Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a 96 Tele on my bench right now that appears to have some truss rod problems.

The guitar has been sitting under the bed for several years and the customer wants to start playing again. So I wound up with the guitar to give it a going over. The neck had to much relief so I tightened up the truss rod and nothing happened. So I loosened it off again. Next I tried putting some block under either end of the fretboard and tightened the rod while applying pressure to the neck to keep it straight. When I released the neck it was better but still not really good. The truss rod is fairly tight at the point and I’m not sure it should be left this way.

So as best I can tell there are truss rod issues. The access for the rod is on the peghead and It seems to me that the nut is deeper in the neck than it should be. You have to use the long end of the allen key to get it, which again makes me think that it might have been over tightened in the past.

So my question is what do I tell the customer. The guitar is still playable, but it has way more relief than it should. What is the solution to this problem? If there is major issues here I am inclined to tell the customer to take it to the city and have someone who really knows about these things to do the work. I’m not interested in messing up his American made Tele.

I live in a rural area and since I am the only guitar guy around I am finding more repair work coming my way. I like the experience of fixing different things but a lot of this stuff is new to me. Some advice from you repair guys would be really appreciated.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Hi Josh, I come across this alot, some 90's American Fender guitars and Mexican made Fender basses have soft necks, they just wont handle the string tension and will never straighten. I have tried heat, clamps, etc. To truly repair it I beleive it would be much cheaper to just get a new neck. Is it a rosewood fingerboard? Most of the soft neck ones are.
Hopefully someone else will have ideas but I have dealt with alot of these in the past.
Evan

_________________
http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Yes it is a rosewood board.

The TR will still tighten so I don't think it is totally broken, but I'm afraid if I tighten it more than I have that I am going to break something.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Its not the truss rod (without seeing it this is my guess), when you look down the neck try and flex it, the ones I have seen have a ridiculous amount of movement in them. I have gotten them straight with the truss rod and then can flex them so easily that you just know what it will look like with strings
Evan

_________________
http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

I've got a tele neck for sale...solid rosewood with a Gonco Alves ( probably mis-spelled) fret board, medium frets, buzz feitenized - Like new, realy beautiful. $395. (plus ship) I've been saving it for that special project that I never seem to get around to. email me if you are interested.

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Allparts sells genuine Fender replacement parts, and their dealer discount is attractive. You may want to check with them.

Al

WD Music also sells Fender licensed replacement necks. Tom Dowey38820.5303703704

I feel that warmoth make superior quality necks to the Fender genuine replacements, but if he wants the decal and to keep it all genuine it may not be an option.
Cheers
charliewood

Josh, What you are describing could be the result of the truss rod nut compressing the wood to the point that there is little or no thread left for it to travel. In other words you might be reaching that last thread on the rod before the nut can fully engage the shoulder. An easy way to check this is to find a couple or more small washers with dimensions that will allow them to fit over the rod, behind the adjusting nut. This will essentially act as a replacement fill for the compressed wood. I usually just glue the washers to the nut and then install it. I have had quite a bit of success with this and currently have a G&L ASAT in my shop going through this same repair.   

Thanks guys,

Mark I know exactly the repair you are talking about but this TR does not have a nut like that. It is an allen key (1/8" I think) adjustment that is buried in the neck. This kind of repair doesn't work with this style of rod, does it????

Evan
I think you are right on. This neck does have a ridiculous amount of flex. I can tighten the rod with the string tension off and it will straighten out fairly well, but as soon as I bring it to pitch it springs back to the problem position.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions on replacement necks. I will pass along the suggestions to the customer.

JoshJosh H38820.6440856481

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

The repair would still be same if it has the rosewood plug installed at the adjustment point. It would need to be removed to pull the nut out.