SD Curlee Hondo II

[itu]

9 hours ago, prowla said:

This talk of shimming…

Doesn’t the bridge sit on the neck extension?

Yes, (No) this is a special construction where the neck extends to the bridge (which is NOT attached to the body, thank you for the correction). This isn't a neck through body, nor a bolt on neck as we usually understand it. 

Edited 3 hours ago by itu
read only memory failure

[Maude]

31 minutes ago, prowla said:

This talk of shimming…

Doesn’t the bridge sit on the neck extension?

 

Yes, that was my initial reaction, but as @Hellzero suggested, you could shim so the bridge end lifted increasing the neck angle, but then shave down the end of the neck the bridge mounts on so that the bridge if effectively lowered. 

 

19 minutes ago, itu said:

No, this is a special construction where the neck extends to the bridge which is attached to the body. This isn't a neck through body, nor a bolt on neck as we usually understand it. 

 

The bridge mounts on the centre section/neck. The body itself is completely unneeded other than to mount the controls (and the outer pickup screws). 

[W1_Pro]

9 hours ago, prowla said:

This talk of shimming…

Doesn’t the bridge sit on the neck extension?

It sits kind of jointly on both the end of the extended neck and the body. So it needs a level base.

[prowla]

8 hours ago, itu said:

No, this is a special construction where the neck extends to the bridge which is attached to the body. This isn't a neck through body, nor a bolt on neck as we usually understand it. 

 

If you look at the pictures, you will see that the bridge sits on the neck extension: the two front screws and 3 of the 5 tail-end bridge screw holes are on it (I didn't say it was a thru-neck).

Edited 4 hours ago by prowla

[W1_Pro]

8 hours ago, Maude said:

 

Yes, that was my initial reaction, but as @Hellzero suggested, you could shim so the bridge end lifted increasing the neck angle, but then shave down the end of the neck the bridge mounts on so that the bridge if effectively lowered. 

 

 

The bridge mounts on the centre section/neck. The body itself is completely unneeded other than to mount the controls (and the outer pickup screws). 

As I said, the bridge and the pickups mount on both the extended neck section and the body so (especially with the bridge) a flat spot is needed to mount it...

[prowla]

7 minutes ago, W1_Pro said:

It sits kind of jointly on both the end of the extended neck and the body. So it needs a level base.

 

Yes, so simply shimming it won't do the trick.

@Maude's suggestion of shaving it could be a workaround, but I think the underlying issue would re-surface in the future.

My guess is that the issue is in that P-bass pickup cutout.

This is similar to the known neck-lift issue on Rickenbacker basses and people are able to fix that, either by heating/clamping to straighten it, or even by inserting carbon fibre strips to strengthen it and make it rigid.

[BigRedX]

I don't think the pickup route is the problem. It looks as though the bolts for the neck attach either side of this which should counter-act any weakness at this point.

 

My suspicion is that the problem is due to the fact that all the "neck" bolts appear to be beyond the end of the truss rod, and the flexing point is between the end of the fingerboard and where the first set of bolts attach to to the body.

 

I wonder if fitting two more bolts that definitely attach the neck at a point where it is also being affected by the truss rod will overcome this flex point.

[prowla]

24 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I don't think the pickup route is the problem. It looks as though the bolts for the neck attach either side of this which should counter-act any weakness at this point.

 

My suspicion is that the problem is due to the fact that all the "neck" bolts appear to be beyond the end of the truss rod, and the flexing point is between the end of the fingerboard and where the first set of bolts attach to to the body.

 

I wonder if fitting two more bolts that definitely attach the neck at a point where it is also being affected by the truss rod will overcome this flex point.

It could be that.

I guess it'd be easy to confirm/eliminate the pickup bay question by simply putting a ruler on the neck extension and seeing where the gap(s) lie; moving it back & forth to get an idea of the profile.

Doing that on the back side would pesumably show a bump or curve over which the ruler would rock.

I'd suggest that, whatever it is, the wood should be straightened (heat & clamps) rather than simply adding screws to try and pull it back under the assumption that the body is strong enough to force it against.

Also, if it is beyond the end of the brass plate (and assuming that is straight(!), there is only a very short  length there for those screws to exert a quite significant force to straighten it.

Those extra screws could help prevent it reoccurring in the future though.

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by prowla

[BigRedX]

Agreed. Before doing anything else the OP should get a decent straight edge and check:

 

1. The fingerboard. With the stings off it should be either flat or have a slight back bow.

 

2. the top of the neck extension between the end of the finger board and where the bridge attaches. This should be perfectly flat

 

3. The back of the same from big to heel. This should be perfectly flat

 

4. The pocket that the neck extension fits into. This should be perfectly flat. This could be the problem if the others are all correct and bolting the neck in place is imposing a curvature on it.

[Maude]

This is the back of the neck on mine. I think the issue is the actual cutout for the truss rod adjuster. The two front fixings are 65mm back from the heel, the cutout goes right through the neck, the 'T' section where the nut is is probably about a third of the neck width removed, the fretboard ends about 30mm away so adds no bracing. If the two fixings are holding it down but the strings are trying to pull it up, the weakest point is the truss adjuster cutout. If the neck is bending here then that would account for the nut looking like it changes angle the more tension is put on it. 

@BigRedX suggestion of putting two extra fixings in as far forward as possible would probably alleviate this. 

 

Edit, just to add that if a shim was placed at the bridge end and then all four neck fixings tightened then this would add even more bend into that weak area as the heel pushes against the body, hence my suggestion earlier of shimming both ends (one more than the other) to introduce the angle without the heel becoming compressed. 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Maude