Dried and bent neck

[krankenstein]

I have 1991 made japanese Jackson fusion, Im not the first owner but I've been having it for 10 years.

I moved to Finland 3 years ago and my guitars exposed to the damned Finnish winter 3 times. Recently I brought my fusion to the repair but they said there's no fix for buzzing strings because of the shape of the neck. Dinky is still fine but fusion is 20 years older than her. I feel so dumb now, like I shouldn't have any valuable guitar, as I am... dumb. Like how dare you to let it dry for 3 years?

I tried the guitar a bit, it's not completely ruined but you know it doesn't feel right. String height is normal, I increased the height 1mm from the locking nut and after that it's more playable. Adjusting Floyd height doesn't help, actually making it worse.

So what I should do with it? I don't want to sell it (components/body etc can still make money). I don't care about the money, it costed me around 300$ years back then so wasn't too expensive. Should I expose it to the humid if it can help? Or should I make it a wall guitar? What you'd do?

I will share pictures of it after the dog walk.

 

[krankenstein]

It's a professional pro, rare one. I was planning to change the pickups, already bought sh5 custom for the bridge :/

 

[DrewJD82]

It might be salvageable. @Eagle can lend some insight, surely.

Might require some heating/moisture/clamps and letting it sit for a little while, but it’s going to really depend on how bad of a twist it is and things like that aren’t really diagnosable via pictures. Maybe if you had a straight edge to lay on the neck and got some really detailed pics it could deliver some information.

 

[krankenstein]

String is high on the 24th fret and very low on the first. There's gap between the fret and the wood. headstock bowed behind visibly. You can see the cracks too on the ebony.

I used to put 46-10 set strings now there's 46-09. Not sure if it affects to it

 

[Eagle]

Loosen the truss rod entirely and see what happens. It looks in the pictures to have been massively over tightened at some point and possibly still. The crack is consistent with this. Report back. It may mostly correct but we will have to see.

 

[krankenstein]

Loosen the truss rod entirely and see what happens. It looks in the pictures to have been massively over tightened at some point and possibly still. The crack is consistent with this. Report back. It may mostly correct but we will have to see.

Thank you for the reply,

What is the specs of the truss rod key? Ones I have are very different

 

[krankenstein]

I removed the string which I put to increase height on the locking nut, now first 2 frets are completely touching the strings. Meanwhile string distance on the last frets are high.

I can fill the locking nut again with something and lower the Floyd rose from the other side but it's not a permanent solution.

Luthier didn't think truss rod adjustment could fix it but I want to try.

 

[DrewJD82]

I removed the string which I put to increase height on the locking nut, now first 2 frets are completely touching the strings. Meanwhile string distance on the last frets are high.

I can fill the locking nut again with something and lower the Floyd rose from the other side but it's not a permanent solution.

Luthier didn't think truss rod adjustment could fix it but I want to try.

Were you able to tighten the truss rod? You’re not going to see any of the changes you want until you give that a shot. I’d even put some tension on the truss rod and just let it sit over night to do it’s thing.

FWIW, I had a bass that‘s neck started to bow regardless of how much tension I put on the rod. I ended up taking the neck off, taking tension off the truss rod, clamping the neck frets-down to a long table and putting a 3rd clamp in the middle of the neck that I used to push the neck down from above, so it straightened out as I tightened the middle clamp. Once it was straight I put a little tension on the neck and let it sit there for a week before removing it. It didn’t make it perfect but it made it actually playable again.

 

[Achilles]

I moved to Finland 3 years ago and my guitars exposed to the damned Finnish winter 3 times.

What is your average humidity level like? I lived in Phoenix, AZ one summer (air conditioning is on 24/7) and stupidly hung an Ovation on the wall. Eventually the constant dryness killed it to the point the truss rod had no more turns left. Ruined it unfortunately.

 

[krankenstein]

Were you able to tighten the truss rod? You’re not going to see any of the changes you want until you give that a shot. I’d even put some tension on the truss rod and just let it sit over night to do it’s thing.

FWIW, I had a bass that‘s neck started to bow regardless of how much tension I put on the rod. I ended up taking the neck off, taking tension off the truss rod, clamping the neck frets-down to a long table and putting a 3rd clamp in the middle of the neck that I used to push the neck down from above, so it straightened out as I tightened the middle clamp. Once it was straight I put a little tension on the neck and let it sit there for a week before removing it. It didn’t make it perfect but it made it actually playable again.

Not yet, I need to find and order correct truss rod key first. Before that I was thinking to adjust Floyd rose springs and re tune the guitar. Somehow it was in better condition before I changed 10-46 strings (standart) to 12-52 (drop C) and again to standard with 09-46 set.

Should I loosen or tighten the rod by the way?

Good method you tried, late 80s super strats are way too fragile with those super slim necks, have no idea about the basses but the situation is very annoying. No wonder why modern guitars come with more than 3 pieces / reinforced necks.

I will update here if I can make it any better.

