'86 JD Thumb - cracks caused by truss rod pushing outward

Y

Y-my-R

Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
So, I noticed that my Thumb had a small crack on the back of the neck, right around the height of the nut. I thought it was this:



But, no.

A local guitar tech said, that the truss rod is pushing from the inside out and is causing the crack. The crack got better/smaller when he removed the adjustment screw on top of it (sorry... don't know the English word for this).

Now, he thought there must be something wrong with the truss rod, but didn't know what to do about it without removing the fretboard to see what's wrong. He felt that this would damage the bass too much and recommended to contact Warwick or DanaBGoods - no response to several e-mails.

I read on this forum that the truss rod on this bass is most likely removable (Warwick JD Thumb Bass from 1986), but couldn't find any hints as to how you'd go about this. Do you just pull like crazy? I don't want to do this myself, but would like to know what the basic idea is, so I can test if any guitar tech I'm bringing my bass to has ever done this or is BS'ing me.

Or could this be a different issue altogether?

I love my bass and had it for over 20 years... help!!
 
Hello man, this is a pretty common problem on early Warwicks, that area is the weakest spot, and the neck cracks. That's why we have the volute now in that spot.
Take your bass to a luthier, and it will be like new. Don't try to do it yourself.
Good luck, and please post pictures with your baby :-)
 
Luthier in LA who knows removable truss rods?

Thanks Florin!

Can you recommend a luthier in the Los Angeles area who knows how to replace a removable truss rod and fix the crack?

Obviously, the luthier I had brought it to didn't know removable truss rods, since he was about to pull the fret board off and only stopped because the glue wouldn't soften under heat. So I don't really want to bring it back there.

I'm SO glad he stopped... he could have messed up the whole thing, considering how the fretboard blends into the body.

Any tips?
Thanks again!

Oh... and I'll post pics of my baby once she's healthy again.
 
I don´t think you can fix this baby without removing the fretboard. The luthier has to fix the crack first. I don´t know the luthiers in your area, but if yours did similar repairs with good results, I guess you can leave her to him, and go away, don´t look what he is doing :-)
A good luthier must be able to make her look like nothing happened.
 
The crack is not that bad and if I understood that luthier right, he didn't think he'd have to remove the fretboard because of the crack. He was just going to remove the fretboard, because the truss rod is maxxed and is causing the crack by pushing outward, and he needed to see what was wrong with the truss rod.

But he didn't know the truss rod is removable without having to remove the fretboard... and since he wasn't aware of that, I'd like to have someone else look at it who knows this stuff.
Besides, he said the glue wouldn't soften and he pretty much gave up because he felt he would damage it too much.

Thanks again, Florin, but can anybody recommend a luthier that knows early Warwicks in the Los Angeles area and has done a truss rod job on one of them before?
 
This happened to my NT5 thumb almost 8 years ago after a dipshit tightend the truss rod way too much, was sent away to be repaired & ive never had a problem since, cant even tell where it was repaired.

Whilst this was a worrying time for me, the staff at warwick (stefan Manz) kept in touch and were very helpful during the repairs & offered follow up later on.

Cheers

Rusty
 
rusty said:
Whilst this was a worrying time for me, the staff at warwick (stefan Manz) kept in touch and were very helpful during the repairs & offered follow up later on.

Cheers

Rusty
Click to expand...

I've contacted Mr. Manz in the past as well. He's really cool and helpful. 8)
 
I'm SO happy! The truss rod is replaced, the crack fixed and my baby plays like back in the day when I first got it!!

I ended up driving it up to Dana B. Goods in Ventura and the folks there were totally cool! Rob took care of my bass and gave me an unbelievable brake on the repair price, because as he said "it was a joy to work on an old classic". And AWESOME work he did!!!

Rob explained to me that the crack happened because the truss rod was too far down inside the neck and that's what made it push outward at the wrong spot. And older Warwicks were thinner and weaker at that spot in the neck. So, someone (...might have been me, I hate to admit), has overtightened the truss rod and has caused this.

Also, the other two luthiers who looked at my bass before didn't know what to do with it, since the truss rod is different than the removable ones in newer versions. Mine tightens the right way around, but is still removable. Rob said something like "then it must be the first type".

I'm so glad it could be fixed and I have my baby back!

THANK YOU DANA B. GOODS, and THANK YOU, ROB!!!
 
Thats great news Y-my_R!

Ive never had another problem with mine! Great to hear you were looked after as well. Another warwick family happy story!!

Cheers

Rusty
 
same problem with my JD Thumb

Hi all,

Thank you very much for this interesting thread.
I can directly post my questions in addition to that....

A long time ago I bought my JD Thumb bass neck trough (second hand).
And till now I was really statisfyied with this bass.
But then I tried to setup up a low B-set tuning and used strings from a 5 string set. First no problems. But unfortunately a friend of mine played with it and has not realized that I use a BEAD tuning and tried to tune back to EADG. During this procedure a string broke;-) what a surprise;-(

Now I observerd a crack on the head.
I took the bass to a technician and he glued it.
But to be honest I can not manage it to bring the bass back in the original shape or even the feeling to play confortable is gone;-(
And I also have fear to change trusstod positions...

Now my questions:
-> Long time I could not find out any info about the JD Thumb series. Someone have a spec for this series or additional info on the JD?
-> Low B-set for the JD. Has someone expierience with this setup?
-> which strings you reccomend for the low B-set for a Warwick thumb?
-> To change the headstock in a neck trough assembly is not easy I could imagine. Is the glue fix sufficient for a low B-set setup? I mean I really have doubts that I can play with thicker strings which are causing more tention at the moment.

thank you very much for your replies in advance,
greetz from austria,
tito_p
 
Hi Tito & welcome.
The crack in the neck is an easy & reliable repair,if done correctly.The repair will be stronger than the wood itself.We've seen some pretty nasty cracks & even complete breaks that've been glued back together & work out fine.
You can string & tune it BEAD no problem.Just do a set up to keep it playing nicely.This may include a slight truss rod adjustment,as well as raising the nut & bridge,to accomodate the thicker B string.Now I remember someone doing some homework & found out,through the D'addario website,that the thicker the string,the lower the tension.
Being a JD Thumb,it'll have a one way truss rod,that can be unscrewed,removed & replaced if need be.
It should have active EMG pickups & active 2 band onboard preamp,again by EMG if I remember correctly.The neck should be wenge with bubinga laminates & bubinga body.The headstock is carved,as opposed to later models & the body is slightly different in shape as well.
This link is to a fanpage,that has some good info.

If you have any questions,just ask.There's alotta Thumb fans here that love to talk bass.

Cheers buddy.
 
Hey Tito,

Don't be afraid to set your trussrod. It is under tension anyway...
our Warwick EMP strings have low tension, I would use them to protect the old neck :-) light gauge.
 
thank you greg and florin for your fast feedback;-)
i explored the website you recommended greg and now I'm rellay proud because I've figured out that I'm the owner of one of the 1st generation thumb basses;-) yeahh, how sick is this;-)
 
Fully sick bro.Fully!!!
Now howz about posting some pix for us mate?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top