Is this a thing? "set and forget" guitar necks

sweepy

bbill335 said:

is this why aluminium necks were developed?

The old Kramer aluminium necks used to move, albeit not a great deal

guitarmangler

Graphite in the neck is great. Having a gloss poly finish helps massively, too.

Possibly the more the truss rod is engaged, the less it’s likely to move? So, a guitar with heavy strings (or a neck with a little forward bow built in) tend not to move as much as the rod is helping a lot. Just a guess.

I like a low action, light strings and as straight as possibly neck. Some of my guitars I can achieve this set up without them moving ever, others need tweaking all time. Those guitars stay at home on the naughty step and don’t come out to gigs.

blobb

My Manson (1976), wood, neck-thru has been sitting out unplayed for about a month. Fully exposed to temp changes in a very temp change susceptible room. Picked it up last night and it was still perfectly in tune, as measured on a strobe tuner.

My Alu neck Kramer bass (no truss) never moves. You move, the neck doesn't.

Corvus

This time of year a few of mine want tweaks, some more than others. Old house and humidity & heating changes no doubt. I'm fussy about fairly low action and minimal relief so a change feel is easily felt.
Quartersawn and cf rods should help but no guarantee, wood wants to move with moisture changes.

merciful-evans

I agree with ICBM and others that recommend graphite/carbon fibre alternatives. Wood will move. I have a cheap plastic Switch guitar which is perfectly stable (a pity its so ugly and unloved). 

Some guitars need more frequent setting up than others. I sold on an Epi Casino Coupe only because it wouldn't settle at all and I got tired of all the constant adjustments.

If I could find the right non-wood model, I'd go for it. 

rossi

sev112 said:

Blimey. I’ve got 7 guitars and a bass and never had to use the truss rod

same here I have a Squier Joe Trohmann "tele" neck on my strat and despite a jammed nut that will never move again its held a low action without any need to adjust .In a cold room to super hot room .I set them up once and then thats it and I take em to hot bars ,cold car parks etc.

ICBM

sweepy said:

bbill335 said:

is this why aluminium necks were developed?

The old Kramer aluminium necks used to move, albeit not a great deal

They have serious tuning problems with temperature changes though. I never understood why anyone thought they were a good idea, they feel dreadful too!

ESBlonde

I think it's possible to have two similar guitars, one will be stable and the other not. Wood can be like that. I have a small sample to review that suggests older guitars/wood becomes more stable, but is that because they are treated well and looked after or because the cell walls crysallise?

I'm a big fan of keeping guitars in thier proper cases and when they have travelled in a cold vehicle, I leave the case to aclimatise a short while before opening it rather than getting a cold/hot guitar out in a hot/cold venue. I have light strings and a very low action on my electric guitars, I can't remember the last time I had to adjust a truss rod once a guitar was set to my tastes. In fact my Aria PE1000 is the best most reliable playing guitar I have, the truss rod is untouched in decades and the guitar comes out of the case in tune more often than not irrispective of the last time it was put away.