Dan Erlewine - Straightening Bass Neck

Dan Erlewine straightening a badly bowed bass guitar neck, plus general setup.

[@MrTomengle]

The Gold Standard of Guitar Techs. Always learn something watching his channel.

[@robertcook2680]

This gentleman and his brother Michael were in the Michigan blues band The Prime Movers. Their drummer was...Iggy Pop!

[@AC-eu6gn]

YOU KIDDIN ??!!!

[@gutbucket260]

You wouldn't shit me , you old fart !

[@grajo24ydnar77]

Robert Cook :

[@mortensen1961]

Nope, no joke. Their drummer was James Osterberg, a.k.a. Iggy Pop. . .

[@prof_werneck]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prime_Movers_(Michigan_band)

[@peterg.bassist]

This gentleman has earned my trust. He knows what he's doing!

[@rastanot]

Your trust rod?

[@KRWalker22]

I just did this to my Jazz bass that had a very high touch and a slight bow. The neck is straight as an arrow now and the touch is incredible. Invaluable advice here. Thanks so much!

[@danilobatista1329]

Great to hear that man! it sounds my bass needs exactly same approach, as adjusting the truss rod hasn't done the change. will try it out in weeks once back to my tool station

[@lenlindeman8929]

I highly recommend Dan's videos to young bassist, this guy is no nonsense and informative. Thanks Dan!

[@mythik4840]

Are they DVDs, or does he have a youtube channel?

[@thomasnonsense]

It was on the DVD that accompanied Dan's book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great", and I posted it for a friend who's trying to fix a bowed bass neck.

[@chuckHart70]

Dan, if u ever read this, you dont know what you mean to guys all around the world. A master luthier and teacher. Thanks!

[@markforde3103]

Always a joy to watch Dan work and explain the process involved.

[@guiterry]

Hands down, THE best instructional video on the topic!! Thanks so much for posting it!!

[@Dartheomus]

So I didn't expect to learn anything on this video, and I learned a ton! Great video! Thank you!

[@BadgerRobot]

One of the most informed bass set up videos I've seen. Thank you.

[@Colhogan06]

I really appreciate all of Dan's videos. I bought an Eppi Les Paul about a year ago and watching Dan's video's have really helped me maintain it. Mainly the video's give me the information so I feel confident doing the different maintenance things. I live in Arizona and we go through a dry spell in the summer at times. I found out what fret sprouting is first hand. But got through smoothing the frets out from watching another of Dan's video's.

[@justsupersteve]

this man makes everything look so easy.. it's so satisfying to watch!

[@Lfreitaz]

Hi Mr. Erlewine, I find you videos to be verry interesting and helpfull. Since I'm learning to setup my bass guitars, I find your tutorials to be the best ones on youtube. Keep up the good work and thanks

[@EvolutionNutrition1]

Awesome advice Dan - I just carried it out on a 1952 Precision that had tuners so stiff they felt like they were going to snap and they're perfect now!

[@dwebster50]

Dan, I always learn something very useful , from your videos.. |Bought a book of yours years ago and found it an amazing reference with the inset of some handy radius gauges that I still use today...Stewmac has a great instructor of their products. Thank you Dan

[@bluwng]

Thank you. I fixed my neck and I didn't have to put it in an oven or let it sit for days. I set just like Dan and used the trust rod to hold. A few minutes no cost and presto.

[@1BadSavage]

Why would you thumbs down . he's doing it right lol

[@kjemradio]

Because of trollish people. Dan's one of the best out there, and as a bass player I respect his knowledge.

[@rsz90182]

Maybe because they thought it meant going down?

[@inevitablecraftslab]

those are bots that just down-vote everything

[@dwightwanker9606]

crazy smart man there! I learned guitar building and repair through him (by way of Bryan Gallop,in I think days old shop in big rapids,Michigan ). He is probably one of best luithiers around at repair,designing tools,and problem solving. If he says it,it's because he's done it many time. Thank you sir for sharing your knowledge! !

[@electrojet315]

Thanks for the very informative video. I have a 2006 Fender jazz bass mex with a twisted neck and stripped hex nut. After following ur advice i got the nut to come out. Got a replacement and used a g-clamp and spirit level to get the neck to straighten. Now it works very well.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

That neck was completed on my 16th birthday . . . God I'm old. 😥

[@neocollective5959]

What a clean job, best truss rod adjustment on the web, only one I saw releasing the rod from doing the job with a level while turning it...really understands how materials tolerances and guitars work !

[@randysnell9218]

Thank you, Dan, for putting me on the right track years ago. You were the first person to really teach on setup, way back, in the pages of Guitar Player. I hope to shake hands one day.

