Neck join starting to V

[squarewave]

Hi there folks

I recently took delivery of a custom ordered OMG. love it.

Ive noticed in the 3 or so months since I’ve had the guitar, a fold or, V,  in the fretboard where the neck and body meet. Is is a common thing and, can it be corrected with a truss rod tweak?

Thanks

Andrew

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@drewcifer01

[indexless]

Hello Andrew

Can you send a picture?

[tadol]

Definitely take a pic with a straightedge (ruler?) on the fretboard – are you using heavy strings, or is your action too high?

[squarewave]

Thanks for response gents

I’ve not changed it from ‘factory settings’ so action is as set and the strings are SC low tension.

i’ll grab a pic later today.

Cheers – andrew

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@drewcifer01

[squarewave]

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@drewcifer01

[squarewave]

A bit difficult to capture but I think you can see some light between the fret and straight edge.

Cheers

Andrew

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@drewcifer01

[tadol]

If that ruler is resting strictly on the first and last fret, not on the nut or bridge, then I might be a bit concerned about that after 3 months.  Are you getting any buzzes or any problems playing it? I’d reach out to the shop and see what they say. They may want to get it back to the shop, or they may know a more local shop that can look at it carefully and make an evaluation,  There are a few different things that individually, or in combination, could cause a problem like that, but an accurate evaluation and diagnosis is best left to an expert who can get “hands-on”  –  it could just be a truss rod adjustment –

 

[squarewave]

Thanks for your response. Not sure a truss rod adjustment will do the trick unfortunately. I don’t think the neck could go any straighter without it getting too much relief. Eyeballing it down the neck you can see the fretboard lifts right about the body join.

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@drewcifer01

[squarewave]

After taking your advice Tadol, I contacted the shop and with the assistance of Joey (whom has been awesome btw) it looks like a neck reset is required.

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@drewcifer01

[Alex Zk]

Did the shop have an explanation of how the guitar came to need a neck reset after 3 months?

What was moving?  Bracing, top, back?

[squarewave]

The shop has not had a hands on inspection so difficult to say.

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@drewcifer01

[Sadie]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I look forward to hearing what SCGC says, I’ll venture a thought ahead of that.</p>
Wood exhibits what engineers call creep deformation, close to visco-plastic, but not exactly. What this means is when a load, perhaps greater than some threshold is applied, the material changes shape very slowly.

Back in the ’70s for example, a professor I worked for later had come up with a brilliant means of eliminating creep in jet engine turbines. What he figured out was a method to cast a turbine blade as a single crystal. In metals creep occurs when individual crystals slip alongside one another, eliminating that made for huge improvement in fuel efficiency and thrust to weight ratio.

This is probably a perfect example of the variability in wood, and why it’s not possible to build the very best guitars the way we manufacture cars.

Every piece of wood is different, and by the sound of it, the neck of @squarewave’s OM has an unusually low creep threshold.

This is at the nut of why most guitars will eventually need a neck reset, and some will quite early. If every guitar was built heavily enough that this guitar’s neck wouldn’t move, they’d all be maybe 30% heavier and .. well, imagine the sound.

So instead the best approach for the luthier (factory) is to ensure most guitars are safe against creep, and you repair the ones that aren’t.

Also, if I’m not mistaken, this guitar is more likely to get a new neck than a reset.

Chip fab comes down to a similar thing. Design at the absolute limit, and manufacturing yield will approach zero. For those willing to pay for the extra 20% performance of the very fastest CPU, the reason it’s so expensive is that yields are quite low.

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SCGC 1934 OM Adi > BRW
#1 build WRC > flame maple
Solist 🌈 burst on quilt maple
Martin OM-28
Strat rosewood > mahogany 2021

[Hank]

Just WOW…..here I am thinking I can learn to to my own setups……. Guess I’ll return my FretMaster Guage !!!!

[squarewave]

I feel like you need to be constantly doing setups to get an eye for it. I can slap a guitar together, I leave setups to those whom do it for a living.

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@drewcifer01

[iim7V7IM7]

Most neck resets are not due to movement of the neck but the guitar. body folding around the sound hole due to string pull.

[Author]

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