neck too straight and no relief

[ctguy1955]

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae168/CTguy1955/gibsonandepinuts.jpg

 

I received my new studio on May 1st and it could not be played as the setup was bad

and I was told the truss rod needed to be loosened. The metal frets were sticking

out of the fretboard and hurt your fingers and I did not notice the spots on the

neck. The authorized luther had my guitar for over 4 weeks and when I got it back

it played well, but the metal frets were still sharp, and he fixed the blemish

on the neck. He was also kind enough to modify my new guitar by putting a dent

in the body near the tone knob. I had to send it back to him. He filled the hole

he put in the guitar but could not fix the "light bending" produced by his fix on

the finish, so he sent it back to nashville. Nashville re-did the body finish and

did a really fantastic job, but now I notice a huge dent near the jack plate !!!

I sent it back to nashville. Now Ive owned the guitar for months and months and

have only held it for 25 days. I get the guitar back and again Nashville did a

really wonderful job on my body and its the way it should have been when I got

the guitar on May 1st. The guitar has a lot of buzz, I took off the Gibson strings

and put D'Addario 10's on it with a earnie ball wound G string, the way I like it.

I wanted to add some relief to the neck, and when I took off the truss rod cover

the nut was only hand tight. I have not gone from 420 to 480 in hopes of it slowly

being able to get the neck to where it will meet the nut. I have now gone hand tight

and then loosened it up one full turn, and I will let it sit. I read where I should

put 12's on the guitar instead to get it to gently bow the way I would like so that

the nut would at least be able to give me some relief. I would appreciate any advice

but I will NOT bring this guitar back to the AUTHORIZED Gibson luther who dented it

twice now, and his workshop is NOT heat controlled and got over 100 degrees this summer

where he could not work in his own shop. The conditions of his shop probably made my

wood shrink and the metal frets stick out....... after he supposedly sanded em down and

gibson paid him to do it. I want to know if my Studio nut is suppose to look like my

2007 EPI nut.....are the strings suppose to ride up on the nut and not sit all the

way down in the slot. I put thinner strings then what it came with too !!!

 

Thanks for any advice !!!!

[Guest Farnsbarns]

The strings should sit proud of the top of the nut.

 

As for the rest of it. I would have insisted on a replacement by now. I returned a Gibby after a couple of problems and expressed a preference for a replacement rather than repair and they agreed.

[stein]

It's not possible to say over the net, because we can't see the guitar, we don't know which adjusment might be needed or not. All we could do is guess.

 

My guess at this point, is that it could be that the guitar never got the truss rod adjusted right. If you were told it needed to be loosened, and now you find it is already loosened all the way, the guitar could have had this problem all along.

 

I can't say if the "luthier" you brought it too knows what he is doing or not, but if you don't trust him, a second opinion might be in order.

 

Having said that, it is possible the guitar is buzzing on some frets because the truss rod is too loose. If there is too much relief on the neck, it will have a tendancy to do that.

 

As for the nut, from what I can tell from what you describe, it is more properly cut that the other guitar. You really only want the strings halfway in or so from the top.

[ctguy1955]

So many decisions to make..........

[stein]

I get the "authorized" repair thing. I know you do. What I really meant, was that having someone other than will not void your warrenty, and neither does making adjustments considered normal void it either.

 

IF you are sure that the neck is back-bowed, and the truss rod isn't working, why mess with it? Or, at least, find out if this is truly the case.

 

I don't really know, as to what the case with your guitar is. And I don't know if anything could really be done, or if it is worth doing. But if it is in need of fixing, and the "authorized" repair person isn't doing it...maybe he is aware but his fix just isn't enough?

 

It sounds as if the neck has either a warp or dried out to the point that it has a back-bow that prevents the truss rod from working, OR the truss rod is stuck somehow. (again, I can't say...neither can anyone on the internet).

 

The easiest solution I can think of, rather than send the guitar many miles away or drive many miles away, is to have someone who KNOWS what they are doing check it out. In other words, the easiest and nearest to you. Maybe someone you know already, or a good reference from a friend?

[CowboyBillyBob1]

Thank you for the info on the cut of the nut. I noticed the EPI seems much different in shape then the USA one.

Originally the guitar had a really bad back bow, and the "(ahem) luther " said it just needed to be loosened. It

had some paint on the nut that was attached to the bottom, so its like having a mark where the original nut set.

 

 

My Gibson can only be brought to a Authorized one, or I will lose my lifetime warranty. There are only two authorized ones in Connecticut

and the one I did not use lives an hour and a half away. Boston area has 5 or 6, but thats over two hours away. Its pretty sad that you cant

trust someone to respect your guitar. I know my studio was only 1280 bucks, but I wanted the nice case and the new studio push/pull coils.

 

http://s968.photobuc...ikesGuitars.jpg my guitars

 

http://s968.photobuc...sGuitars003.jpg side view

 

I never had a single problem with my strats, or my used 2007 EPI that was made in China.

It make me feel so good to buy a new USA made product and put Americans to work.

My USA made Strat puts my two used MIM strats to shame, with the feel of the frets.

I recently bought a new USA Taylor 314CE and its in impeccable condition as well.

 

My 2012 Gibson Studio now has a perfect looking body, and its just a matter of

getting the neck to eventually bow forward using the tight strings. So far, its been a

week and I see no change at all. That is why I am asking for advice. Thanks

Barry Lipman is an authorized Gibson luthier in CT. He did some work on my Martin HD28V, he is Martin authorized as well, and his work was outstanding!

Barry Lipman

 

Total humidity and temperature control and he even adjusted the truss rod slightly and polished it up to better than new. Highly recommended.

[badbluesplayer]

BillyBob's got it right.

 

You need to get the guitar to a top notch luthier. It seems like it has a truss rod problem. The truss rod should be able to be adjusted so that the neck will get the right amount of relief without having to let it sit or string it with heavy strings or anything like that. If the nut is loosened all the way you should be able to see an upward curvature in the neck, even without strings. Otherwise, there's a problem. Have the guy see if he can get the neck relief right. And then if he can fix that, then he can dress up the fret ends and get the thing playing really nice. The finish problems are water under the bridge at this point.

 

As far as letting it sit, you're better off flexing the neck back and forth a couple of times after each trussrod adjustment. That helps the whole thing settle. It doesn't really have to sit for any substantial amount of time. It might move a little after time, but you still want to flex it after each adjustment. Otherwise, it'll take a long time to adjust it.

 

[ctguy1955]

Thank you all for your advice. There is no backbow, the neck is straight as an arrow, but I get very bad buzz and normally I would loosen the truss rod and the neck would

give me some relief. The nut is hand tight and I loosened it up more, and tightened the strings in hopes that it would bow forward and then I could tighten the TR nut and

have it be normal. I did raise up my bridge a little and that helped. I guess I may have to take it to the other luther in CT as I wont go back to the other guy.

 

Thank you for the help.