89 Thumb NT truss rod

naetog

naetog

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I just acquired an 89 Thumb, and it is damn near impossible to adjust the truss rod. I turn it clockwise, and it loosens giving more bow. This is counter intuitive for me. It is also very, very hard to tighten counter clockwise, pretty much impossible, which is what I want because the neck has too much bow. I don't want to harm the bass, and I have no experience with truss rods from this era, so any help is appreciated.
 
take it to a luthier if you can, tehy will be able to help you. If the truss rod is actually busted, a good luthier wil be able to remove the fingerboard to replace the truss rod.

good luck man
 
Call Tyler at DBG. He's the trussrod guru and can probably be of help with this. ~M~
 
That's probably going to be my plan of attack....hopefully it's nothing major. :?
 
I was talking with Greg awhile back when he was having trouble with the TR on his NT Thumb and he told me that he was told there is a rubber sleeve with grease in it to keep the rod rom binding up. I haven't taken one apart so I don't know for sure, but it's possible that this grease is dried out perhaps? That could cause the rod to be difficult - if it's true for yours... just a thought. ~M~
 
Take to a luthier. The trussrod is for fine adjustments, If that doesn't work, or you feel something is wrong, don't try to adjust it enymore.
 
BTW, is Tyler the new go-to guy at DBG? (I've always talked to Rob Busch in the past.)
 
I would NEVER try to force a truss rod. I'd take it to the pro... will be cheaper in the long run... especially as it's a vintage instrument!
 
My truss rod got quite stiff not long ago.The luthier lubricated the rod with grease & it was fine.About a year prior to that my truss rod had come completely undone & the string tension made the neck look like a banana.All they did was re-engage the rod & the the next day the neck was straight.After all that I have a great deal of faith in Warwick necks,they're very stable yet cab bend a long way,a very very long way at that. :wink:
 
naetog said:
I just acquired an 89 Thumb... I turn it clockwise, and it loosens giving more bow. This is counter intuitive for me.
Click to expand...

It has a reverse trussrod.
Very common on vintage Warwicks



naetog said:
...It is also very, very hard to tighten counter clockwise, pretty much impossible, which is what I want because the neck has too much bow. I don't want to harm the bass, and I have no experience with truss rods from this era, so any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Your trussrod is removable.
If it doesn't work properly anymore, a luthier can simpy replace it :wink:
 
boston asphalt2 said:
take it to a luthier if you can, tehy will be able to help you. If the truss rod is actually busted, a good luthier wil be able to remove the fingerboard to replace the truss rod.

good luck man
Click to expand...

Hey Graham,I think the Warwick rod can be removed without removing the fingerboard.I think. :wink:
 
Oil Can said:
BTW, is Tyler the new go-to guy at DBG? (I've always talked to Rob Busch in the past.)
Click to expand...

Rob is still there, but Tyler handles most of the basses, Rob still does a lot of them and handles all of the amps. And Tyler does most of the e-mail and phone requests.
 
Removable eh?? I figured out it's reversed with my tuner hooked up, but I didn't know there were removable ones, so I hope it's just a (easy) swap. I left Tyler a message tonite so we'll see what happens. I live 30 minutes away from DB Goods and they were real helpful with my amp, so hopefully I can take it to them and solve my dilemma.
 
Like a banana Greg...!? I sure would have liked to see ur face the morning u woke up and saw it in that shape :shock:
 
Indianerdaniel said:
Like a banana Greg...!? I sure would have liked to see ur face the morning u woke up and saw it in that shape :shock:
Click to expand...

It kinda happened slowly over time rather than me waking up one morning trying to peel & slice my bass onto my cerial. :lol:
 
I had a teacher once, who said to me (while I was getting ready for a gig) that he had the same bass (Thumb 5) a couple of years back. 3rd time he played it the neck went boing and was bend like nothing he had ever seen... I've read about this on the internet but I have never seen it. Anyone tried that?
 
Well, our instruments are made of wood. Wood can be unpredictable sometimes.
It depends now how you take care of the bass, how often you wax it, how cold/warm/moisture, is the place are you keep it, etc. Also, there can be hidden defects, due to bad adjusting the TR.
I/ve never seen a bass with such problems, your teacher must be really unlucky I guess, to have such problems. I ovned many old instruments. I just refinished an 15 y old warwick thumb, with chemical stripper, sandpaper, etc. She stayed 2 weeks without strings, in different temperatures, and after everything was ready, just stringed her back and she was PERFECT.
 
I had the strings off my Infinity for about two weeks as well and even though I had planned on tweaking the TR (hardware swap), I didn't need to when I put it back together.. ~M~
 
If my Warwick Thum bass (with 06' new neck) has up/forward bow, just like this picture showed :

That means I need to tighten the truss-rod, forces the neck back and reduce forward bow.

Then I should face the truss-rod nut, using the Warwick truss-rod tool
to turn "clockwise" for tighten the truss rod.
Am I right ?
 
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