New H-150 Truss Rod Issues

[musicalfish]

Hello!  I have had some trouble with a two H-150s over the past few months.  Back in January, I ordered an H-150 in Dirty Lemon Burst from Sweetwater.  By May, the truss rod was already maxed out, and Sweetwater sent me a replacement.  I took the replacement in to a local luthier to inspect, and he said the truss rod on the new one was already really tight, and he loosened the truss rod to show me the neck had a crazy bow on it when set to neutral on the truss rod.  Has anyone else had this experience with Heritage?  Other than these issues, I've really loved the H-150, and have heard nothing but great reviews, so was really disappointed to run into this problem twice in a row.

[MartyGrass]

I have never talked to anyone who has commented about this problem.   I'd return it right away.

[myoldfriend]

Unacceptable in a new instrument, regardless of what logo you find on the headstock.

[musicalfish]

For context, here's a picture of the truss rod nut.  It doesn't have any threads coming out of either end of the nut, and the part towards the top of the headstock has maybe a millimeter of space before the rod would be flush with the nut.

[Genericmusic]

Try talking to Heritage directly and by passing Sweetwater. 

[TalismanRich]

I can't recall any specific instances of truss rod issues, but I'm sure that somebody has run into a problem before.   

I believe that all the guitars are getting the Plek treatment these days, but I would contact Heritage directly and see what they have to say.   If there was a consistent issue in a batch of guitars, surely it would show up on the Plek, as it plots a full profile of any neck bow, adjusts things and then dresses the frets to give the best action.  

 

[MartyGrass]

Pleking it with 10s may be okay with this instrument.  Down the road you may want 12s.  If the truss rod is max'd out, you've got nowhere to go.

You shouldn't pay for a new guitar and have an inherent issue with it.  Heritage should have not released a defective instrument.

Something doesn't seem right here.

 

[musicalfish]

I suppose I'm not actually sure it is too tight or how many turns a truss rod has normally on a new les paul.

[Spectrum13]

I would not buy it and don't buy it.

[Gitfiddler]

15 hours ago, Genericmusic said:

Try talking to Heritage directly and by passing Sweetwater. 

This!

[musicalfish]

I wasn't able to get in touch with Heritage, their phone would hang up as soon as it picked up.  However, I spent some time on the phone with a technician from Sweetwater.  He was saying that it's not out of the ordinary for a guitar to have more relief than normal in the environment I'm currently in (Sonoran Desert summer), and since I've still got some truss rod left if I need to tighten it, it's likely ok.  I really like the instrument, so I'm leaning towards keeping it and taking advantage of Sweetwater's 2 year warranty if I need to.  Since the last one had issues within 4 months, I'd expect to have any major issues rear their head inside of the 2 year window.

[MartyGrass]

You're saying the truss rod is not maxed out?  Then tighten it.

It sounds like you need a good tech nearby as humidity and strings change.

[musicalfish]

Correct, not maxed out.  The first one was maxed out, but this one isn't.  The local luthier just thought that the neck had too much relief with the truss rod all the way loose, and it took too many turns on the rod to get it to where it needed to be, so would likely run into issues down the road.

[MartyGrass]

It is a big deal to put a new truss rod in.  As long as there is play in it to tighten and loosen, you're good.  Frankly I've never heard of a Heritage where the truss rod was installed wrong.  I've had to put different nuts on the truss rods in Gibsons and Heritages rarely, but that's a piece of cake to do.  Only once did I have to enlargen the truss rod nut cavity to better allow adjustment with a wrench because the cavity was too shallow.  That was a one minute wood shave on an old Super Eagle.

Because the mechanics may seem confusing at first, it's good to have a guitar tech weigh in.  It sounds like you are fine.

[musicalfish]

Hmm, the problem didn't seem to be the truss rod being installed correctly, rather that the neck with the truss rod completely loose had a higher than normal amount of relief than the tech expected and it took more turns on the rod than the tech thought a neck should take to get it straight.  It seemed like the concern was the neck had weak would and wouldn't stand up over time.

[DetroitBlues]

Looking at the truss rod nut, usually its "maxed" out when the thread of the truss rods are sticking out from the nut.  This is just the opposite.  The strings force the neck to bow upwards and the truss rod pulls it back down.  Seeing that picture, it doesn't seem like the strings are bowing the neck much at all.

But I agree, talk to Heritage about it.

from their website:

support@heritageguitars.com
(269) 247-5405

[pressure]

My experience has been different from yours DB. The strings pull the neck into a backwards curve creating a dip (high relief), then tightening the truss rod pulls the neck up, straightening it.

[DetroitBlues]

1 hour ago, pressure said:

My experience has been different from yours DB. The strings pull the neck into a backwards curve creating a dip (high relief), then tightening the truss rod pulls the neck up, straightening it.

Maybe I said it backwards?

[rockabilly69]

On 7/26/2022 at 9:50 AM, pressure said:

My experience has been different from yours DB. The strings pull the neck into a backwards curve creating a dip (high relief), then tightening the truss rod pulls the neck up, straightening it.

this is how a truss-rod works, DB definitely has it worded backwards.