Neck relief on only one side

[watercaster]

Has anyone ever experienced this problem? Can't really get a good pic of the issue but I have a aftermarket Tele neck I purchased on Ebay years ago that I just re-fretted. Upon setting it up I have become aware that when I adjusted the truss rod, only the low E string side had relief. High E side is straight as an arrow. Let me mention that it is curly maple with a rosewood board. Thanks for any input.

 

[Boreas]

I have several necks like that, but it is only a slight difference, so I ignore it. I don't believe I have ever seen a neck with more relief on the treble side. Likely due to string tension if the neck is dead flat on both sides with no strings.

But at extremes, it will be considered a weak or twisted neck, which makes fudging the frets and playability decreasing with the degree of the twist. But if it plays well and sounds good, I wouldn't pay much attention.

 

[Cyberi4n]

The new American Performer Telecaster I bought last year had that. It’s evened out a bit now I’ve used it more and the neck has settled down. But it was REALLY pronounced to begin with! More relief on the bass side than the treble side. I like my necks set fairly flat in any case, so generally put my relief at around 0.0035 to 0.004 and over time this seems to have corrected it.

 

[backporchmusic]

Because the (strings on) tension is higher on the bass side, you will often see very slight differences in relief, with the treble side being flatter--but it should still move with adjustment.

 

[TwangerWannabe]

I just parted with an old Yairi acoustic that was 50 years old that didn't have a truss rod. Neck was dead straight with no relief on the bass end and just a hint of relief on the treble side. Guitar played wonderfully though, and luckily didnt cause any issues.

 

[JL_LI]

Because the (strings on) tension is higher on the bass side, you will often see very slight differences in relief, with the treble side being flatter--but it should still move with adjustment.

Check for relief on the bass side and check for back bow on the treble side. Maple necks seem to be more susceptible to the relief difference than mahogany.

 

[KokoTele]

The bass side doesn't really have that much more tension than the high side. It's a common misconception. Take a look at the D'Addario string tension chart. A typical .010" E string has 16.2 lbs of tension at pitch, while a .046" low E has 17.5 lbs. It's a noticeable difference, but but it's not as extreme as people assume.

https://www.daddario.com/globalassets/pdfs/accessories/tension_chart_13934.pdf

After a refret, the difference likely has as much to do with how much compression is in each slot as it does with the difference in string tension. Cleaning slots by hand can result in differences that are small, but significant enough to see this.

Unless the difference is extreme, I'd probably level the frets under string tension to compensate. If it's real bad, I'd take the frets off and make sure the fretboard was true and the slots were good.

 

[Peegoo]

The first step is to set the neck (adjust the rod) to be as flat as possible, and then evaluate it using a straight edge to make sure your previous fret job is accurate on both sides of the fretboard...and proceed from there.

 

[Sax-son]

I have a rosewood fretboard Telecaster that has a hump in the middle of the neck. There is obviously something going on with the truss rod. I just raised the action higher to alleviate the fret buzz and will just use it for slide or something. I am not going to spend a lot of time or money dealing with it was I will just buy another neck at some point in the future.

 

[ponycar]

You see people sighting down a neck to see if it's bowed. That really doesn't work unless it's so bad that it's extreme. It does ,however allow you to detect a bad twist. A moderate twist can be assessed better by fretting at both ends of the neck with each string, also will help with an asymmetrical bow. Taught strings are perfectly straight. Probably don't need a straight edge. Some twisted ,or asymmetrical bowed necks play fine.

 

[hamerfan]

I have seen this on 2 guitars, both had rift-sawn maple necks.