By tightening the truss rod, it takes over and the neck back bows. Loosening the truss rod will allow the strings to create more pull on the neck. This should relieve some tension from the truss rod and allow it to turn. After a really hard smack I heard a creaking and the truss nut snapped back into the centre of the cavity. How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great! I loosened the truss rod 1/4th turn and had a little better of a situation, but the neck was still to straight. Loosen the nut if the neck is back-bowed. You should see the neck flex quite a bit. With the guitar on its side, look down the fingerboard to check it for straightness. Some are soldered on. Before tightening the truss rod, it’s always good to give it a short counter-clockwise turn to loosen it. How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great! If this situation […] For those players, a bit of relief is a good idea. STEP ONE: Remove the truss rod nut completely. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, Taylor 214ce / Epi LP / Ibby S470 / Helix LT / CV Jazzmaster. Players: it's no big deal! Despite the fact there is information around the web telling readers to adjust their truss rod to raise or lower action, a truss rod is not for adjusting action. A truss rod is NOT for adjusting action. Here’s how to evaluate and adjust your electric or acoustic neck with a minimum of tools. You can also manually flex the neck a bit once it's loosened by clamping the body/base of the neck to a bench then pulling down gently on the headstock end. Also look for humps, low spots, uneven frets or other problems. Method # 1: Always loosen or remove the strings when adjusting the truss rod. If you have to use the longer style Martin truss rod wrench it's new enough to be a double action rod. This’ll give you a good idea of the neck’s current state. When adjusting the truss rod, you may be pulling the strings, which may break and introducing unnecessary pressure on the neck, headstock and tuners. It seems the previous owner of my guitar overtightened the truss rod and left it without strings for a few years. If I go lefty-loosey I just end up unscrewing the truss nut but the tension in the truss rod doesn't change. Follow these steps and you’ll have your axe playing sweet! If it's concave like a bow, tighten it. If you have the truss rod tightened to the point to where it stops and remove the strings, the neck will have a severe back-bow. Is your neck up-bowed or back-bowed? When a guitar experiences temperature and humidity swings, such as when seasons change, it can develop a slight bow in the neck that results in a guitar that plays buzzy or is suddenly much harder to fret. This might not apply in your case: not all truss rod nuts are removable. If it's bending the opposite way, loosen. Have you checked your nut slot depths and saddle height. Keep the grease off of the exposed wood. Can't loosen trussrod nut Martin 000-15. This means that when you adjust a single-action truss rod, you will hit a limit where you can’t tighten or loosen it any further. (Using muscle without first getting the feel of it is how some people manage to shear off their adjusting nut!). another turn, and i found the nut or whatever part you stick the allen wrench into to be loose. For those players, a bit of relief is a good idea. Otherwise it will be accessible through the soundhole at the end of the fingerboard. Welcome to r/guitar, a community devoted to the exchange of guitar related information and entertainment. Luckily most modern guitars nowadays use dual-action truss rods. A little truss rod adjustment goes a long way, as you can see by measuring your string height before and after with a string action gauge. A Truss Rod is a bar of material (usually steel) that runs down the whole length of the guitar neck. This might not apply in your case: not all truss rod nuts are removable. If you remove the truss rod nut to lubricate it, THEN you'll want to loosen the strings first. Once in a while a bass comes along that with a fingerboard/neck that tends to cancel out relief as the wood ages. If you're not familiar with this, get a reputable luthier to check it out. If it rises with some relief, tighten the nut until the straightedge lays as flat as possible on the frets. Basically, the truss rod battles the string tension. In the above scenario you should still be able to loosen the rod via the nut. In a pinch you can use a string as a straightedge. Exclusive: 15% Off Aluminum Radius-sanding Beams. Even when you don’t have a removable adjusting nut, always start by loosening it first. This also means you’re less likely to overtighten the nut by cranking away on it if it’s already used up all the available threads. You do not want to loosen it too much, it's good you stopped. If you continue without changing your settings, you're agreeing to receive all cookies on the StewMac website. What is Truss Rod: A truss rod is a metal bar (usually made from steel or graphite), strengthening the … Follow these steps and you’ll have your axe playing sweet! Press J to jump to the feed. Most of the time, a loose truss rod causes a buzz that appears to come from the peghead or neck. Most of my reading revolves around a seized truss nut, but that's not the problem. After adjusting the rod I’ll usually let the instrument “settle” into the adjustment for a few hours and then I’ll evaluate it again and tweak it if necessary. I would loosen the truss rod, and then tighten it only enough to feel resistance on the truss rod nut, but not enought to change the bow/relief of the neck. