"Irreparable" Neck Bow

R D Maynard

R D Maynard

Feb 20, 2005
191
26
4,551
Coos Bay, Oregon
#1
I have 3 MIA Fender Vintage basses: 1 '61 Jazz, 1 '62 Precision, and 1 '57 Precision. The neck on the '57 is straight as a string, but the other 2 have developed serious bows. The J only has a bow of 3/32" so far, but the P is almost 3/16". I have adjusted the truss rods on both of them as far as they will go, and I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do before I have to take them to a competent shop. (I live in the boonies, so there are no good luthiers within 80 miles of home.)
 
#2
A lot of people on TB have had good luck with Warpedneck.com, they have a heat based straightening process that seems to work, though the jury is out on how permanent the fix is. The other common solution is adding washers under the trussrod nut to get a little more tightening range, but thats got some risk of overtightening and breaking the rod or crushing wood fibers.
FIX AN INSTRUMENT'S WARPED NECK
 
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#3
R D Maynard said:
I have 3 MIA Fender Vintage basses: 1 '61 Jazz, 1 '62 Precision, and 1 '57 Precision. The neck on the '57 is straight as a string, but the other 2 have developed serious bows. The J only has a bow of 3/32" so far, but the P is almost 3/16". I have adjusted the truss rods on both of them as far as they will go, and I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do before I have to take them to a competent shop. (I live in the boonies, so there are no good luthiers within 80 miles of home.)
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I'd add a couple spacing washers and manually flex the neck while tightening the TR nut to put the neck in a back bow. Re-install the strings & tune to pitch. With any luck, we should be seeing negative relief or the strings sitting on the fretboard. If so, relax the TR in small increments until you hit the desired relief.

Riis
 
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#4
Good advice so far… the twisted neck guy has a stellar rep for longtime fixes. There’s also a Stewmac video somewhere (I’ve seen it) for fixing old necks that have developed bows. I believe they show using added spacers and tightening while holding the neck in a back bow, as recommended above.
 
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#5
The usual caveat, if any of this seems intimidating, take it to a Pro. The extra washer trick usually works, or at least improves the situation, but doesnt cure "Fender Hump" , Ski Jump", or "12th Fret Hump", depending on your preferred term. Our own genius @BruceJohnson just replaced a broken rod in a neck that was straightened (after the broken rod) by WarpedNeck, and seemed pretty pleased with the work they did. Thats about as good as it gets for recommendations.
 
#6
Before adding washers or bending the neck into a backbow, it is worth checking the condition of the neck. rfemove the strings and completely loosen the truss rod. The neck should be flat at that point. If it's bowed you should have the neck heat treated and not rely on the truss rod to straighten it. The rod is to counteract the string tension. Asking it to also deal with a neck warp is beyond its design point and is courting disaster.
 
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#8
There are also ways to straighten a neck by re-fretting (a technique called compression fretting) but this is obviously more expensive and should only be done by the most experienced hands. I wouldn't normally suggest this but given these are holy grail vintage basses, I think it's good to at least know your options.
 
#9
Remove strings, remove neck, remove truss rod nut from the heel. Put neck in a cradle. Apply generous amount of appropriate conditioning oil Clamp on the heel and headstock. Add clamping pressure to make neck straight...check frequently with straight edge. Take a q tip, dip in Vaseline, apply to treads of truss rod. Reinstall truss rod nut. Let it sit overnight. Check for straightness...tighten truss rod nut to snug. Slowly release clamp pressure, check for straightness...reclamp to straight and tighten truss rod 1/8 turn increments. Until it's straight when clamps are released. Wipe away excess oils...lubricate neck screws and reinstall neck on bass...restring...set relief...set action, pickup height and check nut action.
 
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