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I bought a 1998 Nashville made es-175 for a bargain price a while back and I've set it up ok and had to level some high frets here and there. My problem is that I keep having to adjust the truss rod, The neck seems to creep back to a slight bow and I like my necks virtually straight. I have other mahogany neck guitars hanging on the wall and they don't have this problem so I don't think it's a weather change thing.
The other thing is that I think the fret board above the 12th fret needs to be leveled(frets removed and fingerboard sanded down). I have leveled several frets above the 12th but there seems like there is just too much buzzing overall. I love the sound of it and all but I was wondering if I should get these issues addressed or sell it and move on.
There are a few things I don't like about it after all like the excessively fat body and the 2 pickup configuration.
The Ibanez PM2 is looking tempting as I can get one for less than half the price that I can sell the 175 for.
What would some of you out there do?
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05-12-2015 08:16 PM
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It would be hard to sell if you're honest about the issues with prospective buyers. If it were mine and I wanted a 175, and I paid enough of a bargain price to justify a refret and pro setup at about $300, and I knew a good/trusted repair guy to do it... I'd do it.
I have done it actually, three times, and it's been very successful for me. But all of the above need to be considered.
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ok, so i took it to a tech and he said the truss rod has detached from the body end.
Anyway to fix this? Tech said it's not fixable but I don't want to believe him.
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Perhaps go down a gauge or two to relieve the tension on the neck.
Good luck!!!
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The neck could be heat-treated and straightened. And you pray that it remain straight after the heat treatment.
The other invasive and expensive way is to remove the fretboard, remove the maple spline, replace the truss rod and fix whatever issue is causing it to be detached, and then replace fretboard, maple spline, re-finish and stuff. Replace the truss rod with a "historically correct" one with no plastic sheath. Gibson Repair & Restoration charges $1500 for this operation. An independent repair contractor would charge lower, I guess. Get it replaced with a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard at the same time.
If you got the 98 ES-175 on the cheap (<$1500), it may be worth it to save a guitar.
I would get it heat-treated first.
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How did you buy this guitar and can you look to also get a refund if you wanted out?
Originally Posted by steves3972
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i got it about five months ago when I was back in Australia through eBay. When I first got it, the neck was bowed and I adjusted the truss rod and the neck straightened fine. It was in the last few months I noticed that it started to regularly need adjusting. But it never seemed tight when turning. So the truss rod still worked as far as I'm concerned. I thought maybe the neck wood was lax.
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Please take this next piece of "advice" with great caution. Dan Erlewine recommends stacking one or two or three washers over the truss rod for a truss rod that has "bottomed-out" or run out of adjustment. Look, the threaded end of the Gibson truss rod is likely to snap off in the nut with too much force so proceed VERY carefully and don't force anything.
There is also the value-damaging Stew-Mac Truss Rod Rescue Kit. But I really really really wouldn't recommend that you go there. Please consult your repair person for advice.
The only tool I like in the kit is the thread-chasing die; it might be a good idea to chase the threads to clean them up and re-lube them.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...escue_Kit.html
Please go to the last paragraph of the next link. This is HOW a truss rod should be adjusted. Dan explains it well why simply wrenching down on the truss rod nut is NOT the right way. But everyone says that adjusting the truss rod is the easiest thing in the world. Done it hundreds of ti ...SNAP.
http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Trade_...truss_rod.htmlLast edited by Jabberwocky; 05-23-2015 at 07:10 AM.
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so here's a pic of the nut of the truss rod. you can see the bit protruding out quite far, this is not normal right? I've got it back from the tech and I've adjusted the neck to be completely straight again. Truss rod still functioning for now but is it gonna eventually stop working?
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The good news is that the truss rod has not snapped off at the thread end. The bad news is that it looks as if that is as far as the nut can go; you've run out of thread. Anymore tightening and it is going to snap right off.
Try "stacking the washers" trick. And PROCEED WITH CAUTION! It should not require more than 1/8th of a turn of the nut after stacking on the washers. Try a sufficient number (one or two or three) of washers or spacers to enable that.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 05-23-2015 at 07:38 AM.
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With all due respect to Jabberwocky, normally it's the other way around. User tries all these tricks and everyone tells him go see a professional . This time you have seen a professional and people are Teling you to try all these different tricks. It really does sound like the truss rod is not connected at the heel and of the neck. If you want to second opinion, see a different tech. But what you've described sounds like I agree with the first one. The next trick will be to find someone to replace The broken truss rod.
As for Brazilian Rosewood , it is a controlled and endangered product. I think it's time we start to just let it go. Harder to find harder to travel with and if you're in Germany I think you need a permit to even gig with the stuff.
either way it sounds like a really unfortunate situation. Best of luck to you!
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With all due respect, Sam, I'm talking about fretboard-sized BRW boards and re-purposed BRW. Jim Frieson of Canada/Sapporo, Hokkaido uses re-purposed BRW (taken from doors, tables, beams of demolished houses) for entire classical guitars as does Kim Lafleur of Historic Makeovers. Deviser-Momose of Japan uses re-purposed BRW in its Les Paul re-creations; the Japanese refer to BRW as Rio Jacaranda.
Re-purposed BRW is not morally reprehensible nor environmentally unfriendly. Like fossilised ivory, it is a material to be used. And if I were to go to the extent of having an ES-175 re-rodded and its fretboard replaced, I would go the full nine-yards and ask for re-purposed BRW. Just because that was what was used on the original ES-175s and just because I can.
