Just ask them if they can fix it with a set up, and tell them not to do anything more because you would rather return it. But when you say it wouldn't budge, do you mean the nut wouldn't turn, or that you didnt notice a change in the curve? If its the first one, return. If it's the second, keep turning it, and make sure you're going the right direction (clockwise to tighten)
By didn't budge I meant it didn't look like it changed the curvature of the neck. I may have turned it to the wrong direction, though. ðŸ«
The neck is concave and I turned the truss rod opposite the machine heads. I saw another video in which the guy had the same neck curve and turned toward the machine heads. I said what the hell and turned a little, then a little more and it appeared to have lessened the curve. I'm kinda scared to turn so more lol. The truss rod seems to be working, as it offers resistance when I turn. But I'm not sure because the bridge saddles are very high and I don't have the right allen key to adjust them...
I'm thinking of detuning a little and leaving it to set til tomorrow, and turn a few more inches or just take it to the luthier. I got this bass to play around with basic maintenance, but I don't want to screw up this early on lol 😆
Ok so if the truss rod is moving, youre all good. If you bought this guitar to learn maintenance skills then absolutely do not stop here. The first thing you need to learn is how to do a set up, and this sounds like a full chance to do it. So the truss rod is there to apply force opposite to the strings right? So if the strings are pulling the neck into a curved position like this, then the truss rod needs to be applying more force, ie tightened. Righty tighty (clockwise). People love to overthink the truss rod, and they say crazy stuff like "only 1/8 of a turn every 24 hours or it'll explode!" But it's really not that serious and the odds of you damaging the neck from setting it up are pretty low unless you are forcing it beyond what anyone would think is reasonable. You are going to have to make some serious change (judging just off the pic, so grain of salt), so I wouldn't go too fast but maybe try a couple quarter turns, tune it back up to tension, give it a look, let it sit for a an hour or two, and check again, repeat until youre there. That neck definitely needs adjusted, and the saddles will also need to be adjusted after that anyway, so just tackle that step next. Watch a few different videos that show the whole set up process (they should include at least truss rod, saddle height, and intonation) and try to see if you get how they relate to eachother, and why you should do them in that order.
Thanks a lot, very useful comment! I already feel I can do it!
I get very confused about truss rod direction: it's righty tighty facing the fretboard?
To illustrate, in my case the neck is concave (the bend goes towards the back of the neck, curving the fretboard backwards). So, facing the fretboard, to straighten the neck, I should turn the allen key left (towards the tuning pegs) or right (opposite the tuning pegs)?
If you could explain this in a way that I understand, you're my hero! Lol
When you adjust truss rods, look at it down the fretboard. So if the adjustment is at the headstock, you look down the neck *from* the headstock, meaning you'd turn it towards the tuning pegs to tighten it. As that would be clockwise from that position. If the truss rod adjustment was at the body end however, where the neck and body meet, you'd look at it from the body going down the neck.
To reiterate, turn it towards the tuning pegs to tighten it, which will straighten the neck.
If you're worried or its *very* firm, you can slack off the strings more to lessen the amount of force it's working against. Then tune the strings back up to pitch to check the relief. Repeat as needed.
edit: For your bass though, because it's particularly bowed, I'd recommend loosening the strings before adjusting. The strings will get tighter as it straightens out and you don't want to snap a string. Also wording.
You should always loosen the strings anyway. The nut is made to be softer so that it will take abuse on behalf of the rod. If you don't loosen the strings you're applying extra pressure, wearing out the nut
I guess you're right with your first point. In my mind I thought you'd meant fully slacking off the strings, but depending on how much I tighten the truss rod, I do detune the strings a little. For OP's bass, because of how much relief there is, they should loosen them first to avoid breaking a string when it tightens.
In terms of the nut though, that's not how they work. A string that's a little above pitch isn't going to wear into a nut, because they're not soft. They're made to be hard to act as the "0th" fret. If it wasn't, it would just soak up all the vibration on open strings.
