Hi Guys!

I bought an American Standard Deluxe Strat almost a year ago. (Love this guitar)

The neck will not stay where I set it to. (pretty straight about .005)
I brought it back to the dealer after the first month, (who just adjusted it again) I have since adjusted it about 20 times in small incriments, setting it back to "neutral" once in because I felt that the truss rod was "maxed out." The longest it has stayed in adjustment is about 3 weeks, then the relief starts to increase again.

Has anyone else had this problem? I feel the truss rod may not have been installed right, or, the wood inside the neck is compressing after a few weeks and letting the neck bow more than I want it to.

I own 4 guitars, just play at home, the room's temp. & humidity is controlled year round, no problem with the other 3 guitars at all.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Blues-ster,

That is a strange problem. But, whatever the problem, it doesn't sound like an easy fix, so you should take it back and exchange it under warranty. How long is the warranty on a Deluxe?

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Life for the original owner.

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No no and no

is the neck bowing or is it tilting. check the neck screws.

Years ago I bought a '78 Strat and the maple neck got a bad warp in it that not truss rod adjustment could fix.There was a noticeable twist in the grain of the wood itself and Fender agreed to replace the neck-as it was still under warranty-as the flaw was in the wood and impossible to rectify. That may very well be the problem with your neck as it does happen from time to time.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

There are necks which will be unstable, period.

After all this time, the neck isn't going to get better. Rather, it will get worse.

If after say, three weeks of me owning that guitar and the neck didn't settle in, I would have exchanged it then and there.

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You dig?

Thanks guys!

I'm lucky enough to have a "real luthier" about 20 miles from my home
who's authorized by Fender to do warranty work. I'll probably take it to him amd let him get a new neck for me. I love the body on it and don't want another one. (Ash with a real nice grain pattern)

I wasn't sure how long it should take for a "Strat neck" to settle in. But after hearing from you, I guess I just got a bad one.

Thanks very much for your input!

Oh, just to answer the question about the warranty; Yep, it's lifetime to the original owner, so I'm not too worried about getting it fixed, it's more of a "pain in the neck" (ha,ha,ha) than anything else.

Thanks again!

Best of luck and where's my manners?

Welcome!!

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You dig?

Ok. No one else has asked, so I will.

What guitar do you have? There is no such thing an an "American Standard Deluxe Strat". There is an American Standard Strat, and an American Deluxe Strat. The current American Standard Strat has a 9.5" radius fretboard which suggests a 0.010" relief. The current American Deluxe has a 9.5" to 14" compound radius fretboard. I don't see relief specs for that neck but it would be somewhere between 0.010" and 0.008". 0.005" is almost no relief. Why so little relief? What gauge strings are you using? That truss rod nut must be really cranked tight and you may have stripped the rod or nut which may not be covered if you did it.

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Bill

It's the American Deluxe Ash Strat. It has the bi-flex truss rod installed, which in all honesty "isn't great."

The truss rod is absolutley NOT Stripped. (it still works, the threads are fine, it holds, just doesn't hold for more than 3 weeks) I've been doing my own set ups for about 30 years, never ruined a truss rod yet. All my other guitars have "set necks" this is my only "bolt on" that's why I asked the question here at the forum about it constantly going out of adjustment.

Fender's "recommendation" is .010, that doesn't mean you can't use any less or more relief, it's just their recommendation. It's like a middle of the road setting. I happen to like a fairly straight neck ..................... that's my preference. I can get a lower action without getting fret buzz unless you lower the strings (saddles) too much. Setting a neck straighter DOES NOT hurt the guitar or the neck or put the truss rod under too much strain. There's only a problem when somethings wrong with the truss rod, the installation, or the wood. itself.

Now, I would never claim to have as much knowledge as a qualified luthier, (not even close) so I asked a luthier who builds custom guitars the same questions that you asked me, a long time ago. I don't do fret work, nut work or mess around with the electronics, but set-ups for myself, no problem, I get it perfect.

The strings that I have on it are 9.5 to 44. Basic 9's are too "squishy" for me, the 9.5's feel just right. Kind of like using 10's on a 24.75" scale neck, it gives me the same kind of "feel," not exactly, but very close.

Also, the screws that attach the neck to the body "neck pocket" are tight, so there's no movement there causing a problem.

Thanks for your questions; I hope I answered them for you.

If everything else checks out it must be the neck wood itself that's flawed ,there are hardly any other conclusions that you could draw.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Okay, so you get it in adjustment, and then you loosen a Bi=flex truss rod and wonder why it goes back out?
How about adjust it in and leave it be?

Bet that fixes it.

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I adjust it ........................... than loosen it????

All I can say is ................. can I have some of what you're smok'n?

Your trust rod seem to work, so the wood should follow the adjustments .
I have a Strat, American Standard DeLuxe 1999, when I bought it new take many adjustments to have the curve I want. I do all adjustments myself and I know very well how to do it.

I work on this trust rod with very small incriments and takes 24 hour to fix properly. I take the time to do it .
I have precise tools from Stew Mac to adjust and mesure curve. So I don't go too far.

I see many friend's guitar comming from luthier and w'ont stay with the right curve. Maybe not the same temperature at their home than at the luthier shop. Or luthier do the job to fast ?

I noticed the first year it need adjustment at 3 weeks aprox. A very good luthier tell me when it new a neck could need 3 year to be dry enough.

Since 1999 the neck is ok now since many years. No problem.