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Find the proper fret position with the official Stewart-MacDonald Fret Calculator, Stewart-MacDonald is PCI compliant and validated for secure e-commerce. Hopefully the liquid will seep down into the nut and loosen the threads. Don't make a new nut just to fix a low slot—fill it! Look for a gap under the string to see if you have an up-bow. Dan Erlewine's Maintenance & Setup for Electric Guitars and Basses, Dan Erlewine's Maintenance & Setup for Steel-string Acoustic Guitars. Also, most of the time, it is possible to hear the truss rod rattle if you rap hard on the back of the neck. You might also want to check out the setup specs of famous players in the last chapter of How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great! They were doing that in some early 90's models. In this video I fixed a Very Very Nice guitar for a very nice new customer. Yeah a luthier advised me to tune it a half step up, or as close as i can, and stick it out in the blazing sun for a while. If you want it as loose as possible, start by "maxing it out", but then tighten it to keep it in place. Thanks for visiting. I always use this old carpenter's level. Doing this sometimes also reveals loose or uneven frets that need attention. With the nut removed, use a sharp scribe or small brush to remove any built-up debris from the threads and parts. Press the string down firmly at two points: the first fret and the 17th fret. This might not apply in your case: not all truss rod nuts … And there’s a great tip for clamping the neck to take tension off the truss rod on page 18 of The Guitar Player Repair Guide. I have read that sometimes there can be glue on the truss that causes this, but I should be able to loosen after tightening it a bit, so I don't think that's the problem. If nothing is happening while adjusting your truss rod, it may be a dual-action truss rod. Put a rigid bar over the fretboard, sitting up on spacers (notched to fit over the strings). Note: WD-40 is NOT lubrication. Tightening the truss rod will straighten the neck, removing bow, not taking it out. If the gap is too small, tighten the truss-rod (never more than. This causes the truss rod to be effectively over-tightened because the tension from the strings has been removed. Unfortunately some necks can actually back bow, even with the truss rod completely loose and the instrument tuned to pitch. If there is a back bow or you’re experiencing buzzing frets, it means you need to loosen the truss rod. When I first tried to loosen it, the hex nut just unscrewed and fell out so the actual truss rod didn't rotate at all. Now you’re ready to reinstall the nut and return it to its original position using your alignment marks. Where are you located? Guitars With No Truss Rod STEP TWO: Fill the hole with a soft wood. This is why, in the 1980s, double-action truss rods began to be used widely. ... Do not completely loosen a truss rod. Tighten the truss rod adjusting nut to straighten a neck that has an up-bow. If the frets are too uneven to read with a straightedge, a notched straightedge sits over the frets, letting you read the wood of the fingerboard. This way, you’ll know how smoothly the nut will turn, and you’ll have a better feel for it when you do your adjustments. Ask Question Asked 1 year, 1 month ago. Sight the neck to see what condition it’s in. An important part of maintaining your guitar is knowing how to adjust the truss rod. Some are soldered on. Sight the neck to see what condition it’s in. As far as the stuck truss rod nut, Some WD-40 can help loosen it up or you can try a lubrication spray. In theory the wood will relax, get pulled up and undo all those years of sitting in a cupboard. On most guitars, the truss rod is accessible underneath a little cover plate on the headstock of the guitar. Learn About Truss Rod Installation + Repair. Or it might be possible to get a new truss rod that can handle the extra ternsion. “Relief” refers to a very slight, intentional up-bow that lifts the strings a little higher than they’d be on a perfectly straight neck. Which way one turns a truss rod depends on the desired effect. With a properly functioning truss rod, you probably won’t need more than 1/8-turn in either direction to get what you’re after. Tightening the truss rod counteracts the tension from the strings and corrects the forward bowing of the neck. Keep the grease off of the exposed wood. DON'T MISS A BEAT, sign up for StewMac news. The title of the thread is "Can't Loosen Truss Rod Enough". The improved version of the classic Fender Strat Bridge. If you can't loosen it either then you must have either stripped the outer part of the nut that the nut wrench holds onto, or the threads on the nut that wrap around the rod itself. Now you’re ready to reinstall the nut and return it to its original position using your alignment marks. With a properly functioning truss rod, you probably won’t need more than 1/8-turn in either direction to get what you’re after. Here’s how to evaluate and adjust your electric or acoustic neck with a minimum of tools. The trick is knowing when you’ve got the neck the way you want it. Whichever setup you prefer, a straight neck is a good starting point. When everything’s clean, add a little bit of lubricant like Guitar Grease or petroleum jelly. can't loosen truss rod... Share. I believe that image is backwards. Adjusting your guitars truss rod is a key part of maintaining your instrument. This guide will help you understand how to adjust the truss rod. If you have guitar related questions, use the "Search" field or ask the community. You can see in the below picture the hole that the nut has imprinted into the wood. Share with: Link: Copy link. 1/4 turn at a time), adjust the tuning and repeat the measurment. The truss rod stretches from the nut (at the top of the neck) to the heel (at the bottom of the neck). Doing this sometimes also reveals loose or uneven frets that need attention. You can also manually flex the neck a bit once it's loosened by clamping the body/base of the neck to a bench then pulling down gently on the headstock end. Got annoying fret buzz? The trick is knowing when you’ve got the neck the way you want it.