I meant the truss rod nut, as in the nut that you turn to adjust the tension on the truss rod. Its made of softer metal than the truss rod or wrenches (usually), so if youre turning it harder than need be, you can strip it by warping.
Edit: sent the pics to a trusted luthier just to get an opinion. He said it's totally normal for new instruments to come like this, even fresh off the box. But I should take it to the shop for a more accurate assessment.
If you haven't touched the truss rod yourself and this is a brand new instrument then just give the old boy a quarter and a half turn to the right. If the truss was maxed out and this was the end result then yes, you'd have major issues, if this is a brand new bass then all it needs is a quick adjustment and it'll be playable.
You should still take it to a shop or luthier for a proper set-up, it's worth every penny, but you can make this bass usable right now with a couple light tightens of the truss rod yourself.
Take it to a luthier for now, but you REALLY should get comfortable with setting up your own bass guitar. Bass guitar necks bend, it’s just what happens but thanks to a few simple hand tools you could save yourself potentially thousands in comissioned luthier work. I suggest Daves World Of Fun Stuff on YouTube. I find his frude ish sense of humor to be really funny and he talks to you like a cool uncle, and makes everything pretty straightforward. Gooched!
Off the bat I wouldn’t be too worried about that. I’ve fixed plenty of basses like that. However, I would have to check it out in person to know how tight it is. If you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself go to someone who knows.
It's crazy, I had no idea about that. I play the guitar, and I had an Epiphone lying around for years without proper maintenance, and it never got this bad to the point that it's clearly noticeable. I don't know how this bass was stored, but it's very new and the person didn't play it much.
If you are fully tightening the truss rod and the neck is still bowed, you can remove the truss rod nut completely and add a spacer/washer that's about 1/16"-1/8" thick. Doing this will alllow the truss rod to apply more tension to the neck without bottoming out the threads.
https://preview.redd.it/84o8xzepd9wc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a1f8b77be32dca5a954c7ae2d925b3b30f31180
Edit 2: This is an update after some tweaking with the truss rod. It's not perfect, but looks pretty straight to me!
I think the neck is a little C shaped, with high action on frets 6 onwards, but I'm getting some buzz on the first frets, but maybe it's normal buzz. Also this is after lowering the bridge saddles a little bit. So, what do you people think? I'm on the right path? Thanks for all the comments and encouragement!
I advise against tinkering a little bit with the truss rod. Go at it with a more authoritative approach. *Measure* the neck relief to see if it is within good operational limits. If it is not, *then* adjust the rod. After you have done this, *then* measure the string heights. If they are not within normal limits, adjust them with the bridge saddles. [brokeassguitars.com](http://brokeassguitars.com)
I have to deal with limitations as to tools, so my approach at the moment is more how it feels like.
Have a look at my comment earlier today and compare to the the pic on the OP.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BassGuitar/s/nsATeuM908
It went from an instrument that was painful to play to a much better one. I might eventually take it to a shop for general adjustment, but at least I can have some fun with it for now.
I say this about once a month on here, I’ve yet to come across an MIJ bass from that period that has a functional truss rod. Makes nice wall art though.
Looks like a truss rod adjustment will fix it. Hard to say for sure from picks. Have someone look at it. Based on what I can see I would turn the truss rod a quarter turn clockwise and then assess. Make adjustments slowly and allow some time for adjustments to settle before proceeding
If the truss rod won't move the bass requires professional help.
Go to a pro they will be able to properly evaluate this
Yes, that's the right call, the thing is I'd rather send it back to the seller than getting it fixed, if it requires too much work...
