I took a gamble and rolled the dice.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Hey, is this good for some one who has a bad back from lifting
"Monster Amps" back in the day??

[MWaldorf]

Since we've been talking truss rods in my thread, I was wondering what you had to repair on your truss rod here?

The adjusting nut edges were rounded off, requiring a new nut. I pushed it out the rear for repair. I found that the rod pieces had been misaligned when originally welded together, so I used the Dremel carbide grinder and cut through the old weld, realigned it and re brazed it.

I hate to be so dense, but when you say "rod pieces" are you referring to rod and the extrenal sleeve? Man this is hard without actually seeing one of these assemblies!

Here are some pictures of the truss rod in my partsrite. It isn't exactly what's in the vintage ones, as it's missing the washer part of the non-threaded rod, but at least it gets you the idea. Also, this one is made of a single piece of bent rod instead of two pieces welded together.

[drbassman]

Thanks so much Mel, that is very helpful and illustrative! I took a look at the heel end of mine and it appears to be a bent piece of metal like yours or else 2 pieces welded together an then filed smooth. Really hard to see in that little 1/4" cavity. I'm gonna try to pull the rod just to inspect it. BTW, there's no access cavity in the heel so I'm assuming there's not anchor nit or the like in there.

[dubtrub]

I guess my hopes and ideas are just about exhausted on straightening the bowed neck. I've tried the counter weight for a week now and although I can get the neck straight by tightening the truss rod to the point of striping the threads, there is no way it will remain straight with the tension of four bass strings. I have removed the truss rod and for the past four days I've continued with the heavy counter weight. As soon as I remove the weight, the neck goes back into it's curve. It's too bad I didn't have this project when the weather was running between 103 to 108 degrees. It's just too cool for the weight process to work. This may get put on the back burner until next summer.

[Dennisthe Menace]

I guess my hopes and ideas are just about exhausted on straightening the bowed neck. I've tried the counter weight for a week now and although I can get the neck straight by tightening the truss rod to the point of striping the threads, there is no way it will remain straight with the tension of four bass strings. I have removed the truss rod and for the past four days I've continued with the heavy counter weight. As soon as I remove the weight, the neck goes back into it's curve. It's too bad I didn't have this project when the weather was running between 103 to 108 degrees. It's just too cool for the weight process to work. This may get put on the back burner until next summer.

Danny, what about heat lamps??

[dubtrub]

Heat lamps or other artificial heat would (might) work. I think I'm too bummed to care right now. I need to get the candy apple blue finish done on my Mosrite clone bass and then get the Ampeg amp recovered for my cousin.

[sleeperNY]

Many neck repairs are made with heat. There is a way to reverse bend the neck to a certain point and apply heat to loosen the glue between the neck and fretboard so it slides so to speak a small amount and then cooled so it stays in that position.I had this done to a guitar once and it worked great. It cost me $40.00. I believe the guitar has to have been made using hide glue in order to work. The others won't loosen up to allow it to move. By the way you can't tell this was ever done.

[Mr. Bill]

Heating the neck will allow the glues in the neck to soften and straighten the warp.

Be careful not to apply too much heat as it will melt finish, bindings and inlays. If you use the heat lamps, I'd only use them on the fretboard side of the neck.

Build a small jig like the one that you've been using, but with the fretboard side up. Loosen or remove the truss rod. Clamp down both ends of the neck and then insert a block and wedge under the back of the neck, to apply upward pressure to straighten out the bow. In fact you may want to allow for a little back bow.

Turn on the heat lamps and let the neck get good and hot. This will take a little while. I can't really tell you how hot it needs to be, as I've never had a system that allowed for temperature measurment. The neck presses I've used were basically just bigger versions of clothes irons.

I know that Dan Erlwine used to use heat lamps to loosen the fretboard extensions on acoustic guitars, so maybe if you look up his old books or articles, he might have a temperature suggestion. In any case, I'd use caution and start by heating too little and have to re-heat rather than over heat and have to repair additional damage to the neck.

[dubtrub]

Well, I got the beast of burden assembled and playing today. I ended up jerry rigging a neck press using my drill press and extended supports then apply sufficient pressure to generate extreme back bow pressure without damaging the neck. After three days, I adjusted the truss rod as tight as I could safely get it and reassembled the guitar. Hopefully it will hold.