Removing the neck for a few days

Elwood

I'm planning on taking a guitar with me when I travel within the UK.

My plan is to have a guitar, anESP Ltd EC50, in a rucksack. I'm not able to transport it in a case due to limited room.

Is removing the neck for a few days going to be a problem either in the short term or longterm? It has a fixed bridge which I guess will fall out if the strings are removed.

Will the truss rod need to be loosened as there will be no string tension or is it okay to regularly leave it deconstructed?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Lester

I fly with Ryanair and the carry-on luggage maximum size is 55x40x20 cm. A guitar neck is longer than the maximum. I have watched and heard Ryanair staff tell people with oversize items, "You can pay £50 to put it in the hold or leave it at the airport." The latter means it will be disposed of. Check carefully with your airline.

Elwood

I understand that but that isn't my question here.

I'm looking for some help regarding transporting a guitar in two piece regardless of whether it is on a plane or not.

Should the neck always be straightend out when the strings are removed or is it okay to removed the strings and leave the neck as is?

Lester

I wouldn't leave the neck in longe term storage on its own but for a day or two without string tension you will be fine.

Unknown

 Originally Posted By: Elwood

I understand that but that isn't my question here.

Should the neck always be straightend out when the strings are removed or is it okay to removed the strings and leave the neck as is?

No problem, just leave the neck as is. The issue is will the strings be re-attachable? Any bits held in place by the strings just come off and go in a bag or something. If you want them to stay in place, tape with masking tape.

Ozzuk

Standard tom bridges will fall off as they use the strings to hold them down...

I would leave the truss rod unless you plan to have the neck off for a few weeks, also note there may be a shim in the neck cavity, make sure you dont loose it.

Exactly how long are you going to be having the neck off, also be warned if your leaving it in the hold of an airplane the neck may not like it due to the extreme temperature changes...

You may need to change some things when you reassemble it....

DaveH-UK

When I have a guitar courierd to me I normally ask the sender to detune the strings a couple of turns, taking the tension off the neck reduces the likelyhood of the neck snapping like a carrot if badly handled.

I have found that different guitars/woods will react differently to having the tension removed...usually the neck will try to reshape itself with only the truss rod weighting it. However, once the neck is back on and the strings under tension again... you should find it goes back to near where you started (may take a few hours on some guitars).

When I adjust a truss rod on a guitar I don't always get an immeadiate change... I normally check it again the following day to see how the wood (neck) has settled.