Twisted neck problem - any advice??

[barryman]

[b]I have a problem with a bass neck. I left my bass out in the sun for only a coupla hours and the result is the bloody neck has twisted. I don't mean a bow or hump, I mean it's developed a twist from right to left like someone held the body end while someone else tried to twist the headstock. Looking down from the headstock I can see that the headstock and nut are not level with the fretboard as it should be.[/b]

[b]I need advice on how to fix it. I know that one answer is to buy a new neck but I'd prefer to sort it out myself if poss. A friend said something about leaving it in a steamy room then applying sideways pressure in some kind of jig or clamp. Can anyone help me along these lines, ie steam and natural re-twisting. Any advice on making some kind of jig etc? Or, would there be any way of using over-tightened strings to pull the neck round, ie loosen off the E and A strings completely and then over-tightening up the D & G strings - (the neck is higher on that side).[/b]

[b]I happy to have a try at fixing it before I shell out on a new neck!!! [/b]

[b]Thanks in advance[/b]

Edited April 3, 2014 by barryman

[essexbasscat]

Have a peek at a thread I raised recently titled 'longitudinal neck twist'. May be a start ?

[HowieBass]

If the nut seems higher on the G than the E I'd have thought you'd want [i]less[/i] tension in the G and D strings and a little [i]more[/i] in the E and A strings if string tension alone could cure the twist (but then I've never had to cure this kind of problem so what do I know... ) but yeah, you might have to warm the glue bond between fingerboard and neck and then clamp flat as it cools (assuming the neck has a glued on fingerboard).

[barryman]

Howie - of course you are absolutely right. Tension should be on the lower strings so that's what I'll try first.

Thanks

[HowieBass]

If you look at string tension tables, like this [url="http://www.ghsrep.net/uploads/2/2/2/5/22258814/ghs_bass_string_guide.pdf"]http://www.ghsrep.ne...tring_guide.pdf[/url] you'll notice that it's often the D string that seems to have the most pull and that might be what's twisted the neck (it's been in the sun, glue bond has softened, the G and D are exerting more pull than the E and A).

Edited April 3, 2014 by HowieBass