Whoa is me. My neck warped!!!!

[zeegler]

I don't know what happened. My Yamaha Weddington has been sitting on the stand at my singer's house for weeks. Last Saturday, I arrive for practice, and I notice the action is like 3/16" high!!! It wasn't like that the week before. I take it home, and try to tighten the truss rod. It's tightened as far as it will go, and still warped. I'm pissed. I don't know how it would SUDDENLY do this, after weeks of the same environment.

Anyone ever have this happen?

[JacksonWarrior]

Yeah thats pretty high action. What kinda finish is on the neck? I could see a raw neck loosing enough moisture over three weeks in the winter, epecially with heat running in the place, enough to make the wood shrink and create your problem. How many turns did you give the truss and in what direction. Really wanna be carefull with that, like 1/8th of a turn at a time then give it an hour or so for the neck to settle before further adjustment.

[zeegler]

The Weddington is Yamaha's version of a Les Paul, and has a finished neck. My singer's basement isn't excessively dry or hot as far as I've noticed, and the Weddington was on my double stand with my 26 year old Aria Pro LC550. The Aria is fine. I was only planning on moving the trussrod an 8th turn, but it would barely even turn. I'm going to back the nut right off to see if maybe the threads are jammed up with paint or something.

[Racerx2k]

I'd probably take the string tension off it, right away, remove the truss nut, and lube it. Then, maybe re-install the nut, and, without string tension, see if you can give a quarter-turn or so to the nut. See if that does anything, and possibly even leave it like that, for the night, before you restring. I'm crossing my fingers for ya, Zeeg.

[Chad]

Is the neck actually warped/twisted? Or does it just have too much relief that you can't adjust out?

I'd try Dan Erlewine's truss rod adjustment method. Loosen the truss rod nut, bend the neck to where you want it, then tighten the truss rod nut. Dan has specialized tools for this task, but I've heard of people bending the neck (VERY carefully) over their leg or what not.

[zeegler]

The neck is bowed forward, and the truss rod will not tighten. Hopefully I'll get around to working on it tonight. Even if I can't fix it, I'll take it to Freddy Gabrsek, and have him clamp it.

[delt]

I have this old KE3 neck that i scrapped a few years ago. It's been in the shed the whole winter. Lately i tried to fix it & put new frets on it but the fretboard is "twisted" .... if you hold the nut horizontal, the upper fretboard area is at a good 10 degree angle from horizontal. ie, string action would be way high on the lower strings above the 15th fret or so. Something like this:



(i exaggerated the deformation in the sketch for illustration purposes) Any way to fix that?

[zeegler]

I have this old KE3 neck that i scrapped a few years ago. It's been in the shed the whole winter. Lately i tried to fix it & put new frets on it but the fretboard is "twisted" .... if you hold the nut horizontal, the upper fretboard area is at a good 10 degree angle from horizontal. ie, string action would be way high on the lower strings above the 15th fret or so. Something like this:



(i exaggerated the deformation in the sketch for illustration purposes) Any way to fix that?

I had an El Degas SG copy that was like that. I bought it new, and it was actually a great guitar. Played nice, and sounded good. However after several months, the neck started to twist. I got rid of it while it was still playable. I would assume that a skilled luthier could fix a twist quite easily. The best thing to do is take it to someone to look at and see what they say. This is the reason I prefer 3 piece maple necks. They are much more resistant to twisting than a one piece neck.

By the way, that's a nice little perspective drawing you did there.

[Racerx2k]

Yeah, a luthier CAN fix a twisted neck, but it takes the right equipment. Best as I recall, there is a clamping jig, and a sort of oven, needed. I had gotten a neck in, that, turns out, was twisted, and hadn't noticed till I had already cut the Floyd nut shelf into it, (DOH!) so I didn't even bother to return it. Judging by what my luthier-friend told me, not alot of luthiers in the area had the necessary tools, and it probably was costly, so I scrapped the neck, and bought a new one.
Now, if it's a WARPED neck, like he says, then it MAy be an easier, cheaper, repair. Let us know what happens, Zeeg.

[khabibissell]

Try this:

Remove the strings and loosen the truss rod. Remove the nut and lube the threads on the truss rod. Using clamps, hold down the neck near the body (use a block of wood so the clamp doesn't dig into the fretboard). Put another block of wood under the 9th fret that fits somewhat tightly. Using another clamp near the nut (again, put a wooden shim under it so it doesn't dig into the fretboard), and tighten the clamp until the neck is SLIGHTLY backbowed. Now, replace the nut on the truss rod and tighten it until it is tight DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN IT. Now remove the clamps. I would let it sit in that state for a few days before restringing.

I had to do this to an import Charvel bolt on and it worked great.