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Epiphone has a wimpy neck


gardo

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I've become disappointed in my Epiphone AJ 500m. It has a very flimsey neck that constantly needs adjusted . I store the guitar in a wooden cabinet when it's not being used and monitor the humidity which is typically near 60%.and the temp is stable.The strings are Elixer Nanoweb 12's If I remove the all the strings to restring and clean ,it will have a lot of back bow when the first few strings are installed. It plays fine when it's up to pitch although it will need some slight adjustment The neck joint is solid, as is the bridge, it just seems to have a soft neck and it's doubtful that anything can be done for it. Anyone else notice this?

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So are you actually adjusting the truss rod after you string and tune it? And then does it change after that? Lots of guitars will change their relief between unstrung and up to tune, but usually it doesn't change (much) after that. Also 60% RH is pretty high, here is what Jean Larrevee says about 3 or more day exposure to 55-70%

 

"Top and back will appear bellied (convex), playability will be affected. Fretboard from the 14th on may appear raised. Guitar will start to have a musty smell after a couple of months."

 

My humble suggestion would be to unstring it, measure both the neck angle and relief, then string it up and see if they have changed (and by how much). I would keep it at 40% RH for a few days and see if it changes, then move it to your case for a few more and again, see if it changes.

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It's my understanding that those first Masterbilts were built very lightly and sometimes had issues because of it. Your guitar's behavior is probably from the neck joint and top flexing rather than the neck bending. I doubt there's anything seriously wrong with the neck. Removing all the strings allows the guitar to ''snap back into shape,'' so to speak. It's just something you'll need to live with, short of buying a guitar that's more heavily built.

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Yes it changes constantly. I have Elixer strings on it and they have been on for a while. I assumed that in time everything would stabilize but it hasn't. .When I restring there is so much back bow that the first string I tighten frets out.By the time all strings are tuned it's OK. It's like a rubber neck. It's been rainy here for a few days and the humidity in the Cabinet is 60% in the winter it may go to 40 some %. I humidify in the winter

I had the idea that 40 to 60 was a safe range..Maybe it's not..I don't rally have anywhere to store it that would be in the 40% range. I have electrics right beside it that are rock solid.

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I really don't have any good advice for you other that to say I haven't seen this before. The safest recommended humidity range is 40-45 percent. higher is not as bad as lower. Higher humidity would cause wood to swell but I can't see where that do what you are describing.

 

It seems like the necks on newer guitars are much more prone to moving around. Most of the time when I work on a guitar and set the neck flat with no strings on, it will pull to a small amount of relief when tuned up and its usually about the right amount. And usually it stays pretty much the same after that.

 

I would wonder about the neck angle and the stability of that joint - I'm pretty sure Epi still used a dovetail on that guitar.

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I had an Epiphone Masterbilt in for a setup today so I thought I would play some games. It is a DR-500MCE so not the same model but its similar enough so....

 

The guitar had no strings. I measured the neck angle and relief. Relief was 0.012 and neck is slightly overset, there was about 0.020 gap between the straightedge and top of bridge

 

IMG_3815_zpsatgkclpr.jpg

 

(bad picture, sorry, camera wants to focus on anything it sees, but take my word for it, I can put a 20 thou feeler between the bridge and tip of the rule).

 

I tightened the truss rod to bring the relief down, the t/r was pretty much in its neutral zone and it took almost a half turn to feel some resistance. I set it at 0.004 with the strings off. Strung it up with 0.010 - 0.047 (owner's choice, he likes light strings). That pulled the relief up to 0.008 and interestingly, the fretboard plane now hits the top of the bridge. Gardo, your 12's would be worse

 

IMG_3816_zpsn6runxv4.jpg

 

It might even be a few thou under set now. I adjusted the relief back to 0.005 (maybe 1/4 turn) and finished the setup.

 

I'm going to play the guitar tonight and check it again in the morning before returning to the owner. If it doesn't change I'm just going to say that, yeah, its got a wimpy neck but as long as its stable I'm not going to worry about it. If it changes significantly I'll let you know and we'll talk some more.

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