 

[Eagle]

1991 would be the same as Japanese Ibanez RG. 7mm box

 

[Eagle]

Totally loose.
There’s nothing wrong with the vast majority of these necks. This one looks like it was damaged from a truss rod adjustment that went way beyond what was needed.

 

[krankenstein]

What is your average humidity level like? I lived in Phoenix, AZ one summer (air conditioning is on 24/7) and stupidly hung an Ovation on the wall. Eventually the constant dryness killed it to the point the truss rod had no more turns left. Ruined it unfortunately.

Man that sucks, sorry to hear.

Don't know how accurate it is but it says 19% at the moment (19.5 C°). Yesterday was 22. But I can confirm it as my throat and skin are dry all the time. It's a death sentence for the guitars.

I wanted to get a humidifier but couldn't find a good one and felt lazy to order it from Amazon. I'll now just pick the ugliest but the most efficient one I can find.

 

[krankenstein]

Totally loose.
There’s nothing wrong with the vast majority of these necks. This one looks like it was damaged from a truss rod adjustment that went way beyond what was needed.

I didn't touch truss rod even once in 10 years. I was living next to hot and humid Mediterranean city then moved here. Hope it's fixable still with truss rod adjustment

 

[DrewJD82]

I didn't touch truss rod even once in 10 years. I was living next to hot and humid Mediterranean city then moved here. Hope it's fixable still with truss rod adjustment

Grab yourself one of these- https://reverb.com/item/74455141-ibanez-mtz11-ama-multi-tool-aqua-blue-matte-11-tools-in-1

Truss rod adjustments-

Righty tighty (turn to the right to tighten it)
Lefty loosey (turn left to loosen it)

 

[laxu]

Man that sucks, sorry to hear.

Don't know how accurate it is but it says 19% at the moment (19.5 C°). Yesterday was 22. But I can confirm it as my throat and skin are dry all the time. It's a death sentence for the guitars.

I wanted to get a humidifier but couldn't find a good one and felt lazy to order it from Amazon. I'll now just pick the ugliest but the most efficient one I can find.

As a Finn, I'd say keeping your guitars out of areas where it gets cold is more important. I tended to have a lot more tuning issues when I had my guitars closer to a window than I do now.

I've got guitars that are decades old with not much issues in the winter. Some might have a bit of fret sprout around this time of the year.

For reference, in the room where my guitars reside the temp is about +22°C, outside it's about -13°C atm.

I assume the truss rod on the Jackson Pro is metric, so go grab one of those blue box allen key sets from a hardware store. It should have something that fits. If the truss rod is the type that takes a "pipe" style wrench, go to almost any music store with your guitar and they should have 'em.

 

[krankenstein]

As a Finn, I'd say keeping your guitars out of areas where it gets cold is more important. I tended to have a lot more tuning issues when I had my guitars closer to a window than I do now.

I've got guitars that are decades old with not much issues in the winter. Some might have a bit of fret sprout around this time of the year.

For reference, in the room where my guitars reside the temp is about +22°C, outside it's about -13°C atm.

I assume the truss rod on the Jackson Pro is metric, so go grab one of those blue box allen key sets from a hardware store. It should have something that fits. If the truss rod is the type that takes a "pipe" style wrench, go to almost any music store with your guitar and they should have 'em.

Inside temp is around 20 but sometimes my wife keep the balcony door open because she thinks our lapphund feels hot inside one time I was freezing inside and saw the temp. reduced to 18.

I also keep them in one room with door closed so our doggo cannot chew anything important.

I checked the temp again while I write this, all rooms set to 19 lmao.

 

[laxu]

Inside temp is around 20 but sometimes my wife keep the balcony door open because she thinks our lapphund feels hot inside one time I was freezing inside and saw the temp. reduced to 18.

I also keep them in one room with door closed so our doggo cannot chew anything important.

I checked the temp again while I write this, all rooms set to 19 lmao.

19-22°C is pretty normal. Before the central heating kicked in properly in my apartment building it was around 19°C too and no amount of radiator adjustment would change that. It is a bit chillier than I'd like, 21-22°C is fine.

 

[krankenstein]

19-22°C is pretty normal. Before the central heating kicked in properly in my apartment building it was around 19°C too and no amount of radiator adjustment would change that. It is a bit chillier than I'd like, 21-22°C is fine.

I'd be happy with solid 26 °C. But humidity around 20 percent feels awful. I could warm up the sauna, steam the whole house but it's electric

I'll check verkkokauppa etc. again for humidifier

 

[laxu]

I'd be happy with solid 26 °C. But humidity around 20 percent feels awful. I could warm up the sauna, steam the whole house but it's electric

I'll check verkkokauppa etc. again for humidifier

My previous 5th floor apartment got even hotter than 26C in the summer and we were in hell. Air conditioning is still not common in Finland because in the past it rarely got hot enough that it became an issue. Thanks global warming!

Thankfully the current 1st floor apartment is much more manageable all year round.