Longitudinal neck twist

[essexbasscat]

Hi there

One for the luthiers I guess. How do you go about taking the longitudinal twist out of a neck ?

I have one guitar and one bass that have twisted necks and wouldn't mind having a go at un-twisting them, if it's possible to do in the average home.

I read a short while ago about a BC member that took a bass to a luthier who untwisted a neck, with very pleasing results, so it appears it can be done.

Anyone have any ideas on this one ?

Thanks BC

[essexbasscat]

I honestly don't know where to start with this problem. Anyone out there have any ideas ? even if people come along and end up saying don't bother for x,y, z reasons, it'll be helpful

I'm not in a hurry with this one, but rather curious about twisted necks, as I've never seen it discussed at length before

Thanks again

[Number6]

Most Luthiers will give an assessment of an instrument before any work is attempted.....why not ask around and send a few emails?

Edited March 26, 2014 by Number6

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Well this popped straight out of google when I typed in "removing longitudinal twist from guitar neck"

http://harmony.demont.net/kamikazie.php?page=033

[geoffbyrne]

If I remember correctly, someone used to produce a bass with a huge intentional stwist in the neck....

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f18/twist-neck-hwy-one-842038/



G.

Edited March 27, 2014 by geoffbyrne

[icastle]

I picked up a 12 string acoustic like that years ago.
I had no absolutely no idea how to straighten it but it was a trade in for something else and had only cost about £20 in real terms.

[b][u]This is what I did, it's not necessarily the right way to do it though.[/u][/b]

I took off the machine heads and slackened the truss rod right off.
I then filled a tall pedal bin full of water and immersed the neck and then left it for a week.

I made two wooden neck braces (one flat, the other with a contour cut out to accept the back of the neck).

I used half a dozen C clamps and then tightened the whole thing up, making sure I put plenty of pressure on the opposite side of the twist (essentially persuading it to pull back the other way).

I then stuck it in the airing cupboard like that for about three weeks.
Once a week I'd take it out and tighten up the C clamps again.

Restrung it, put a new set of strings on, retightened the truss rod and set it up.

I've still got it, still play it and the neck is as straight as an arrow.

[Diablo]

I've never done a bass neck, but with lots of other wood you put the wood to be bent or twisted in a tube (piece of 4" drainpipe from an B&Q or the like will do the trick), wrap it in towels or an old duvet to keep heat in, boil water and feed it into one end and vent the other end. A kettle with the switch held on does just fine to make the steam, just keep adding water so the element is covered. Give it 30-60 mins to get the hot moisture into the wood, remove from rig and it will bend as easy as you like. Clamp it into the shape you want and leave to cool. How that works on coated/lacquered finishes I'm not sure. Using the method in the post above but with near boiling water in the bin would have done the job in a few mins rather than weeks as the heat just speeds the process up no end.

Cheers,
Rich

[essexbasscat]

Water and steam seem to be the order of the day. If heat and moisture have to get to the wood, that does imply a laquer or poly re - finish I guess, so no quick jobs with this one.

Still, if it's a cheap guitar, nothing to lose !

Thanks for the replies all

[icastle]

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1396217763' post='2411175']
Using the method in the post above but with near boiling water in the bin would have done the job in a few mins rather than weeks as the heat just speeds the process up no end.
[/quote]

That's a much better idea.
IIRC, I went climbing for a week and just left it dangling.

I'm wondering if one of those wallpaper steamers with the head disconnected might help - plenty of steam off of one of those.