[@SB-mb8fx]

Love all the vids with Dan. He´s the only guy i trust. I´ll watch and learn only from him and do it his way

[@Phillyfast]

Very nice video. Beautiful basses.

[@VanDerSmithrock]

Stewmac makes some great time saving tools. Great video as well. Time to be checking out the P to see if I can clear up some of the excess sounds it's making. Thanks Dan!!

[@JohnnyBGood-ii8kt]

Dan you are the man, thanks so much for your sharing your knowledge, I will be buying your string action gauge.

[@christiannegron3489]

God DANG old man'!! You know your stuff.. Badass. Thank you for showing me this.

[@LRS905]

Pretty sure he would appreciate your comment, you fat ugly young man...

[@christiannegron3489]

RL R Thank you good sir.

[@KeithCamplin]

My son picked up a 1985 MIJ Jazz Bass Special for $150. The strings were about 1.75" off the board. I was able to get the truss rid but tightened and bring back the neck to some degree but knew it needed to be straightened. Did what the video suggested and now it has incredibly low action with no fret buzz. I gave it a new set of strings and a complete set up and now it rocks. Thanks for posting.

[@danielstein5290]

DAMN good DEAL!!

[@KeithCamplin]

Daniel Weston Yes. Great deal. He has found some really good gear on our local Craigslist.

[@gutbucket260]

Try putting a little pressure on the neck and help it as you tighten the truss rod. You're asking a little rod to do a lot of work. You actually have to do this with older Rickenbacker basses. It even tells you that in the manual.

[@34672rr]

@@gutbucket260 I need to fo this, but don't know where to start on equipment. I tired looking for curved cauls, and can't find anything. also not sure what kind of clamp it is he is using

[@PeterDad60]

Keith, "strings being about 1.75" off the board" sounds impossible on an electric bass!

[@gingaleanda]

Thank you for that! Very clear explanations.

[@MrRentgould]

Amazingly helpful , thanks

[@telecasterbear]

A band mate just submitted his Fender Highway One Jazz bass for a setup with me. I am so used to the feel of my beefy telecaster bass necks, that the jazz bass just feels wrong for me. I love the simplicity of the telecaster bass.

[@billwilkat5585]

Dan the man--you always get it right!

[@spigmu2274]

Terrific video. Solid information well expressed ! : )

[@redsunset1415]

I spent a lot of money and time at guitar technicians trying to get my 51 p bass neck straight. They were all pretty sure that the neck was warped until I found this video and in just a few minutes I had a dead straight neck.

[@thomasnonsense]

I'm glad that it did the trick. It's from a StewMac video, and I posted it nearly 10 years ago so a friend could watch it and straighten a couple of old Ibanez bass necks. 537736 views later...

[@SB-mb8fx]

i´ve tried Dan´s way he explained here on my 76 P and it worked perfectly. Thank you Dan!

[@34672rr]

same here, except i had a back bow on my jammy. just clamped that sucker, tightened the truss rod, and it's golden now.

[@xavierbibin69]

I wish my Dad would think of me like Dan thinks of a Truss Rod. :-D

[@junbyr.maturan6226]

Very clear explanation...learned a lot!

[@danielandre9485]

c'est tout simplement génial , fantastic

[@handgunner1911]

hes awesome these are the kind of guys to learn from

[@rofflestomp684]

A masterclass in plain English! That was beautifully executed, thank you for that one. Instant sub! Where tf have I been?

[@josejuancerdabarraza3544]

I managed to do the same to a Peavey T45 which have a similar thick neck to those Fenders with 1.75" nut diameter, It now seems to be working just fine

[@Infinityplus1111]

Great teacher.

[@anthonythompson4718]

Great video sir I'm a new bass player and this was some good information

[@pcbass2]

Nicely done .. fixed !

[@ulrichspringer4305]

A very good video. It helped me a lot! Thank you. :-)

[@sepavila577]

you are a very awesome man, i wish there was a way you could fix my bass

[@nathan-hq2jw]

dan straight up dabbing in the thumbnail

[@roberthurless4615]

A very informative video, thank you. However, speaking as a bassist, I would love to hear how it sounds through an amp.

[@laboratoryrack6488]

Wish you guys posted more bass guitar videos...

[@johnpick8336]

Thanks Dan !

[@jeffcookdotau]

+John Pick You're more than welcome, but I'm not Dan. This is from one of his videos available from Stewmac He really seems to know his stuff! I originally posted this for a friend who wanted to straighten a couple of old Ibanez necks and it worked a treat!

[@telecasterbear]

I love my 68 tele bass, and I just got a 73 tele bass. Giving it the once over, and then a fresh set of flats.

[@fuzzyhi5621]

Great skillful luthier!

[@WimBlock]

To the point! Thank you.

[@alexanderamann4602]

Very helpful!

