow you'll be OK.

 

[emoney]

How much thread room is there on the truss rod? At this point, what alternatives do you really have, outside of starting over. You've come this far so if the truss rod has enough room in it, crank down on it after it's strung and then play the tar out of it.

 

[Jim Engen]

It's starts to feel hard to turn right at where it's straight. If the string tension doesn't add relief I'll be fine. Should i start the fret level with a tiny bit of relief in it so i will have a little bit of room for adjustment?

 

[Freddy G]

oh boy....if it starts to feel hard to turn when it's only just straight I think you are in trouble.
What kind of truss rod is it? Traditional one way?
Personally I would pull the frets and refret with oversized tangs...

 

[Jim Engen]

oh boy....if it starts to feel hard to turn when it's only just straight I think you are in trouble.
What kind of truss rod is it? Traditional one way?
Personally I would pull the frets and refret with oversized tangs...

Lmi 2 way rod. Jumbo frets. Ebony board. I think i would rather start the fret level with a bit of relief rather than pull the frets. do you think the epoxy caused this?

Thanks, Jim

 

[Jim Engen]

I ended up putting a rubber sanding block under the middle of the neck and clamped the ends putting a little back bow in the neck. I was afraid to put any more pressure on turning the truss rod. I read somewhere about puting heat to it so i slowly ran my heat gun back and forth over the top of the fretboard making sure not to melt the binding. The frets actually got pretty hot. It still took some pressure but i got the truss rod to turn more. I let it sit in the clamps for a couple hours. I took the clamps off and the truss rod is holding the neck with a little back bow. I left it there for now but I'm relieved to know i will be able to adjust to the string tension.

Thanks, Jim

 

[ryanpgroovy]

Nice save