SGLPEXP Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 Hi. I have recently bought a used 2006 Custom Les Paul Black Beauty. It came from Chicago, and yesterday, I unstrung it and thoroughly cleaned the fretboard with naptha to "decrudify" it. It was nasty. So was the whole guitar. I thoroughly recommend naptha to remove epithelials and junk from tuners, bridges, stop-tails, etc. Lizard Spit polish is great for the body. It de-crudified it where I didn't think it was possible. I restrung it with a hybrid set of Boomers - .009-.046. And I top-wrapped the stop tail. This morning, I thought I would do a more thorough set up. It had a little too much bow in the neck, too much relief and measured at the 8th fret at 0.030" with a feeler gauge. I went to move the truss rod. (This is where things get interesting.) It was completely maxed out to the right (Righty-tighty, Lefty-loosey - yeah, simplistic BUT IT WORKS!). I have never seen a truss rod completely cinched down, but it was. So, I backed it off by 1/2 turn (a lot I know), as it hadn't responded to a 1/4 turn loosening. NO RESPONSE. Again, a new experience - I have never seen a neck NOT respond to a truss rod adjustment. Then again this is the first used guitar I have ever purchased. After 4 hours of nothing, I decided to see if the truss rod was stripped. Nope. I could back it off to a ridiculous amount, and then bring it back in to where I started. So, here is how I left it. I put a soap dish with a couple of damp sponges in the case. I left the truss rod backed off to 3/8 of a turn. I recorded my relief measurements in In. and MM, and will continue to check it daily throughout the week to see if there is movement backwards, or to say that the bow is coming out of the neck. I am hoping that it is just used to a midwestern environment, and will take a while to respond to the Az. climate (hence the humidifier). I am praying that I do not have to have the truss rod replaced. There is no indication that it is broken, except the wood not responding to loosening the nut. My question to the forum is: Is there anything that I have forgotten to consider? Should I be tracking down a really good luthier on the off chance that the truss rod came to me f.u.b.a.r.e.d.? I do not want to return the guitar. I absolutely love the tone. I just need it to be a little more playable.
retrorod Posted October 28, 2013 Posted October 28, 2013 I don,t have any answers! If the truss bar adjustments don,t change anything, then its dysfunctional and you will need some help. Maybe it was a 'good deal'....maybe not. If 'not'.....I would call the sellar out on selling 'damaged goods' without disclosure....? I have heard of loosening the trussrod and then bowing the neck back for a period of time and then tightening the adjustment while keeping the necK under back-pressure...
SGLPEXP Posted October 28, 2013 Author Posted October 28, 2013 I don,t have any answers! If the truss bar adjustments don,t change anything, then its dysfunctional and you will need some help. Maybe it was a 'good deal'....maybe not. If 'not'.....I would call the sellar out on selling 'damaged goods' without disclosure....? I have heard of loosening the trussrod and then bowing the neck back for a period of time and then tightening the adjustment while keeping the necK under back-pressure... Good news is that as of this mornings measurements, the relief has decreased about 0.008 of an inch, coming at 0.550mm/0.022 of an inch. I'm going to leave it alone, and check it tomorrow. If it's stablilzed, I'll decrease the tension again another 3/8 of a turn. So far, so good!
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