[@Satchmoeddie]

Lots of those Fenders had that milky white Fullerplast under the finish, so it could have even been a sunburst. My favorite Fender burst, green & yellow! JK! I don't buy off on using a radius gauge all the way. The gap under the E should be greater than under the G. Larger string, more vibration.

[@jimgrolemund9875]

+Seth B I never knew until now what that coating was. I have looked off and on for years. My '69 Jazz had a beautiful grain as a 3 tone sunburst. For a variety of valid reasons, I decided to refinish it natural and was devastated to find that coating. After about 12 hours of sanding with 80 grit paper I said "enough". I went to a finer grit and ultimately refinished it with 3 coats of an off white aerosol epoxy buffed between each layer, that has matured into a match for Olympic White. Thanks for the Fullerplast link.

[@rerite2]

Thank you. Now I can attempt adjusting my 1967 "P" bass.

[@AmandaRogersarock1988]

What a great upload. Thanks so much! :)

[@jeffcookdotau]

You're more than welcome. All I did was upload a video though. Dan's where your thanks should be directed, so maybe drop him a line at www.danerlewine.com. I'm sure that he'll be pleased to hear from you.

[@AmandaRogersarock1988]

I will certainly do that. Thanks, Jeff. :) .

[@UmVtCg]

Great ripoff from stewmac you mean

[@lavapirate]

you are a treasure Dan

[@j.p.fitting9226]

Nice job! Nice to see a craftsman TCB! Can you recommend someone in the Valley here in SoCal that does quality work like you? Have a '73 P bass that needs TLC.. intonation, neck straightening.. More hills and dales than Scotland! Thank you

[@robertsyl5819]

Hi dan ..i learned so much from your videos..thanks you for what you do.What kind of lube do you use on tuners and what would you use to lube up a floyd rose?

[@2ndPortal]

My neck has a light twist, clockwise looking down the neck from the body. Could you make a video on how you would fix that? Love your videos!

[@mid-westmusic3472]

I like the plank look of the bass.

[@samueltractorton2088]

Awesome

[@curtrod]

a jedi master!

[@rfidtech9286]

Thank you sir! Was the pressure from the clamp what back bowed the neck? I’ve seen others use a block as a lever and then clamp the top of the neck to the table to bow the neck. Can anyone confirm that it was the clamp squeezing the bottom of the neck causing the back bow?

[@iankyoko]

The truss rod in my acoustic won't tighten any further. I'm going to use some lube to see if that solves he problem. But if not, trying a couple of washers might be good but my problem is that the truss rod itself leans to one side, quite close to the side of the wood. Getting washers on might be a problem.

[@-thirteen]

I did just this with a Fender neck. The rod thread at the nut seemed rusty so I but a little PB Blaster in the hole, clamped it and tightened the nut back. The neck went right back to it;s bowed state. I repeated the process and have it all bound up for now. Is it safe to assume that if the bow remains then the truss rod is rusted in place and is not moving with the neck? not allowing it to slip back and forth through the washer at the nut?

[@taylorhumes7567]

Dan, how long does the bass neck need to stay in that backbend before you can take the clamp off and put it back on the guitar? Thanks for the video!

[@papajass7240]

the master

[@I..cast..fireball]

Hey dan, I need to clamp the neck of a 12 string acoustic because the truss rod is as tight as i'm brave enough to make it and the relief is to curved. How hard should I clamp it? As in, how much vertical deflection should I clamp it to, and for how long should I leave it there before it takes the new set? Thanks in advance.

[@UncleMilty88]

I have a neck that I can get low action with a truss adjustment, but it seems to settle just slightly higher than I want after a day. It stays well within range but it just wont stay as low (I like really low action). It was in a case for several years unplayed and probably not set up properly. Would this technique be a better way to approach the adjustment?

[@nithinsamuelabraham2760]

So I did this, brought the neck to a good upward bow, tightened the truss rod to its limit, but when I take off the clamp and tune it back to pitch, it goes back to its back bow. Should I try adding washers?

[@stevenedwards4470]

I'm currently clamping a bass neck that has a wee bit too much bow to ask of an unassisted truss rod, and I'd like to ask some advice from anyone who might have done this. My plan is to leave it a few days. I want to know if I should tighten the truss rod immediately after I achieve the clamped position or, let the neck acclimate to the new position and tighten the truss rod just before I remove the clamp? Or do that and leave it an additional spell of time? Thanks

[@LordSaqo]

after buying a new bass neck unfortunately it turned out to be defective. I'm going to pull the frets and make fretless bass guitar. I have a question - how to set up the anchor before i start to sandpaper leveling ? 1) loosen the anchor 2) tighten the anchor 3) adjust the neck as straight as possible? Thaks!!

