SG truss rod

[tnik]

Hey everybody,

 

I recently bought a new Gibson SG standard which arrived 10 days ago. When I started adjusting the action I realized that the neck was completely straight with a slight back-bow. The truss was not very tight, but I tried to completely loosen it. The next day I found the neck, as it is up till now, with a very very slight bow. For the record I use 10mm strings with standard tuning. I even tried F tuning to cause more tention, nothing happened.

So I have a few questions on this.

1. Is it normal for a new neck not to bow?

2. What will happen if I change to drop tuning?

3. Could this be because of the cold weather or humidity?

[strat-o-steve]

Make sure that what you are looking at is not a hump in the fretboard. Some Les Pauls have a "hump" in the fretboard near where the neck joins the body. If you do have a hump, the truss rod will probably do nothing to take it away. If the neck is truly in a permanent back-bow, I would send the guitar back, because this should not be normal under string tension. If loosening the truss rod further does not relieve the issue, you have a bum neck. :( And I would send it back. As for a "hump", if it isn't too bad, you can usually live with it (and have the frets leveled), otherwise, someone (skilled) has to pull the frets and plane the board true and flat, then refret to really "solve" the problem. That's why you send it back, this would NOT be acceptable with a new (and expensive) instrument!