Re: Truss rod preferences
[QUOTE=barry k;997712]Here is my only question with carbon fiber re-enforcement..No doubt that it stops the neck from warping, but what do you do if a customer wants more or less relief in the neck. just say live with what you have?
Let's say I am, or could be, one of those customers. I want a neck with adjustable relief, period, because I cannot trust your assurances, or those of other builders that make these claims.
"No doubt that it stops the neck from warping"? Really? What does that even really mean? How and for how long has that been tested? And, warping up/down? Side to side? Pulling forward? Dipping or crowning? In the first place, what we're really talking is the fretted fingerboard, not the "neck". One doesn't play the neck, one plays the fingerboard, and for whatever combinations of forces, time, or errors, the fingerboard doesn't have to obey the command being given to the "neck", and often does not.
I read over and over both owners and builders stating to the effect that non-adjustable neck stiffeners will "keep the neck from warping", or "no way the neck can bow with CF stiffeners", "a mandolin neck is too short to need stiffening", or "give just the right amount of relief under string tension", etc. Well, how many years will you guarantee it? All that is great if *your* own mandolin's FB stays flat without adjustment. Mine don't, none of them, so these assurances don't help me.
I don't have a single mandolin, vintage, recent, or in between, that hasn't needed the relief adjusted. And, every one with non-adjustable rods or stiffening systems has developed too much relief. Every one. So, my dysfunctional collection at least hasn't heard of these guarantees, and isn't willing to obey. Not one has become back-bowed, by the way - they all develop too much forward relief. That is, it is not random; it is an axiom, which I will take bets on: "Mandolins Without Adjustable Truss Rods Will Develop Too Much Relief" - Just give them time; you can almost bet the ranch on it. This includes some very nice, high end instruments that I wish I could be regularly playing, but cannot because they are (for me) unplayable until they receive expensive work, at the least replaning/refretting. That is very disappointing.
So I will answer the question of what I think the customer ends up doing:
1) selling the mandolin (usually not acknowledging they are not happy with the fingerboard or relief or playability), or
2) replaning/refretting, and hoping once is enough for 5-10 yrs, though as I now know from experience, it may not be.
Even WITH an adjustable truss rod, there can be difficulties and compromises enough in setting up and adjusting for your own version of good playability and relief, especially as things age under stress. Isn't the better design approach one that takes this into account?? To opt, from step 1, to use a non-adjustable neck system is not a good decision, in my view, and I really can't see myself ever considering buying a contemporary instrument that does not allow relief adjustment.
Last edited by acousticphd; Nov-02-2015 at 1:13pm.
Reason: typo
Jeff Rohrbough
"Listen louder, play softer"
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