Warwick bass truss rod - piece of poo!!!!

poopot

Ok so @bill_the_bass has a Warwick with a busted truss rod... no one wanted to touch this... so he’s written it off... 

ill fecking well do it then shall I at @Danielsguitars place?




Ironing time...




10 mins later...




A bit of elbow grease...



Getting there...



Bugger... it’s got a filler strip...



Thats got to come out...





Truss rod is out...



And this is why is fooked... Warwick have used a really thin piece of rod... it hasn’t snapped but it has sheared the threads off the end of the bar at the adjuster...



 

The black rod is warwick... the silver bar is the bar we use in the les Paul builds...

so... a new truss rod will be made... and made stronger than the crap Warwick put in there!...

more to come!!!!

philballard

Can't you just chisel out a new anchor point half an inch or so towards the nut, and cut off the gammy thread?

SteveRobinson

poopot said:

so... a new truss rod will be made... and made stronger than the crap Warwick put in there!...

Excellent. The rods are so weak and the bass necks so stiff that it's often very difficult to adjust the relief on these basses.

ICBM

Apparently this is common. What's utterly ridiculous is that the old Warwicks have a truss rod that you can replace by pulling it out from the headstock end without having to do any of this.

Having seen the way that's done - like the old Rickenbacker rods, or how RIC do it now where you can get at the body end of the rod and undo the anchor - it's really quite unbelievable that it isn't done that way on every instrument. Completely stupid to have to do this much damage to replace one where there is a perfectly good alternative which Warwick themselves used to use.

poopot

philballard said:

Can't you just chisel out a new anchor point half an inch or so towards the nut, and cut off the gammy thread?

Tbh, the rod Warwick have used is so skinny it’s not going back in!!!!

The good thing is that as I’m going to use thicker rod I can drill out and re-tap the adjuster... it’s only the actual rod that will be replaced, will reuse the anchors etc...

Funkfingers

What year is that Warwick?

poopot

Funkfingers said:

What year is that Warwick?

2000

ICBM

From checking online, the changeover date is 1996.

One of the cases where 'vintage' (if 23 years old counts!) really is better...

mart

What are the two strips either side of the truss rod - some kind of reinforcing?

poopot

ICBM said:

From checking online, the changeover date is 1996.

One of the cases where 'vintage' (if 23 years old counts!) really is better...

And have you seen how much Warwick want for a pre ‘96 truss rod

poopot

mart said:

What are the two strips either side of the truss rod - some kind of reinforcing?

From what we can tell, added weight!!!!

ICBM

poopot said:

And have you seen how much Warwick want for a pre ‘96 truss rod

No, but at a guess it's still less than paying luthier rates for what you're having to do...

poopot

ICBM said:

poopot said:

And have you seen how much Warwick want for a pre ‘96 truss rod

No, but at a guess it's still less than paying luthier rates for what you're having to do...

Warwick themselves quoted £700+ to do this....

no one locally wanted to touch it!!!!

Danielsguitars

Oh what fun, he did snap my drill bit the clumsy git

Good job i have an engineer friend that can make me stuff, as stuart said that rod is utter shit imo, i mean if my LP rods are bigger why isn't the the rod on a dirty great bass neck bigger 

ICBM

Danielsguitars said:

as stuart said that rod is utter shit imo, i mean if my LP rods are bigger why isn't the the rod on a dirty great bass neck bigger 

Not only that, it’s poor engineering to make the rod a softer metal than the nut - in the event of it being overtightened it would be better to strip the nut and not the rod.

That’s why Gibson use brass truss rod nuts with a steel rod.

Danielsguitars

ICBM said:

That’s why Gibson use brass truss rod nuts with a steel rod.

Exactly, if i could get the adjuster made in brass i would, i hope that making a bigger rod with the imperial thread it will have a bit more strength

gary_mac

I've got an old eighties Warwick in for a truss rod replacement. Another tech over in the States, turned it the wrong way and snapped the adjuster head. It's proving very difficult to remove. Really don't want to steam off the board though

ICBM

gary_mac said:

I've got an old eighties Warwick in for a truss rod replacement. Another tech over in the States, turned it the wrong way and snapped the adjuster head. It's proving very difficult to remove. Really don't want to steam off the board though

Can you drill a hole into it? Then get a self-tapping screw into it and use that to pull the rod out. I managed to do that with a Rickenbacker rod that had snapped just behind the adjuster.

gary_mac

ICBM said:

gary_mac said:

I've got an old eighties Warwick in for a truss rod replacement. Another tech over in the States, turned it the wrong way and snapped the adjuster head. It's proving very difficult to remove. Really don't want to steam off the board though

Can you drill a hole into it? Then get a self-tapping screw into it and use that to pull the rod out. I managed to do that with a Rickenbacker rod that had snapped just behind the adjuster.

That was actually my plan for today, just need to finish sorting some frets on an acoustic and then will get back to the Warwick. Must admit to fancying a day off from repairs today and just getting out the garden, to enjoy the sunshine.

Danielsguitars

gary_mac said:

Must admit to fancying a day off from repairs today and just getting out the garden, to enjoy the sunshine.

I overlook 200 acres of farm from my workshop window, it's great to get out for lunch in the sunshine, very peaceful if my work goes well 

roberty

Did anyone else sing "I am iron man!" to themselves when they saw the pictures? ^^^