One string missing, bad for the guitar?

T

torkolort

Inspired
I have a MusicMan JP6, it's about 5 years old. A couple of weeks ago a string snapped while I was playing at home. I didn't have time to change strings and I left the guitar it in the case. I meant to change it the next day, but I had a lot of stuff to do so it ended up lying in the case with the C-string missing for about two weeks. When I finally got to put on new strings and was adjusting to get them all in tune, I noticed that the strings were too close to the neck. I have tried to raise the bridge but it doesn't help. It just gets more unbalanced. So I guess it's the nut that's broken? And could this happen simply because it was lying with one string missing? I just had the guitar on service about 2 months ago to fix the whammy bar and he said that everything else looked fine.
 
Sounds like the truss rod needs to be adjusted. If you're not familiar/comfortable adjusting neck relief, you should take it a local tech. Should be a quick & cheap adjustment.
 
Truss rod. Do it yourself. Small turns no 360 degree turns. Tighten a hair retune wait 15 check it.

Do not be afraid of breaking your neck, you would have to crank the crap out of it foolishly to do that. I am a professional touring guitar tech. I teach kids to do this you CAN.
 
Impossible the nut broke or anything else bad happened because of missing 1 string.
Did you had exactly the same gauge on your replacement strings?
Whammy bars are extremely influenced by other gauges, hence other pullingforce by the strings.
Put on the same gauge and let know what happened.
 
torkolort said:
I have a MusicMan JP6, it's about 5 years old. A couple of weeks ago a string snapped while I was playing at home. I didn't have time to change strings and I left the guitar it in the case. I meant to change it the next day, but I had a lot of stuff to do so it ended up lying in the case with the C-string missing for about two weeks. When I finally got to put on new strings and was adjusting to get them all in tune, I noticed that the strings were too close to the neck. I have tried to raise the bridge but it doesn't help. It just gets more unbalanced. So I guess it's the nut that's broken? And could this happen simply because it was lying with one string missing? I just had the guitar on service about 2 months ago to fix the whammy bar and he said that everything else looked fine.
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what tuning do you use, you mention a "c" string?

did you change the tuning of the guitar when you changed sets, like from standard to 1/2 step down or something? did you change string gauges? what gauge/size do you use, 10s? 9s?

i've had my jp6 guitars in the case with no strings for a while (not really recommended) and when i put strings back on, the neck took a day or so to readjust to having the tension of the strings pulling up again.

you say that you raised the bridge - did you use the tremolo screws on the back, or the posts on the front of the guitar near the bridge?
 
I had a JP 6 not long ago. By far, it was the most sensitive guitar I have ever owned when it comes to climate changes. I was constantly having to adjust the truss rod. I have owned many guitars over the last 30+ years and have never experienced a guitar as sensitive as that one. Just my experience.
 
Rhodes said:
I had a JP 6 not long ago. By far, it was the most sensitive guitar I have ever owned when it comes to climate changes. I was constantly having to adjust the truss rod. I have owned many guitars over the last 30+ years and have never experienced a guitar as sensitive as that one. Just my experience.
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Same here. I play in Waikiki and sometimes if the sun is right (or wrong!) I feel the neck change under my fingers during the gig! Still the best guitar out there though!
 
Thanks for your input.

One turn at the truss rod seemed to fix the problem.

It's tuned in E standard so I don't know why I said C-string, it was the B-string that was missing. As I have only one guitar, I have been changing both gauge and tuning from time to time over the years. But 95% of the time I use .9s in E standard. I haven't really noticed any trouble after changing back and forth. But maybe the delayed symptoms are beginning to appear now.
 
torkolort said:
Thanks for your input.

One turn at the truss rod seemed to fix the problem.

It's tuned in E standard so I don't know why I said C-string, it was the B-string that was missing. As I have only one guitar, I have been changing both gauge and tuning from time to time over the years. But 95% of the time I use .9s in E standard. I haven't really noticed any trouble after changing back and forth. But maybe the delayed symptoms are beginning to appear now.
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Unless your neck already has other issues, missing a "B" string from a std "9" gauge set for a couple of weeks (or even months), should do absolutely no harm to your guitar.
 
one turn of a truss rod is far too much. And your neck isn't going to go that far out of whack that quick. You likely need to tune up and balance your bridge. Take it to a pro, have them show you once, and do it right. Never dive in and start cranking on your truss unless you know why you're doing it. It's not an action adjusting device. That's your bridge and nut.
 
