Warped/bowed neck on USA G&L ASAT. What to do?

richardhomer

Loobs said:

If the replacement neck from Musikraft is a hair over $200, wouldn't this be the wisest option?

Repair guys charge through the nose for jobs like this. 

Is there any chance you may want to resell it at some point?

A planed neck 'may' be detectable (side dots relative to face of fingerboard) - as would a third party neck. I suppose where I'm going with this is a replacement G&L neck would be the least injurious solution if you come to sell - but the most injurious initially.

fretfinder

I had this issue on my Cunetto Nocaster except the headstock leaned upwards so it warped the opposite way to your G&L. I bought a used Musikraft neck off eBay and then got WezV to relic and fettle it and the guitar is now great again. Major bummer though and now I have a beautifully figured Nocaster neck hanging on the wall doing nothing except looking good.

WezV

richardhomer said:

Loobs said:

If the replacement neck from Musikraft is a hair over $200, wouldn't this be the wisest option?

Repair guys charge through the nose for jobs like this. 

Is there any chance you may want to resell it at some point?

A planed neck 'may' be detectable (side dots relative to face of fingerboard) - as would a third party neck. I suppose where I'm going with this is a replacement G&L neck would be the least injurious solution if you come to sell - but the most injurious initially.

I think you would easily loose money if paying for the new G&L neck.  Better to sell it with the new replacement and warped original

fretfinder

I use a cheap Weller 40 watt iron, is that unnecessarily hot/powerful for guitar wiring work?

Edit: d'oh, wrong thread!

victorludorum

Loobs said:

If the replacement neck from Musikraft is a hair over $200, wouldn't this be the wisest option?

Repair guys charge through the nose for jobs like this. 

Is that 200 with postage and import duty, or will they be on top of that? I bought a 12 string neck from them a little while ago and it was steep because of these 2 elements, and especially because of the weak pound.

Loobs

richardhomer said:

Loobs said:

If the replacement neck from Musikraft is a hair over $200, wouldn't this be the wisest option?

Repair guys charge through the nose for jobs like this. 

Is there any chance you may want to resell it at some point?

A planed neck 'may' be detectable (side dots relative to face of fingerboard) - as would a third party neck. I suppose where I'm going with this is a replacement G&L neck would be the least injurious solution if you come to sell - but the most injurious initially.

Right now I just want to get it playable! 

WezV said:

richardhomer said:

Loobs said:

If the replacement neck from Musikraft is a hair over $200, wouldn't this be the wisest option?

Repair guys charge through the nose for jobs like this. 

Is there any chance you may want to resell it at some point?

A planed neck 'may' be detectable (side dots relative to face of fingerboard) - as would a third party neck. I suppose where I'm going with this is a replacement G&L neck would be the least injurious solution if you come to sell - but the most injurious initially.

I think you would easily loose money if paying for the new G&L neck.  Better to sell it with the new replacement and warped original

Probably so, yes. 

fretfinder said:

I had this issue on my Cunetto Nocaster except the headstock leaned upwards so it warped the opposite way to your G&L. I bought a used Musikraft neck off eBay and then got WezV to relic and fettle it and the guitar is now great again. Major bummer though and now I have a beautifully figured Nocaster neck hanging on the wall doing nothing except looking good.

How much did you pay for your neck, all told (after duties?)

DrBob

There was a G&L ASAT in the Classifieds here a while back that was advertised as coming with a spare replacement neck and from memories of the pick the headstock on the spare neck was exactly the same as that Musikraft one. Not sure if it ever sold .

Dominic

I had wonderful result from stringing it up with thick old acoustic strings overtensioned and left in a damp garage for 3 weeks
3 months later it has moved back towards where it was but it's still miles better -worse ways I can always go through the process again in a few months time -its not such a big operation

victorludorum

I've just re-read the first post and you say the truss rod is fully untensioned? What happens when it's fully tensioned? Is there still too much bow in the neck?

ICBM

victorludorum said:

I've just re-read the first post and you say the truss rod is fully untensioned? What happens when it's fully tensioned? Is there still too much bow in the neck?

Unless the truss rod has been fitted upside down it will make things worse - this is a back-bow, not a normal forward bow. Unfortunately I don't think G&L use a double-acting rod like a modern USA Fender, so if the rod is slack that's as far as you can go to straighten a back-bow.

That said I did just work on a National resonator guitar where the truss rod was working backwards! Not sure if that's normal on them or not, it's so long since I've had to adjust one I can't remember. With a box-construction rod it really is as simple as which way up the rod is fitted in the neck, but I'm reasonably sure G&L will use a Fender-style directly-acting rod.

ESBlonde

I'm wondering if the change of environment of sunny Italy to cold damp/dry centrally heated UK has exasperated the problem. It's possible the shop and indeed you could not detect there and then a prole might exist, although the fact that the tension was off is indicative someone knew.
Warranty might be worth trying one time.

victorludorum

ICBM said:

victorludorum said:

I've just re-read the first post and you say the truss rod is fully untensioned? What happens when it's fully tensioned? Is there still too much bow in the neck?

Unless the truss rod has been fitted upside down it will make things worse - this is a back-bow, not a normal forward bow. Unfortunately I don't think G&L use a double-acting rod like a modern USA Fender, so if the rod is slack that's as far as you can go to straighten a back-bow.

That said I did just work on a National resonator guitar where the truss rod was working backwards! Not sure if that's normal on them or not, it's so long since I've had to adjust one I can't remember. With a box-construction rod it really is as simple as which way up the rod is fitted in the neck, but I'm reasonably sure G&L will use a Fender-style directly-acting rod.

That's what I thought, but ended up confusing myself (which happens a lot!). In that case it's a more difficult repair than the one I did on that Squier neck. If it was me I'd give it a go as you don't have anything to lose, but if you don't fancy it you're looking at a few quid either way :-(

martinch

Loobs said:

About a month ago while on holiday in Italy I bought a US G&L ASAT special. It was a good price, in good condition and in the store everything seemed to be hunky dory.

Due to where it was purchased, I'm assuming Italian consumer protection law (which is based upon an EU directive and therefore similar similar to that of the UK where I assume you are based), would apply.  In essence, this directive states that any fault found within 6 months of purchase is deemed to have been present at purchase, unless that nature of the fault indicates that it likely occurred after purchase - this applies equally to new and used items.  Whilst it's a used item, you still have the right to expect it to be in good condition for its age, etc.  If you purchased it on a credit card, it might be worth having a word with the card provider, as that's probably easier than dealing with a store in another country.