possible neck problem?

[faelun]

Well you see a few days back my 4 string bass (my first bass which I’ve had for two years) broke a string.... So I decided ok im gunna replace the strings... and soo yesterday my cousin was over and was playing with my bass like goofing around n such....and i told him i was gunna change the strings...and i showed him the one that broke and he hit me with it...so then he asked since i was gunna put new ones on could he take the old ones on and keep em? I was like yeah k makes sense sure why not? so i let him take em off....and yeah so today it struck me...wont the lack of tension caused by the strings mess with my neck?!?!? please someone help me!! should i rush out to the store tmrw and buy what ever strings i can afford atm and slap em on? or am i safe for a few days?

[lateralus423]

I dont think anything major will happen in a few days ..i have my neck off my bass for 2 and a half days and all is good so dont worry to much mate :)

[Son of Magni]

The simple answer is, don't get too worked up about it but put new strings on it as soon as you can.

The complicated answer is, the truss rod tension can effect the neck over time without the strings on it. But just how much potential for damage there is depends on a lot of factors. IMO the biggest factor is whether it has a compression rod or the more modern type of truss rod. A compression rod is actually compressing the wood in the back side of the neck to compensate for the string tension, and the longer you have the strings off the longer it will take for the neck to restore it's equilibrium.

But in the end your level of concern should be more than "meh" but somewhat below suicidal.

[zero_or_die]

another factor, i would think, would be the quality of your bass. i have a johnson bass (my first bass, i've been trying to save up for a new bass, but my smoking and red bull habits have slowed that down, and plus gas in the car, etc etc), and the longest that i've had no strings on it would be about a half hour, but after my first change of strings, my neck has bent a little bit. i adjusted the truss rod, and it helped a little bit, but it's still pretty curved.

anyway, the point of all this, is that if you have a crappy, off-brand bass, you should probably worry about it, but then again, if you do, it's a crappy, off-brand bass, so it's like getting in a car accident in an old geo metro compared to getting in an accident in a brand new mercedes.

[faelun]

ah, well i have an Ibanez GSR100z and i've taken the strings off not the neck good sir it's a fairly new model so i think it has that 2nd kind of truss rod on it...ok well now that i know if i can't get the strings i want tmrw i wont die i wana get a set of nice bright strings, something that would work very nicely for slap and funk n such, i have a 5 string which is my like "metal bass" but i want to use my 4 string now for like funk and songs that having a 5th string would reall get in the way n such so yeah can anyone recoment me some strings? i've heard "DR high beams" are really good....i only have like 25 some odd CDN though

[elbassio]

See, it worries me that people are talking in hours...ive de fretted a bass and had the strings off it for about three weeks, becasue of the lack of stings to replace the old ones.Im gonna have to learn to set up a bass now...

[Az_Holl]

ah, well i have an Ibanez GSR100z and i've taken the strings off not the neck good sir it's a fairly new model so i think it has that 2nd kind of truss rod on it...ok well now that i know if i can't get the strings i want tmrw i wont die i wana get a set of nice bright strings, something that would work very nicely for slap and funk n such, i have a 5 string which is my like "metal bass" but i want to use my 4 string now for like funk and songs that having a 5th string would reall get in the way n such so yeah can anyone recoment me some strings? i've heard "DR high beams" are really good....i only have like 25 some odd CDN though
Pretty much any type of Rotosound strings work great. Roundwounds will get you a brighter tone, obviosly.

[Bass_swede]

I had regular strings on, a couple of days ago I changed to massive 0.55 long scale flats, the tension is alot higher, will it effect the neck do you think?

[chaosMK]

You should be OK. I screwed my neck up once a long time ago by tuning it too tight.

[Bass_swede]

You should be OK. I screwed my neck up once a long time ago by tuning it too tight.

was it aimed towards me?

[nopicks4me]

umm. i left my strings off of my pice of crap peavey for about a year. put some strings back on and it worked fine. If your bass does get messed up itll be just a tiny adjustment. dont worry about it

[thelowsoundofbass]

IMO the only thing that you have to worry about is uneven tension. If you have one string off it will do more damage than having them all off. I had all the strings off of my bass while I was defreting it for about a month and when I strung it up again all it needed was a few small adjustments and it was good.

lowsound

[faelun]

ok well i got a pack of Roto's i didnt have access to a PC this morning before i went to the store...but i just read somewhere that both Harris and Sheehan use Roto's so hell they aughta be good so i got a pack of those (round wounds) put em on and my bass seems fine and i LOVEEE the sound i get out of them :D thanks for all your help guys any mod passsin by please close this thanks !