Neck not pulling in enough relief

[Bryan Bear]

I just strung up (3 days ago) my latest project. It is an L-00 (24.75" scale) with a zero fret, walnut neck with maple center lam and an old style one way curved compression rod. This is to be a gift for my brother who likes fat necks. The neck ended up being thIcker than I thought (he was with me when I carved it and he told me when to stop). With light strings, it pulls in almost no relief with the rod as loose as it goes. Am I doomed to have to set the action a bit higher, or is there some trick you all know about?

[Mark Swanson]

I have fought with this before. It comes sometimes from using a waterbased glue such as Titebond to glue on the fingerboard. the water expands the surface of the neck, bowing it back and it dries that way.
You might be able to use a heat press to bend the neck in the direction you want. You can also tighten the rod, and then plane the fretboard level and re-fret....loosen the rod and you have relief.

[Bryan Bear]

Thanks Mark, the fretboard was glued with HHG and clamped to a marble caul for several days to avoid the waterbase issue. It was pretty much dead flat when done. It just seems like it refuses to move under string tension it has pulled up a TINY bit but not what I would like. I have been thinking about heating and bending as you suggest, but I'm not sure it would help. The HHG won't really creap with heat, will it? I'll pull the frets and plane the board if I have to, but I'd rather avoid that. . .

[Michael Lewis]

Brian, if you have any relief in the fingerboard then you can dress the remaining amount of relief into the fret surface as it is only a few thousandths of an inch (one or two tenths of mm).

As Mark suggested, tighten the rod slightly and dress the frets, then you can relax the rod to get the relief you need. If that isn't suitable then you need to pull the frets and with the rod slightly tightened plane the board before refretting.

[Barry Daniels]

Wait at least a week with the guitar under string tension before you do anything. The neck may come up a little. Also, you could slap on a set of medium gauge strings temporarily or long term.

[Mario Proulx]

Good suggestions so far, but I want to clarify one thing?

Does the neck have -any- relief right now, or is it back-bowed?

[Bryan Bear]

It has some. If I fret the 1st and 14th frets, I can tap the low E and hear it strike the fret tops in the middle of the neck but i can't really see any space. It is less than the thickness of a sheet of paper. The low E gets a little buzz when it is struck pretty hard. I have a light touch and it is fine for me, but the action will need to go up if someone were to want to pound on it or play in drop D.

[Ron Belanger]

Try a set of Bluegrass strings (light tops Medium Bottoms - .012,.016,.024,.035,.045,.056) They will give you a little more tension and may give you the relief you need.

[Mario Proulx]

Sounds like the relief is perfect. The ideal relief is zero...

You now need to raise the saddle if it's a little buzzy. If the buzz is specific to playing in certain positions, your frets may not be perfectly leveled.

[Rodger Knox]

I'm with Mario on this. As long as it doesn't have any backbow, it'll be more trouble than it's worth to change it. I had a similiar situation with my first guitar, except it had a two way rod. Initially, the strings didn't pull any relief on the laminated maple neck with maple fretboard. I adjusted the rod and played with the setup, and discovered that I didn't need the additional relief provided by the rod.
Pulling the frets and planeing the board is a lot of work to lower the action a few thousands of an inch.

[Nick Middleton]

I also agree. While it's not comforting to know that you don't have much range on the truss-rod, I see it as an oportunity for larger-strings if they want. Or, after a few years, the neck will probably bow a little and the truss-rod will be there to offer lots of adjustment.

Either way: it sounds like you're able to get a great setup and it's not a problem until it's a problem.

[Barry Daniels]

I would go with Mark's suggestion to tighten the truss rod a bit and then do a really good fret level, crown and buff. You should have plenty of fret height to make a little relief.

[Bob Gramann]

Wait a couple of weeks before you do anything. It will move.

[Bryan Bear]

Thanks all. I think I will wait and re-evaluate later. This will be his birthday present in Mid-August (he thought I was just showing him how I carve a neck, not letting him weigh in on a custom carved neck for his surprise present). I was getting impatient because I wanted it to be all buttoned up when I gave it to him, but why not let him decide if it needs some tweaking. If it doesn't move by then or he drives it too hard we'll decide if we want to raise the saddle or load the rod and re-level the frets.