ArrowHead said:
one turn of a truss rod is far too much. And your neck isn't going to go that far out of whack that quick. You likely need to tune up and balance your bridge. Take it to a pro, have them show you once, and do it right. Never dive in and start cranking on your truss unless you know why you're doing it. It's not an action adjusting device. That's your bridge and nut.
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While I agree that a full turn of the truss rod is excessive, I must disagree about the truss rod not being an action adjusting device. The bridge and truss rod are designed to work in tandem for that very purpose, as adjusting a nut, being less adjustment friendly, would require filing or filling in the slots and only serves to effect the open strings. The truss rod is designed to give the strings room to vibrate over the lower frets while the bridge serves the same purpose on the higher frets.
 
The truss rod is most definitely an action-adjusting device.

Different temperatures make the neck curve differently. If it flattens out, the action on the lower frets becomes too low, if it bows forward it becomes too high.

Most people prefer just a touch of relief vs completely flat and if the neck changes due to temperature, the truss rod is what you adjust to get it back.

And perhaps "one turn on the truss" didn't mean a full rotation of the bolt, but maybe just one time as far as the wrench would go - probably a 1/2 or less rotation.
 
Incorrect: Truss rod is for adjusting relief. Action is adjusted by bridge and nut. If you adjust your action the way you like, and the strings are hitting frets, check neck relief, THEN ADJUST TRUSS ROD. The idea that "my action is off - let's go straight to the truss rod" is incorrect and foolish. In addition, ADVISING someone to do so with no actual indication of a relief problem is even more foolish.

Especially in a case like this, where it's pretty clearly not a truss problem. A few days will not cause such a drastic change. Changing one string WILL throw a floating trem off that much. common sense, guys.
 
Chris@KatsuKuriMedia said:
The truss rod is most definitely an action-adjusting device.
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No, it's a piece of metal meant to counteract the tension of the strings warping the neck. It's got nothing to do with action, as any adjustment to correct action in one spot (like the middle, due to a backbow) will simply leave you with action that is too high or low elsewhere UNLESS YOUR BRIDGE AND NUT ARE ADJUSTED PROPERLY ALREADY.

Will adjusting a truss effect action? Yes. Is that what it's for? No. Is it the correct first stop for adjusting action? Absolutely NOT.
 
ArrowHead said:
No, it's a piece of metal meant to counteract the tension of the strings warping the neck. It's got nothing to do with action, as any adjustment to correct action in one spot (like the middle, due to a backbow) will simply leave you with action that is too high or low elsewhere UNLESS YOUR BRIDGE AND NUT ARE ADJUSTED PROPERLY ALREADY.

Will adjusting a truss effect action? Yes. Is that what it's for? No. Is it the correct first stop for adjusting action? Absolutely NOT.
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Sorry, but with all due respect.. YOU ARE WRONG!!
We may be talking semantics here, but one can tweak and adjust the bridge, nut and saddle 'til you are blue in the face, but it won't help if your neck (truss) is not adjusted correctly! You will have either concave or convex bowing and the bridge/nut/saddle adjustments do not have enough movement to counter that!!

When doing a guitar setup, you START by adjusting the truss to ensure CORRECT neck alignment under string tension (turn the guitar on it's side and view DOWN ALONG the neck from the body to check alignment to headstock). Once you have that straightened out (pun intended), you can then use the aforementioned adjustments to tweak action, intonation, tuning, flat spots, etc.
 
s0c9 said:
Sorry, but with all due respect.. YOU ARE WRONG!!
We may be talking semantics here, but one can tweak and adjust the bridge, nut and saddle 'til you are blue in the face, but it won't help if your neck (truss) is not adjusted correctly! You will have either concave or convex bowing and the bridge/nut/saddle adjustments do not have enough movement to counter that!!

When doing a guitar setup, you START by adjusting the truss to ensure CORRECT neck alignment under string tension (turn the guitar on it's side and view DOWN ALONG the neck from the body to check alignment to headstock). Once you have that straightened out (pun intended), you can then use the aforementioned adjustments to tweak action, intonation, tuning, flat spots, etc.
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Exactly. As I stated earlier, they all work together in getting the action you want. I must reiterate, I have direct experience with these guitars and they do change according to their climate very quickly. I have had mine go from having a great playing "low" action to having the strings laying flat on the frets a week later. The guitar being stored in it's hard case the whole time. When checked, it was always the neck relief that was causing the problem. While the nut and bridge are just as much a part of the equation, they are not prone to change states with the instrument just laying in it's case. Wood, however, is prone to change. Re-reading the OP, it only appears logical that this is what has happened.
 
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