Hi all!

Ok, I have an early Korean Squier Strat which has kinda become a bit of a project guitar after getting a new Jazzmaster. The truss rod adjuster is just coming loose when I try to back the tention off to put more relief in the neck, it seems the neck is a little poorly and will not bend enough with the tention of the strings (10-46 at the mo). Obviously not a dual action neck on this guitar.

I recently took the neck off for 24 hours whilst I was shielding the cavities. Before this the neck was actually playing fine.

Now with the strings back on the neck will not pull back far enough to lift the strings off the fretboard to the position they were before.

I could do with some advise on techniques to pull the neck back to where it was.

Will heavier gauge strings do it?

Is it wise to actually physically bend the neck gently?

I currently have the 10's I had to hand tuned a semitone higher than standard hoping that it will help.

If I manage to put more bend in the neck will this take the tention back up on the truss rod nut?

Atmospheric techniques?

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated as the neck on this guitar is/was the best part!

Thanks,

Karl.

I'm a new guy here but have been playing for awhile. It sounds like something went wrong when you re-installed the neck. That's if it was ok before. Check to see if there are any gaps or whatever between the neck and the body.

Rule of thumb when problem solving. What changed?

You took the neck off and now you have the problem.

Gary

_________________
Gary

Hey thanks for the reply!!

You were exactly right! Can't believe it! Well I can actually!

Some flakes of wood and debris were (I think) stopping it from sitting flush with the pocket! Cleaned it out and seems fine now. Tuning it up right now, but I can tell it'll be fine.

Regarding the truss rod. Do you think it'll take the slack up on the loose nut if I put heavier strings on it?

Many thanks again!

Karl.

Hi Karl putting heavier strings on the guitar will not affect the tension or lack of tension on the truss rod. It will affect the tension on the neck itself. Can you tighten the nut back up by turning it clockwise? If you can then the truss rod was as loose as you could get it which will cause the neck to be concave without truss rod tension to counteract the tension from the strings. If the nut does not tighten up when you turn it clockwise causing the neck to be more convex then I'm afraid you have a...wait for it.... .. No I won't say it... but your truss rod may be broken. Good luck. Hope this helps.

The nut does tighten up fine so I think the rod/nut is fine As you say it must just be fully adjusted in that direction. Though at the point the nut goes loose the neck is pretty much dead straight i.e. the strings aren't pulling the neck to make it more concave.

I thinking heavier strings might give the neck a bit more relief so I might try it.

I've got things back to how they were anyway and it's playing pretty good.

Karl.

Good news Karl.

_________________
Gary

Is it a solid maple neck? Or is it a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard? If a solid maple neck backbows, and loosening the truss rod doesn't help, then your options are limited. First, try the easy things, like humidifying the instrument properly. If that doesn't help it, then you will either have to level the frets to take out a minor bow, or remove the frets and plane the board straight then refret to take care of a severe bow or twist. If you have a rosewood fretboard, you can sometimes have success with heating the neck to where the glue joint softens and can "slip" when you clamp it in the shape you want. Keep it clamped until it cools and see the results. Unless you have a bunch of experience and skill, there is not much of any home remedy for this