NZGuitars.com

Hi guys, I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

I traded my Firebird Powerjet for a hollow body Gretsch which is a lovely guitar.

However, I saw the neck had a little bit more relief than I wanted so went to tweak the truss rod by 1/8 turn however when going to adjust the trussrod I found that the trussrod is already completely maxed out and wouldn't turn to tighten anymore.

It loosens up ok to add more relief and tightens back to where it originally was but It requires a little more turning to remove some of the relief.

I contacted the guy I did the trade with and let him know but to no avail as a trade is a trade and as you can't do these sort tweeks or adjustments when buying or trading used guitars to make sure everything is a'ok.

The truss rod functions the way it always has but there seems to be an issue, third party doesn't want to know as I've now "tampered" with said guitar.

What do I do?

That's a real bummer for you and I think it is not fair to leave you owning this problem.

However, before you get too flustered, I'd suggest you take it to a luthier. Sometimes, you can take off the tightening nut and fit a spacer behind it, to give you a bit more latitude. There are a couple of other tricks that might help too. So you might still be ok.

Thanks I think I will do, I spoke to the guy I traded with and said he sent all his guitars to a Luthier for adjustment and I've tampered with it so no way.

Trade was done with me. At the point of transaction I made sure he was happy with the trade, obviously I asked are you happy with it and you said yes. So at this point there is no problem for either side to own because it was agreed and transaction was made.
I have not traded with you before sorry I don't trust when at point of trade you say you're happy, take it home, then imply you're not happy with the neck and tweak it etc. If you had told me you noticed something about the neck at point of transaction I would understand and we could discuss further then...

I was however I don't usually ask if I can tweak the neck/action on site, these sort of things aren't usually an issue and can be sorted when home.

Take it to a luthier and don’t trade guitars again. Don’t really need another thread for flaming people.

KNNZ wrote:Trade was done with me. At the point of transaction I made sure he was happy with the trade, obviously I asked are you happy with it and you said yes. So at this point there is no problem for either side to own because it was agreed and transaction was made.
I have not traded with you before sorry I don't trust when at point of trade you say you're happy, take it home, then imply you're not happy with the neck and tweak it etc. If you had told me you noticed something about the neck at point of transaction I would understand and we could discuss further then...

Ah I see...there's always two sides to every story.

How much relief are we talking here? Is it within the normal range of variance, or way outside of it? Relief is a very personal thing, some guitarists like close to no relief and others like a great deal of it. If it is within the normal variance range, it's hard to complain, especially if you didn't ask about the adjustability of the truss rod prior to completing the trade.

You can see the neck has some relief but buzz’s from 10th fret to 12th gret.

Will have to get hold of a steel rule and measure how far out it is.

I should’ve checked the guitar more thoroughly but excitement of something new took over.

Pretty bloody gutted to be honest.

You're in Welly I think ? Take it into Music Planet and see Rob Mathews, I'm sure it can be sorted fairly easily.

sizzlingbadger wrote:I'm sure it can be sorted fairly easily.

That's what I thought too.

This is a 3 minute job to assess the situation and probably a 5 minute job to rectify. Chill and get someone to look at it. Even if it has high frets here and there it’s a simple fix. That’s Unlikely, but I’m trying to provide you with some context here. I’ve never worked on a neck I couldnt make right.

Danban wrote:You can see the neck has some relief but buzz’s from 10th fret to 12th gret.

Will have to get hold of a steel rule and measure how far out it is.

I should’ve checked the guitar more thoroughly but excitement of something new took over.

Pretty bloody gutted to be honest.

You'd have to be pretty damn pedantic to check how much truss rod adjustability was available before you completed a trade/purchase of a guitar. Even if you were planning on changing string gauge it would be an afterthought for most people. Rob at Music Planet will help you no probs tho.

It'll be fine. Take it to a guy. It's like maintenance for a car, these things get adjusted periodically

GrantB wrote:This is a 3 minute job to assess the situation and probably a 5 minute job to rectify. Chill and get someone to look at it. Even if it has high frets here and there it’s a simple fix. That’s Unlikely, but I’m trying to provide you with some context here. I’ve never worked on a neck I couldnt make right.

Some necks warp/twist, others are so bent one way or the other that the truss rod cannot straighten them so they require a reset (costly, time-intensive, no guarantee of success). Sometimes the truss rod is dysfunctional and requires replacing (also very costly).

Just saying it isn't always so easy.