[@jerrywhalen4056]

To make things a bit more simple, a friend of mine pulled out the frets, cleaned up the neck and the grooves, and filled in the slots with plastic wood. The plastic wood was leveled and the basses neck was cleared of residue. Because the neck had a dark color the filler made for a great visual reference and the accuracy of the player was restored.

[@richvanek1363]

Looking down the neck is an optical illusion like looking down rail road tracks.

[@dreadnaught90]

Fender used ash or alder for it's P-bass bodies. If that is a late 60's Tele bass and it has previously been painted, the body would have been made of alder.....which takes a paint finish better than ash. Fender's blonde electric basses and guitars were made of ash. So by removing the paint you would not get a body that looked like an original blonde bass. Just thought I would mention this in case anyone wants to do the same thing.

[@djynfxxbdhtbrn6854]

what's the name of the tool you used to adjust the action and will it work for normal electric guitars? (or will I need a different size

[@Fr3akyPL]

Pro material

[@michaell.8938]

I have a Squier Affinity P-bass with the P/J pickups. It was delivered out of tune and with a bow in the neck. I had it professionally set up, but now the neck is bowing slightly again and it's buzzing badly in spots. Granted, it's a cheap bass, but is there anything I can do to fix this? Adjusting the truss rod can get rid of the buzz, but the action is too high then.

[@jobetsantos7570]

what to do if the trussrod is tight and hard but still bowed up  what to do if the trussrod is tight and hard but still bowed up 

[@bobspal5365]

Talk about knowing what your talking about.

[@34672rr]

I can't, because I have no idea what i am talking about. sorry

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

Talk the talk

[@lawrencegenereux8567]

Tell me about it!

[@BaronsDuju]

I have a 95 Telecaster with too much bow. Does this technique only work on bass guitars or should so try it too?

[@misterx8592]

You are my idol.

[@jeffreysearch]

Lovely work, you can work on my Fender basses, anytime !

[@34672rr]

you better learn yourself, he is not cheap

[@matthewbergkamp6893]

Where may I find that vice grip, anyone know?

[@Livemusic1800]

Almost broke my neck watching this video. " get it. ?

[@swagbotbilly]

Where can I find a curved caul like that? Is it absolutely necessary, or can I get by with rubber pads on my C-clamp?

[@jmod8787]

Trying something similar on a guitar neck. In this case, there is no relief (and actually a little bit of a back bow by the head stock) despite having the truss rod completely tension free. I can do the opposite of what Dan did in this video (2 clamps at either end of the neck and a block in the middle to create some relief), but how long do I leave it that way, and how much tension do I put on the truss rod? Thanks Jim

[@jeffcookdotau]

This is only guesswork, but I'd say "until it's straight (or has a slight forward bow)". What's good for one neck may not be right for another neck because each one would be its own beast. Theoretically you should be able to pull it back with the truss rod if it's a bit too much relief. If it's already OK, then I'd say to just use enough tension so that the rod "grabs" without really doing anything. I have a guitar that's very borderline with the truss rod completely slackened off, but I went up from .009 to .010 and it's better to the point that I'm no longer contemplating what you're doing. I'm fairly comfortable with the idea but I've never had to do it.

[@jmod8787]

@@jeffcookdotau Thanks. I actually did buy a set of .010s, but I'm going to try using the clamps first. It's sort of a project guitar and I'm teaching myself (well, KZbin is teaching me) how to do set-ups on it. The frets need some work as well, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure that the buzzing is caused by high frets and not the back-bow of the neck.

[@riddler2468oasis]

Where does this video come from? Do you have more?

[@qwertybbbqwerty]

Where can i get the wooden blocks that you use to clamp the neck?

[@bassinbob1965]

What if I run out of intonation adjustment

[@Goomer]

Ever fix a Danelectro/Silvertone 1444 without a truss rod? Too much bow.

[@skrankle66]

how much as that 68 tele bass just out of curiosity?

[@whitewizard1914]

The strings don't bounce and I have been loosening idk how much? need help

[@successfulfailure3272]

He's dabbing in the thumbnail

[@michaelmckay1567]

Totally wonderful thanks I’ll rescue some abandoned instruments

[@llengford]

I do not understand what you are doing how did you get it the neck level in the vice without it being balanced in the vice was you using the level to look down it to see if it was straight or was you using the levels bubble glass to see if it was level excuse my ignorance but could you explain.....

[@fredparker3384]

On my Sterling StingRay my action has to be high or else I’ll get fret buzz on my E or A string when fretting the first fret…..anything I can do to lower the action without the buzz?? Thanks Sir…

[@monz7951]

Your second fret could be too high and needs to be leveled

[@TasmanGuitarsAmps]

And how much is this kind of setup in US?