How necks made of different wood types are affected by humidity, and needing trussrod adjustments

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Hello all! I have a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazz Bass, which has a neck made of Mapple (and fingerboard material is Indian Laurel).

I’m wondering how much necks made of different woods are affected by changes in relative air humidity, and how often do you need to adjust the truss rod.

At least my bass seems to react quite a lot. But then again, changes in humidity have been high after our winter. I live in Finland, and we have central heating, which dries the air during the winter. The coldest the winter is, the drier the air indoors. This spring when I bought my bass guitar the air humidity was around 30 to 35%. Then the summer started, but it has been a very rainy summer so far. At some point the humidity was 48%, and the A on the 2nd fret of the G string rattled like crazy. Josh advised me to loose a little the trussrod (he has a very good video on YouTube about setting up a bass guitar). I did that, and it helped a lot. Adjusting the trussrod was very easy (what took most of the time was loosing the A and D strings such that I could move them out of the way to get to the trussrod screw, and then having to tune them back. I think it took me 30 minutes tuning them and the other strings, and then those strings again. The tension of the neck and strings change.

Well, it was worth it. But… now the humidity is higher again (between 54 and 60%), and the rattle on the G string is back. I’m dreading having to do it all again so soon, because maybe in less than a week the weather changes and then I will have to do it all again.

I’m wondering how different neck materials and bass guitar models react to humidity and how often does one need to do these adjustments. Has anyone here noticed how different kinds of wood react? I know many people here have lots of bass guitars, so you probably notice which ones need more or less trussrod adjustments. Are there differences between basses of different price range?

I’m not planning on buying a new bass any time soon, but eventually I might want to buy a precision bass or a better jazz bass, but for the moment my Squier is the only one.

I hate the G string rattle, specially if I play a song that has a lot of A notes on that 2nd fret. But how often is it worth going through all the adjusting and tuning and waiting and then tuning again. Soon the humidity might change again. :joy: At least it is easy to do these adjustments myself.

But if anyone has noticed differences on how necks of different materials react to humidity, I would like to know about it. Thanks!

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If you have large changes in humidity than yes, the neck is going to shift. Any wood will be affected to my knowledge.

You might be okay with a graphite neck, an expensive upgrade.

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@andrea-soilander, don’t worry, just adjust your truss rod whenever you need. It won’t hurt anything. :+1:

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All wood moves. Thats the bad news. The good news is wood movement is very predictable. “Roasted” wood are supposedly impervious to movement. Whether its true or not, i can’t say. I do know that roasted woods have their own set of problems. They’re very brittle and chip easily.

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Depends.

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Roasted (torrefied) Maple necks are impervious to temperature and humidity changes.

For players, chipping is not an issue.

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In my experience, they all move.
Quick truss rod tweak twice a year in spring/fall and usually good to go. It’s super easy once you get used to it.

With over 35 basses, I couldn’t tell you which wood is better, as there a Lee a lot of factors like shape etc.

Net/net, this should be a non-issue issue.
Buy what you like.

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They all move. Just get comfortable adjusting the truss rod, it’s easy.

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Just a stick and some string.

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Where you live will have a lot to do with how much you’re adjusting.
I don’t have to do much seasonal adjustment here, because our seasons are all (compartively) the same.

The only loophole in the material of the neck - if you don’t want to worry about seasonal/wood-based adjusting is - you could find a bass with a graphite neck.
Those don’t tend to move, and my graphite neck bass doesn’t even have a trussrod to adjust if I wanted to.

It’s not cheap or easy to find, but just so you know all the options.

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Tell that to Charles I d’Albret

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Thanks! It’s helpful to know any wood will be affected by humidity, and there aren’t many differences between bass guitars in this respect. A graphite neck is probably too expensive. I’ll just have to get used to making adjustments on a regular basis.

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Yep, there’s no way around it. At least it is easy to do. What I don’t like is having to loosen the strings, taking them out of the way, and later tuning them back. There’s a lot of tuning after a trussrod adjustment, and it takes much more time than regular daily tuning (which is rather quick).

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You are right, at least it is predictable. Just following the weather forecast I could tell soon I would have to adjust it again. The air is so humid that soon I’ll have to put some oil in some doors’ hinges because they’ll start squeaking.

I didn’t know some instruments are made of roasted wood. In principle it might sound like a good idea, but I agree they might be more brittle.

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Thanks for the video! I didn’t know they made instruments out of roasted wood.

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Thanks! It’s useful to hear the perspective of someone who has so many basses. Adjustments are just then something we must get used to. I wasn’t sure whether my bass (for being cheaper or having a mapple neck) was more affected by humidity, but it seems it affects any bass made of normal (unroasted) wood.

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Roasted necks present no practical adverse effect for a player.

Their relative degree of brittleness would only apply to manufacturers or repair techs, and either of those pros are experienced and equipped enough to work with the wood to mitigate any issues.

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Thanks! It seems I’ll have to get used to making adjustments at least twice a year, mostly likely a lot more often. Our winters are dry, summer is often either very humid or dry, depending on how weird the climate is. It is nice to know about graphite necks, but I think I will invest on one only after years of playing. But probably I’ll be used to the regular adjustments by then. :grin:

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I agree on that. It is easy. Just all the tuning afterwards is time consuming. But I’ll get used to it. Thanks. :smile:

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Thanks, that’s useful to know. Now I remembered once watching a video about someone roasting wood to build a cabin, and the reason was that roasting it made it more resistant against water and mold. Of course in that case the roasting was done much more rudimentary than the roasting method for making an instrument, but the reason was similar in a way.

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