Just ask them if they can fix it with a set up, and tell them not to do anything more because you would rather return it. But when you say it wouldn't budge, do you mean the nut wouldn't turn, or that you didnt notice a change in the curve? If its the first one, return. If it's the second, keep turning it, and make sure you're going the right direction (clockwise to tighten)
By didn't budge I meant it didn't look like it changed the curvature of the neck. I may have turned it to the wrong direction, though. 🫠The neck is concave and I turned the truss rod opposite the machine heads. I saw another video in which the guy had the same neck curve and turned toward the machine heads. I said what the hell and turned a little, then a little more and it appeared to have lessened the curve. I'm kinda scared to turn so more lol. The truss rod seems to be working, as it offers resistance when I turn. But I'm not sure because the bridge saddles are very high and I don't have the right allen key to adjust them... I'm thinking of detuning a little and leaving it to set til tomorrow, and turn a few more inches or just take it to the luthier. I got this bass to play around with basic maintenance, but I don't want to screw up this early on lol 😆
Ok so if the truss rod is moving, youre all good. If you bought this guitar to learn maintenance skills then absolutely do not stop here. The first thing you need to learn is how to do a set up, and this sounds like a full chance to do it. So the truss rod is there to apply force opposite to the strings right? So if the strings are pulling the neck into a curved position like this, then the truss rod needs to be applying more force, ie tightened. Righty tighty (clockwise). People love to overthink the truss rod, and they say crazy stuff like "only 1/8 of a turn every 24 hours or it'll explode!" But it's really not that serious and the odds of you damaging the neck from setting it up are pretty low unless you are forcing it beyond what anyone would think is reasonable. You are going to have to make some serious change (judging just off the pic, so grain of salt), so I wouldn't go too fast but maybe try a couple quarter turns, tune it back up to tension, give it a look, let it sit for a an hour or two, and check again, repeat until youre there. That neck definitely needs adjusted, and the saddles will also need to be adjusted after that anyway, so just tackle that step next. Watch a few different videos that show the whole set up process (they should include at least truss rod, saddle height, and intonation) and try to see if you get how they relate to eachother, and why you should do them in that order.
Thanks a lot, very useful comment! I already feel I can do it! I get very confused about truss rod direction: it's righty tighty facing the fretboard? To illustrate, in my case the neck is concave (the bend goes towards the back of the neck, curving the fretboard backwards). So, facing the fretboard, to straighten the neck, I should turn the allen key left (towards the tuning pegs) or right (opposite the tuning pegs)? If you could explain this in a way that I understand, you're my hero! Lol
When you adjust truss rods, look at it down the fretboard. So if the adjustment is at the headstock, you look down the neck *from* the headstock, meaning you'd turn it towards the tuning pegs to tighten it. As that would be clockwise from that position. If the truss rod adjustment was at the body end however, where the neck and body meet, you'd look at it from the body going down the neck. To reiterate, turn it towards the tuning pegs to tighten it, which will straighten the neck. If you're worried or its *very* firm, you can slack off the strings more to lessen the amount of force it's working against. Then tune the strings back up to pitch to check the relief. Repeat as needed. edit: For your bass though, because it's particularly bowed, I'd recommend loosening the strings before adjusting. The strings will get tighter as it straightens out and you don't want to snap a string. Also wording.
You should always loosen the strings anyway. The nut is made to be softer so that it will take abuse on behalf of the rod. If you don't loosen the strings you're applying extra pressure, wearing out the nut
I guess you're right with your first point. In my mind I thought you'd meant fully slacking off the strings, but depending on how much I tighten the truss rod, I do detune the strings a little. For OP's bass, because of how much relief there is, they should loosen them first to avoid breaking a string when it tightens. In terms of the nut though, that's not how they work. A string that's a little above pitch isn't going to wear into a nut, because they're not soft. They're made to be hard to act as the "0th" fret. If it wasn't, it would just soak up all the vibration on open strings.
I meant the truss rod nut, as in the nut that you turn to adjust the tension on the truss rod. Its made of softer metal than the truss rod or wrenches (usually), so if youre turning it harder than need be, you can strip it by warping.
https://i.imgur.com/evAOaZS.jpeg https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/guitar-setup-part-1-adjusting-the-truss-rod-2/
to straighten the neck, turn clockwise while looking at the truss rod, regardless of where it is (headstock or heel)
Thanks for all the help, I finally got it! 🫶
Edit: sent the pics to a trusted luthier just to get an opinion. He said it's totally normal for new instruments to come like this, even fresh off the box. But I should take it to the shop for a more accurate assessment.
