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Hello all! Truss Rods??

Hello all! Very cool group! I am new here as you have just figured out. I am learning the ins and outs of cbg building. I have a very brief bio on my home page. I was wondering if someone has some advise for me. I just finished my very first build and it came out pretty good. (See my photos) It plays very well with pretty decent action about like an acoustic 6 string. I'm just now starting to build a 3 string bass guitar. I'm going with a 30" scale neck. My question is and I'm sure you've heard this before but will I need any kind of a truss rod? I have seen some different ones from store bought to just a piece of flat stock steel. I want to try and stay away from store bought if possible. I am using maple for my neck with a laminated oak finger board.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on December 19, 2014 at 12:33pm

If you're not using a truss rod for a 30" bass, then the neck is the key. Particularly, the grain direction of the neck wood. If the wood is not quarter sawn, the best option to keep the neck from bowing over time is to laminate two pieces of 3/4" x 1.5" maple vertically, with a 1/4" strip of oak between them. In this fashion, the newly oriented grain of the maple, with the strong oak strip should do you well.

Not only will the neck be very strong, it will also have a decorative stripe along the bottom of the neck and through the headstock once all is shaped & sanded...will look very nice.

Here's a visual depiction of what I mean:

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on December 19, 2014 at 12:48pm

Here's an alternate view of what I mean, and how it may work in a cigar box:

The light blue area is removed to create rough shape of neck. The red parts are wood screws, to anchor the neck to box (or verse visa) so box doesn't collapse from string pressure. There is enough "meat" inside box to remove some of neck to allow for magnetic pickups if desired, or piezos can be used too.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on December 19, 2014 at 7:31pm

If you mean you "stack" the 3/4 with the two 1/4" pcs on top, then you may be okay for a standard scale guitar, but it will be quite chunky and thick. It wont need a truss, but for medium to small hands, it could cause feelings of inadequacy.

For a longer scale like the 30" mentioned in the question, stacking the wood like pancakes would not be, in my humble opinion, enough to keep 3 bass strings from having their way with the neck...if the neck was shaped to a comfortable playable taper.

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Permalink Reply by Bob D on December 20, 2014 at 8:25am

Ya! I like this idea! I have the neck already started on this bass, but I am definetely going to try this next time! It looks like from the replies I got here that I will need a truss rod in this neck to avoid problems down the road. I found one that is similar to the Martin guitar truss that looks pretty simple to install and it's pretty cheap.

Thanks for all of the great replies!