Would you let this fella sit on your unsupported headstock? (Top end of your guitar neck) – You may already be (metaphorically) doing so! And it could (obviously) ruin your guitar.
Before you say that I’m full of something that came from bulls, not pigs, let me explain..
The average 6-string electric guitar has a total of 100 pounds of string tension pulling up on the headstock, trying to bend (bow) the guitar’s neck.
Add another 70 to 80 pounds if we’re talking about an acoustic guitar, and you may want to stop reading right now, if you play an acoustic 12-string!
With the right amount of neck relief, that 100 pounds is just that, 100 pounds. But here’s the deal –
Everything fatigues, right? If you’re over fifty, you really know what I mean!
When your strings “fatigue”, they go a bit flat. What do you do? You re-tune the guitar and the total tension goes back to 100 (or whatever) pounds.
The truss rod – that metal rod inside most guitar necks that counteracts the pull of the strings to try and keep your neck straight – being heavier than strings, doesn’t fatigue as fast as strings, but it does fatigue. And as it fatigues, your strings begin to win the Tug-Of-War and your neck bows a little bit more, then a little bit more and more.
Somewhere between six months and a year, your neck bow – which when measured with fretted first and last frets and measured at the 8th (most electrics) or 7th (most acoustics) fret, has likely doubled from it’s factory setting of 0.010″ (if the factory even bothered to set it!)
“No big deal”, you say? “So my action goes a bit higher and intonation may be off a little – it’s not like my living room audience is gonna toss tomatoes at me!”
Have you heard of “Leverage”? When you change a flat tire, you don’t just lift one end of your car, do you? A jack makes the job easy. Why? Because of leverage.
If the neck relief doubles again in the second year, you’re likely to have neck relief that’s five times what it should be, and that’s a lot of leverage for your strings. “How much leverage?”, you ask? Well, I asked Chat GPT that very question.
The answer is that it would be the equivalent of 500 pounds of pull against the headstock, if there is 100 pounds of pull at 0.010″ of neck relief.
And you know WHAT weights about 500 pounds? You guessed it – our featured fella in the photo at the top of this article!
Worse Case Scenario
What happens to a wood stick if you bend it for a long time (say a year or so)? It doesn’t want to go back straight, does it? A guitar’s truss rod has to work harder, ends up with less adjustment left, if any and may not be able to ever get your neck back in a nice-playing condition.
It just doesn’t make sense to risk that when it costs nothing but a visit to your local, friendly guitar shop to have it looked at, does it?
Get Off My Neck!
The good news is that if you bring your guitar(s) in to Hank’s Guitar Shop about every six months, we can check it over while you wait (just takes about 3 minutes!) and let you know the status of your neck relief (and nut slots, and intonation, etc.) and give you recommendations if any work seems to be needed.
Then, you are in the driver’s seat and can decide what, if any, action you want to take. Just hope that when you peek at your rearview mirror, Porky isn’t staring back at you!
