A client brought a 2010 Epiphone into the shop that he’d picked up “at a good price”. Not an expensive instrument, but super clean. Trouble is, it buzzes like mad so could I “please sort that out?” Turns out there’s a back bow in the neck — at least -0.025” relief. Story goes that guitar was stored for a number of years without strings, leaving the truss rod untouched.
You guessed it, the rod is a one way. I put it into clamps, forcing the maple neck into a forward bow for several weeks and added a set of super heavy strings to boot. It’s a trick I’ve used successfully a couple of times before, but this time I only got half way to flat, so the guitar remains unplayable.
While that guitar was here, a 2015 Epiphone LP came through with back bow almost as bad. Fortunately, it has a 2-way rod, so it was quickly set up without drama, and out the next day.
I gave the Sheraton back to its owner this week. I could perhaps establish a usable fret plane by levelling the frets, but the differences in fret heights would feel really strange. Or I could pull the frets and level the fingerboard, but I fear we’d sand right through the centre inlays. In any event, neither procedure is really in the budget.
So, I admitted defeat and cried “uncle”! Not sure what else I could do for the fellow. I think he’ll turn it into a clock.
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