www.KitGuitarsForum.com

This guitar does not want to be built....

It looks to me as though the neck has developed a slight wind (twist) in it. Can anything be done to fix that?

it can be tricky
can you post a Pic?
if it isn't too serious you can level the frets if it is more serious you may have to relevel the fretboard or worse replace the darn thing
jh

I've used this method for a couple of years now and it works quite effectively. I don't use an iron I use a fret board heating blanket (the same you use to remove the FB) and heat the neck up until I can feel the heat through the bottom of the neck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5i8sEJ2LQ

I've had a scratch neck twist on me before once it was roughed in from the neck block but not finished. This was before the fingerboard was on and may have already been glued to the body. I block planed the twist out of the neck, and recreated the flat "playing" surface. Really the best way to get ride of twist is to plane it out. In the violin world, if you're plates or neck are twisted, you work with it. That's what the wood wanted to do and you plane the inconsistencies out. Generally speaking, there isn't a lot of luck in trying to force a twist out. That's the natural tendency of that piece of wood.

-Dan

Dan Bombliss wrote:Generally speaking, there isn't a lot of luck in trying to force a twist out. That's the natural tendency of that piece of wood.

-Dan

I have to respectfully disagree Dan. Sides are bent, head stock veneers are bent, all types of woods are bent (some thicker than others). Every time I've tried bending wood this way it has worked. For me I'd rather have a straight neck AND head stock over a straight neck and twisted head stock. My 2 cents.

this is a 50 50 proposition.
I have used heat and the ones that didn't I have to replane .
My best advice is to remove the fret board plane true then when you glue the fretboard on do it on a flat surface, It seems every time I glued a neck up without having it on a flat surface it twisted a bit ..

I take a thin piece og spruce about 1/4 in thick by 1/2 in to follow the edge of the fret board then clamp it down on my granite plate.
let us know what and how you do .

Ben-Had wrote:

Dan Bombliss wrote:Generally speaking, there isn't a lot of luck in trying to force a twist out. That's the natural tendency of that piece of wood.

-Dan

I have to respectfully disagree Dan. Sides are bent, head stock veneers are bent, all types of woods are bent (some thicker than others). Every time I've tried bending wood this way it has worked. For me I'd rather have a straight neck AND head stock over a straight neck and twisted head stock. My 2 cents.

I'll respectfully disagree in return. Those methods work fine for thinner pieces. A thick chunk of wood grew a certain way. There's a reason why branches and limbs of trees make for garbage lumber, and it's because they grew with all of that weight fighting them. Limbs will almost always have a certain tendency to go a certain way. There's also a reason why in the violin world, the ideal cut is to split the wood. You want to know the woods natural inclination, instead of forcing it. When cutting the spruce (or willow) blocks for the neck, tail, and c bouts, they use a hammer and knife to split the block and see what direction the wood wants to go. Once you have that information you work with it.

I'm not saying you can not head twist out of a neck, but odds are when introduced to the elements again, it will return (i.e, returning twist after a too long in a hot car mishap). If you let the wood move and do it's thing, and work with that thing the wood chose to do, that's your best option.

In the violin world, there are no braces forcing the instrument to maintain it's shape. It's all hand carved. When a plate wants to go a certain way, or when you join your plates and there is twist, you don't clamp it flat. You don't heat it flat. The best route is to plane it true and flat, because you're fairly assured that it's done moving at that point, and that's where will stay. If you forced a piece of a wood into a certain shape, and then carved from there, it will be distorted from the original idea/shape.

If this was a strung up, built neck: Knock yourself out with heating it.
Most likely it will be beneficial. If it's not finished and there's room to carve: Plane it flat and be certain it won't come back.

it is hard but always look for the most vertical stock

I agree a twist is hard to get out and stay out.

Perhaps let it sit a coupe more weeks to make sure the twist is completely out of it before making any changes.

Ed