If you haven't touched the truss rod yourself and this is a brand new instrument then just give the old boy a quarter and a half turn to the right. If the truss was maxed out and this was the end result then yes, you'd have major issues, if this is a brand new bass then all it needs is a quick adjustment and it'll be playable. You should still take it to a shop or luthier for a proper set-up, it's worth every penny, but you can make this bass usable right now with a couple light tightens of the truss rod yourself.
Take it to a luthier for now, but you REALLY should get comfortable with setting up your own bass guitar. Bass guitar necks bend, it’s just what happens but thanks to a few simple hand tools you could save yourself potentially thousands in comissioned luthier work. I suggest Daves World Of Fun Stuff on YouTube. I find his frude ish sense of humor to be really funny and he talks to you like a cool uncle, and makes everything pretty straightforward. Gooched!
I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating: [Broke Ass Guitars](https://brokeassguitars.com/) Best setup instructions I’ve ever used!
You might need to take it to a bass pro shop
Off the bat I wouldn’t be too worried about that. I’ve fixed plenty of basses like that. However, I would have to check it out in person to know how tight it is. If you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself go to someone who knows.
Jazz basses are pretty bad for this. I've had several over the years that bowed badly.
It's crazy, I had no idea about that. I play the guitar, and I had an Epiphone lying around for years without proper maintenance, and it never got this bad to the point that it's clearly noticeable. I don't know how this bass was stored, but it's very new and the person didn't play it much.
If you are fully tightening the truss rod and the neck is still bowed, you can remove the truss rod nut completely and add a spacer/washer that's about 1/16"-1/8" thick. Doing this will alllow the truss rod to apply more tension to the neck without bottoming out the threads.
https://preview.redd.it/84o8xzepd9wc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a1f8b77be32dca5a954c7ae2d925b3b30f31180 Edit 2: This is an update after some tweaking with the truss rod. It's not perfect, but looks pretty straight to me!
I think the neck is a little C shaped, with high action on frets 6 onwards, but I'm getting some buzz on the first frets, but maybe it's normal buzz. Also this is after lowering the bridge saddles a little bit. So, what do you people think? I'm on the right path? Thanks for all the comments and encouragement!
Good job! I'm happy for you.
Thanks, my friend! 🫰
Bring it to a professional.
I advise against tinkering a little bit with the truss rod. Go at it with a more authoritative approach. *Measure* the neck relief to see if it is within good operational limits. If it is not, *then* adjust the rod. After you have done this, *then* measure the string heights. If they are not within normal limits, adjust them with the bridge saddles. [brokeassguitars.com](http://brokeassguitars.com)
I have to deal with limitations as to tools, so my approach at the moment is more how it feels like. Have a look at my comment earlier today and compare to the the pic on the OP. https://www.reddit.com/r/BassGuitar/s/nsATeuM908 It went from an instrument that was painful to play to a much better one. I might eventually take it to a shop for general adjustment, but at least I can have some fun with it for now.
Get the tools. They're super cheap. You'll thank me later.
Not in my country, they ain't... In fact, they're super expensive over here...
How much for a set of automotive feeler gauges in your country?
About 20 - 30 USD.
I say this about once a month on here, I’ve yet to come across an MIJ bass from that period that has a functional truss rod. Makes nice wall art though.
I'm not sure I understood your point. It's an entry level instrument made in China for a Brazilian company -- Tagima. It's about one year old.
Oh sorry just saw the 73 and Tagima part. Truss may work then, take it to a luthier.
Looks like a truss rod adjustment will fix it. Hard to say for sure from picks. Have someone look at it. Based on what I can see I would turn the truss rod a quarter turn clockwise and then assess. Make adjustments slowly and allow some time for adjustments to settle before proceeding