Official Luthiers Forum!

So if a guitar doesn't have enough neck relief, and it doesn't have a truss rod, what can you do to increase the relief?

It's a steel 12 string...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Heavier strings?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Clamp the neck in the position you want and put some heat on it (but not too much) like a light bulb and leave it they're all day. Or carve the neck some more. Depends on the value of the instrument.

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Pat

Clamp it down with back bow, and level the frets, so when released there is sufficient relief.

When I first started to build I did not use an adjustable truss rod. One had to put a back bow into the neck because with out it string pressure alone would give too much relief. Generally over time the relief would increase. It seems strange to me that you could have lack of relief problems with a guitar that has been around a while..................unless the strings are a lighter gauge then original. Or the guitar is tuned down lower then it was designed to be tuned. Top may be starting to deform..............??? I would suggest decreasing the back bow. Maybe a bit more info...!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

We need a little more info.
What brand of guitar is it, and how old is it?
What is the neck wood, and is it solid or laminated?
Is the neck reinforced? Some of the old Stellas(and lots of other older, inexpensive guitars) have a little sticker saying "Steel reinforced neck", but they are not adjustable.
I can't imagine that a 12 string would not pull enough relief into an unreinforced neck.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

The guitar is a Galiano 12 string, similar to a Stella 12. The neck is quite thick, made of poplar, with absolutely no reinforcement. I know this because I rebuilt this guitar. As for tuning I was asked to use a very low tuning which I think contributed to the problem, however I did have to plane the fingerboard because there was a pronounced hump that caused excessive buzzing at higher frets. As for string gauge he used heavier than normal but I have a feeling it's not heavy enough... the string still felt kinda flabby because it didn't feel difficult to play even with a higher than normal action. The top was in pieces which I had to reassemble like a jigsaw puzzle but since there's a tailpiece top deformity isn't an issue.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tailpiece might be part of the issue. The higher tension might just press down on the top more, especially if it's damaged like you say. I have no idea why it sounds logical to make a 12 string steel guitar #1 with no truss rod and #2 with a tailpiece on, I'm assuming, a flat top. I'm not an expert but that sounds like a very odd combination.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I don't know but that's how Stella 12's are built.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Or you could build a whole new guitar that solves all the structural problems.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

too humid; wait for winter and it will curl up again and be playable
edit: i'm only half joking.....it is ok if an instrument has seasons, just like real life. makes you appreciate it when it is dialed in, and makes you think about things when it isn't.

It would have been so much easier with truss rods for sure... the problem is either it curls up way too much or not enough. Problem is owners don't always understand this and assume that luthiers are magicians.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com