Set neck truss rod questions

First, Happy Christmas!

I got a set neck kit recently (PRS-1TS) and have started some prep work. Adam has already replaced the original neck for me due to some really dodgy fretwork.

Today I was checking out the new neck before I undertook any work on it, which included checking the truss rod to make sure it works and so on. I have a couple of concerns that I would like to run by you guys.

Before I made any adjustment, there was a back bow in the neck. When I adjusted to counter that, I can get it close to straight, but not perfect, which concerns me with planning to do a fret level before setting.

Secondly, the truss rod nut only has about 3/4 of a turn in it from full clockwise to full anti-clockwise, and there is only about .5 -.75 mm of movement when adjusted from one extreme to the other and not enough to completely remove the back bow. (FWIW I know these are dual action t-rods)

Does this sound normal for a set neck? I've only owned a few set neck but never had any issues adjusting their neck relief. I've built and worked on mostly Fender type bolt-on necks but this one feels like it's really fighting the adjustment and not giving much up. This is my first set neck build, but I've not encountered any neck that that behaves this way, so please enlighten me.

Thanks

It doesn't sound right. The truss rods are generally supposed to be double action, but I'm not convinced they all are. It may be worth taking the adjustment nut right off and checking that there's no swarf in it. Sometimes a small drop of a light oil or grease can ease things.

Thanks for your reply Simon. I've read a bunch of your other posts on various topics and found your info helpful.
As an aside, out of over 60 views, only 1 comment/reply on this one. I had hoped there might be more...
Will need to think about this one before removing the t-rod nut.

After checking some of my other guitars and some spare necks (bolt-on) I have kicking around, I'm not convinced this is "normal" behaviour.

Might be another question to email Adam about. I hate the thought of becoming *that* customer, but maybe I've just been really unlucky and got two bad necks in a row.

Cheers

I have seen posts where others have relaxed the truss rod, then clamped the neck on blocks to counter the back or forward bow.
I've done this to some extent, with my EXA-1 and my SV-1. both of these had a back bow and clamping the two ends and leaning my weight on it was enough to straighten it out. I added a third clamp to the middle to hold it like this overnight and then just nipped the adjuster nut up.

What is concerning is the lack of apparent adjustment you've noted.

If it is a dual action rod, you'll not get the nut off anyway as it is threaded l/hand one end, r/hand the other through two square nuts, to which a flat piece of 2mm steel strip is then welded. The twist l or r either pulls the nuts together, bowing the flat rod and creating back bow or drives the nuts apart, bowing the threaded rod, thus providing forward bow.

The ones that I have seen in the PBG kits (Because i am the kind of tinkerer that will pull things apart) are functional, and reasonably well made. Certainly there wasn't a great deal of difference between them and one i have bought for sctrach builds.
It is possible a single action one has snuck through.
The welds on the adjuster nut could potentially have caused some weld spatter to fouls the threads, but you'd have to have been horribly unlucky if that was the case.

Its possible that some glue or something similar has fouled the adjuster thread, but again you'd have to have been horribly unlucky.
Hopefully that is informative, if not entirely helpful for you.

As cringe inducing as it is to go back to Adam again, it may be a case of having to do just that. If it can't straightened with the truss rod as is, then it would have to be considered faulty.

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Originally Posted by McCreed

As an aside, out of over 60 views, only 1 comment/reply on this one. I had hoped there might be more...

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Views could also be from spiders - we tend to have a number trawling through the forum at any point in time.

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Originally Posted by Brendan

Views could also be from spiders - we tend to have a number trawling through the forum at any point in time.

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Spiders? what the heck are spiders?

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

Spiders? what the heck are spiders?

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From what I understand they trawl the forum for search engines. You can see them in the Who's Online under the quick links drop down above.

See here for more details: https://www.incapsula.com/blog/most-...good-bots.html (warning - has a couple of popups).

Thanks Franken & Brendan.
I'm in the process of taking photos and composing an email to Adam. This neck just ain't right.

Good to know about the spiders. I've never heard of them either. There's just no end deviant DH's on the internet.

There are so many different bots trawling around the internet it isn't funny, the google crawlers are just the start.

I know how you feel about going back to Adam, I've just had two dodgy necks in a row as well and I really hate the idea of being a pain in the butt.

That said, part of the draw of dealing with PBG is the level of customer service. I hope the goodwill he creates is worth the returns/replacements in a business sense.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

That said, part of the draw of dealing with PBG is the level of customer service. I hope the goodwill he creates is worth the returns/replacements in a business sense.

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Yes, I hear ya Sonic. The couple of issues I've had with kits, Adam has been top notch at addressing them.
I've sent him an email & pics regarding this one. Will see what his thoughts are on the situation.

Luckily I have another build underway (non-PBG) to keep my occupied and out of trouble :)

I'm less than convinced that all the PBG truss rods are dual action ones. There have been so many reports of people having loosened their truss rods and still having a slight back-bow that it can't be true for all guitars. Add in the fact that the kits now come from at least four different factories, so it's likely that they do have some production/equipment differences.

UPDATE - As I mentioned above, I've been in contact with Adam and he will be sending out another replacement for me next week.
He said, quote: "I'll get Connor, our young gun Luthier, to have a look at the other necks here and see if we can find one that will work for you."

Can't ask for more than that.