Neck relief and the lack of

[Soxfan63]

Sorry to make a short story long but.....

My cousin was all impressed with my Epi LP and bummed that neither of his 2 guitars work any more so I decided to be a pal and get the better of the 2 back into playing condition for him. It's an old Shane Targa that's been in his closet fore probably 10 years...which I can only find a few mentions about online and those are only questions about origin, worth etc. In any event......I got it all cleaned up...re-anchored the tremolo..replaced the broken nut..and last night got it strung up.

Even though the string height at the nut is a hair higher than what it was with the old nut...and I raised the tremolo saddles as high as they would go...the strings are fretting out all over the place......time for a rod adjustment. I pop the cover off and either he..or whoever gave it to him.. apparently torqued the rod right down. I managed to loosen it a bit..gaining a little relief but not enough. I can loosen the adjusting bolt a bit more but it gets sloppy loose and doesn't gain me any more relief. The back bow is not enough to be obvious when you look at the necks profile..but it is enough that the strings fret out up until about the 10th fret.

Let me add that I checked it using a foot long ruler and even then it's more dead flat than back bowed.....less than a millimeter.

Will letting it sit tuned to pitch for a few days do anything at all...or is the neck trashed as is my 1st instinct.

[CAFeathers]

When adjusting a truss rod it should only be turned about 1/4 inch at a time. Then tuned to pitch and left to sit for at least 24 hours. Repeat this procedure until you get the amount of relief you want.

A guitar that has been sitting for that many years may need to sit a while longer after the adjustment, be patient with it and it should be fine.

[Ol Geezer]

CAFeathers said:

When adjusting a truss rod it should only be turned about 1/4 inch at a time. Then tuned to pitch and left to sit for at least 24 hours. Repeat this procedure until you get the amount of relief you want.

1/4 inch? Where are you measuring? Do you mean 1/4 turn perhaps?

[Soxfan63]

Thanks CAF! I think about a 1/4 turn to 1/3 is about all I did. I'll let it sit a while.

[CAFeathers]

Ol said:

1/4 inch? Where are you measuring? Do you mean 1/4 turn perhaps?

You are right.

[Soxfan63]

I've let is sit almost 2 weeks and have seen nothing noticeable as far as change. If I try to back the truss off another 1/4 turn, the nut gets sloppy like its reached the end of it's adjustability. Any ideas?

[CAFeathers]

Have it checked by a proffessional.

[Soxfan63]

Thanks CAF.