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Post by nitehawk55 on Jan 19, 2007 16:03:39 GMT -7
I should know this but I want some opinions from fellows on here who probably know best ( or think they do ;D)
I'm going to set some guitars aside for now that are not used much . I know to store in a good climate which my house has but should the string tension be reduced to relieve stress on the neck ? I'm thinking turn each down one turn ??
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Post by mward on Jan 19, 2007 20:56:22 GMT -7
I was always told to leave them strung at tension because the truss rod is counteracting that force, to detune them gives the neck reverse tension from the truss rod, and might have some bad effect on the guitar. When I am working on something that I know the neck is going to be unstrung for a while I loosen the truss rod all the way. I haven't ever had a problem from that although I defer to more experienced luthiers on the matter. I'm a mere tyro.
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Post by billyguitar on Jan 20, 2007 0:02:18 GMT -7
You find vintage guitars in every state of string tension, from none to too much. Most survive decades of disuse with no problems either way. A friend of mine had a blackguard '54 Tele a few years back. When he bought it from the original old lady owner the neck was actually humped so much in the middle that someone in the olden days had shimmed the neck the opposite way a lot and it still wasn't playable. My friend loosened the trussrod and piled a bunch of weight on the neck and it finally came back close enough to being straight to get $17K for it. 3 years later now and you could add $40K to $50K to that selling price. It was in rally good original shape. the old lady had played it in church in the 50s and 60s and then put it under the bed. If I gave it a thought I would detune it a bit because for some reason guitars that sit unplayed seem to go sharp for some unknown reason.
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Post by Joey Beverages on Jan 20, 2007 14:30:38 GMT -7
I'm going to set some guitars aside for now that are not used much . I know to store in a good climate which my house has but should the string tension be reduced to relieve stress on the neck ? I'm thinking turn each down one turn ?? generally, I just do a slight de-tune. I notice if I leave any of my guitars alone for too long, they seem to get a little (up)tight
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Post by billyguitar on Jan 20, 2007 20:53:43 GMT -7
Isn't that the strangest thing how they go sharp.
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Post by mward on Jan 21, 2007 9:37:32 GMT -7
Well here's my take on 'em going sharp. 2 things are happening. When you play, the strings are warmer because your hand is on 'em, and when they sit and get cool they contract. Probably not enough to make a difference. What I really think is going on is when you're playing regular the strings get bent, fretted, strummed, and those counteract the tension of the truss rod so you tune it and if you're playing it it's okay. When you let it sit the strings aren't doing anything so the truss rod goes to work and bows the neck back a tiny bit, just enough to make them a little sharp. If you detune your strings when you let the guitar sit for a while, you're letting the truss rod work even more, and will end up with more neck bow. Take the strings off, you get what Billy's friend found with his 54 tele - tons of backbow. It's wood so you might be able to cajole it back into shape but I try to avoid letting it get bad in the first place.
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Post by billyguitar on Jan 21, 2007 16:39:51 GMT -7
Anythings possible but I've seen guitars that were unstrung for years with no ill effects. It's a weird thing.
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Post by Hohn on Jan 21, 2007 17:45:26 GMT -7
A lot depends on the truss rod design. Some rods simply counteract the string tension-- so if there's no string tension, there's no rod tension (i.e., rod and string tension rise in unison in opposite directions). Other truss rod designs apply a preload on the neck.
My personal rule of thumb is to go by the shape of the truss rod channel rout: if routed in an arch (vintage fender) leave it up to pitch or tuned down up to a whole step (no more). If the truss rod rout is flat, then you can either way-- leave the strings on or take them off and it shouldn't matter much either way.
To be safe, it's best for ANY guitar to have the strings on, at just slightly reduced tension.
One reason I prefer fatter necks is that they seem to be more stable on the long term-- the wood is under less stress, imo.
Oh, and I tend to fall in the "think they do" category, so YMMV:)
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Post by mward on Jan 21, 2007 17:51:57 GMT -7
Good point about the truss rod channel route. I hadn't thought of that although some of the new double trussrods like the ones stewmac sells will go in a straight route but can provide backbow because of that second rod. I think it's all voodoo, really.
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Post by anacephalic on Jan 24, 2007 14:48:01 GMT -7
Since i travel a lot and tend to grab the closest guitar setting around a lot of my guitars can go a year or better without getting touched. I just leave them in the case like i last played them and they tend to get along just fine. The exception being my archtop which usually gets regular watering during the dry winter months. sometimes that even gets overlooked. luckily no cracks yet.
the only time i ever had problems with storage was when i left my moderne with my mom while i went to grad school. i had loosened the strings and she figured it should be kept by the register to stay warm. the result was a backbow from hell that required steam pressing to fix. once fixed no more problems. leave the tension on was the lessoned i gleaned from that adventure
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Post by dock66 on Jan 25, 2007 7:52:30 GMT -7
I left them in tuned from the last time I've played them,just wipe the grease of the strings,neck and fretboard and leave them on the guitar hangers.With acoustic guitars,I wipe off the whole guitar and store them in their cases for a long storage.
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