But I understand overzealousness of the authorities leads to this: http://thejazzline.com/news/2014/06/...ow-stolen-tsa/ . http://www.classicalite.com/articles...ting-ivory.htm .
There are times to go to a professional. When a professional fails, there are times when one has to rely on a dollop of common sense instead of throwing up one's hands in helplessness.
It looks as if this is one of those times.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 05-23-2015 at 08:17 AM.
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ok, so it's only a matter of time until I will run out of thread? The more I tighten the truss rod the more it will come out? It can't be pushed back in somehow?
Seems like adding washers will buy me some time before needing to get it fixed properly i guess.
Apparently I can get the fix done for $500USD over here. Seems like a shitty job and they would need to know what they're doing.
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The picture you posted and what you have written about truss rod tightening only lasting a short while suggests that the first technician was right. The truss rod has lost its anchoring at the heel end or has broken somewhere along its length. The more you tighten the nut at the peghead end, the more you pull the rod out of its channel. If so, it won't do any good to try minor fixes at the peghead end of the truss rod. That's not where the cause of the problem is. Originally Posted by steves3972
Actually, I would be hesitant to try repeated tightening of the truss rod. I can't know for sure, but if the truss rod end is tearing some wood apart inside the neck at the heel end, it could get worse by repeated tightening.
Like Jabberwocky wrote in his first post, the proper fix is removing the fretboard, removing the wood strip on top of the truss rod, fix whatever is loose at the heel end of the trussrod so it's securely anchored there. If a new truss rod is needed (the present one may be broken), then that's how it is. After that insert a new wood strip, reinstall the fretboard, plane and refret the fretboard including fret dressing. Not a small operation, but, IMHO, that's what it takes to get the guitar structurally stable again. And it's not a do-it-yourself job.
I think the guitar may be hard to sell with such a defect. At least a substantial discount, reflecting the cost of the proper repair, is called for.
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I won't just take the repairman's word for it that for USD500 it can be done. I would demand proof that he knows what he is doing. Ask for a reference or to show you samples of work that the repairman has purportedly done. Ask him what he intends to do and how he intends to do the operation. Originally Posted by steves3972
Sorry, I guess I was trying to be a smart-ass in my previous replies. If the other end of the truss rod has broken off, then truss rod replacement is the only way out of this predicament. (Didn't the repair person you took it to tell you flat out that that was what the problem was?)
But the "stacking the washers" trick is cheap, reversible, non-invasive and pretty harmless if one uses common sense. It either works visibly or palpably or it doesn't.
The Gibson truss rod is an antiquated design made of inferior metal. But it is sacrosanct and Gibson does not dare to change it for fear of enraging its fans. The other end of it is a small flat plate embedded in a slot cut into the mahogany neck. Over time, the mahogany wood fibres get crushed or the flat plate rusts and breaks or both. This is one instance where tradition gets in the way of progress.
Dan Erlewine's and other luthiers' way of applying a small external force to attain the desired neck relief and then tightening the truss rod nut to hold it is the correct way. The truss rod takes little stress and both its ends apply little force against the mahogany neck; all the work is done by external clamps. It is easier to cause the neck and truss rod within to bend by applying an external force in the middle then by compressive force applied at the end by the truss rod nut .
Good luck, Steve. I hope all it takes is a simple solution to rescue it.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 05-23-2015 at 12:44 PM.
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Remove the nut and get a thin screwdriver and hammer and see if the truss rod will tap back down into the proper position. If it does than it is broke. If it doesn't it means the anchor is digging into the mahogany of the neck. Seen many recent 175's that have truss rods that don't work because they were not installed at the proper depth on the neck. If the truss rod was installed too shallow it will not work.
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What a sad story this is.
No, it is not one about starvation, war, or illness. Those are apart of the many ultimate sad things. But you just hate to see someone spend their hard earned money, and have an open heart full of expectations, and then see them dashed. I know, it is a survivable setback but $^%#@, when I pay for something I want it to work as advertised. Is that too much to ask for?
I hate to hear about your setback and you seem like the upbeat type that will overcome it. Sounds like you have come to the right place to gather information. I hope you are able to either get it fixed to your satisfaction or are able to sell it at a fair price and get some compensation.
Best of luck and let us know how it all turns out. Please, just don't let it turn you into someone who would turn around and rip off the next guy. After you have been screwed, it can be easy to do. Happens every day in one form or another.
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hey thanks everybody for your support/advice. I ended up making a deal with a friend of the tech. Lost a bit of money but wasn't too bad. I hope for his sake he can get it fixed properly. I do like the sound of the es-175 but overall it's not my thing. Body too fat, neck too fat, frets too square etc etc. I recently got a Ibanez GB200 which is a very different guitar, like a mini L-5 I guess.
Will be posting a NGD soon i think.Last edited by steves3972; 05-25-2015 at 08:48 PM.
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So glad you got back with us, and that you seem to be on the verge of a happy ending.
Interesting that the iconic, ES-175 did not fit you the way you wanted. I am going to have to find one of these Ibanez GB guitars and give it a try. You are not the first on this forum to rave about it. I have even read rave reviews from a couple of our highly skilled forum members, especially praising the neck.
I am curious, but then that is par of why I keep checking this forum out.
Best of luck.......
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Glad you had a somewhat happy outcome. Was hoping to hear that the stacked-washers trick worked. Guess I'll never know unless the new owner posts something about it.
Last edited by Jabberwocky; 05-26-2015 at 01:22 AM.
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