Bass Truss Rod won't tighten any further

R

Ricardo Alves

Nov 16, 2021
5
1
781
#1
A couple weeks ago I took my Squier VM 70's Jazz Bass to a luthier so he could set it up for me (I can make the basic adjustments by myself, but the bass also needed some fret leveling / polishing), and he said that when he was adjusting the neck relief, he wasn't able to tighten the truss rod anymore after a certain point (it's not that he was tightening it and it wasn't making any difference, the wrench literally wouldn't turn anymore!). My bass' neck is a little bent (I know it's normal to be a slightly bent) and I think that if it was slightly less concave it would be perfect, but as the truss rod won't tighten any further we couldn't make that adjustment.

Note: I used to make the adjustments by myself, but I had always been quite apprehensive about adjusting the truss rod. I never forced it too much, I always made only 1/4 turns and always waited a few hours between those turns.

Does it mean that my neck is warped or it's just a problem on the truss rod? What may be causing this? What can I try to do to solve this problem? Thanks for anyone who answer this question!

PS: Sorry if my english is not perfect, I'm not a native speaker!
 
#2
are you using very heavy strings? it's not a great solution, but strings with less tension will require less tightening of the truss rod... other than that, it seems like you might need a new neck. :\
 
#3
Sometimes the wood compresses a little causing the the truss to have less adjustability, a widely used remedy is to add a washer or two under the truss rod nut.
Fender sells those washers specifically for bottom access truss nuts haven't been able to find them for headstock access truss nuts, I had to shape my own to fit and worked perfectly well.
 
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#5
And I said:
are you using very heavy strings? it's not a great solution, but strings with less tension will require less tightening of the truss rod... other than that, it seems like you might need a new neck. :\
Click to expand...
I actually changed my strings after I noticed this problem... I was using 0.45 and switched to 0.40. It helped a little but didn't solve the problem :/
 
#6
C Stone said:
Sometimes the wood compresses a little causing the the truss to have less adjustability, a widely used remedy is to add a washer or two under the truss rod nut.
Fender sells those washers specifically for bottom access truss nuts haven't been able to find them for headstock access truss nuts, I had to shape my own to fit and worked perfectly well.
Click to expand...
I'll give this a try, thanks!
 
#7
Fenders original strings are 105's nickel wounds. I am having the same problem. Bought a new one last month and knew something was wrong when I lowered the strings and later the strings were back up to where they were originally and so I repeated this until there was no more room to turn the truss rod. I sent it back with only a day to spare on the return window, ordered another one and the same thing is happening.
 
#8
Please read the "gettin facts about ski jump" thread in the pro section, you may have this issue in progress. In other words: neck needs to be stright with no strings and TR fully disengaged. Otherwise, you tighten the TR up to the point where it either snaps or the nut crushes the wood underneath and you run out of thread on the rod itself, but relief remains too big. Also, check if the neck is not doing S-curve, which may actually feel as some high frets in lower positions (frets 1-7).
 
#9
Get thee to a luthery (sorry, Hamlet), or if you are still in the window, return immediately. I broke a truss rod trying to over-tighten it when similar symptoms appeared in a bass neck I used to have.
 
#10
I have a Fender American Elite V and its truss rod is stucked, so I was wondering if the dual action truss rod can break/damage easily, I have found some videos in youtube.
ATTENTION: I think It doesn't happen with single action ones, these are "fragile" then dual ones.


 
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