Adjusting the truss rod on the Fender SRV Strat?

[Steven Douglas]

Can anyone direct me on how to adjust the truss rod on the Fender SRV Strat?
I can see either the truss rod or truss rod cover at the neck join but
cannot see a visible means of adjustment!
Will I therefore need to remove the scratch plate to access this?

Thanks in advance,

Steve Douglas

[Andrew Sachs]

If you can see the truss rod at the join of the neck and body, you will
need to remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. Loosen the strings and
unscrew the neck. It is this way on slab fretboards.

Andrew

[Melvyn Hiscock]

Fender neck adjustment on early-style Strat necks is a case of trial and error.
You can sometimes get to the adjuster without removing the neck but it is
definitely not advised as you can make a nasty mess of the scratchplate. Loads
of old Strats have gouged out 'plates from people taking the easy way out. Of
course, they were not vintage then . . .

So, slacken off your strings, unscrew the neck, adjust the rod, refit the neck,
restring, let it settle, check it again, slacken the strings, take off the neck,
re-adjust the rod, refit the nect tune up, let it settle and keep doing this
until your patience runs out and you take it to your local repairman!

Add the above to the need to not damage the guitar (you can chip the paint
around the neck by careless removal) and to not overtighten the screws - each
needs to be gradually tightened to even out the pressure on the neckplate - plus
the problems of strings breaking from constant fitting and refitting and you can
be letting yourself for an evening of fun and frivolity.

Just remember not to turn the rod too much, a little can go a long way.

Good luck with it

Melvyn Hiscock

[JNugent]

Steven Douglas wrote in message <77o0ac$lf1$1...@newnews.global.net.uk>...

>Can anyone direct me on how to adjust the truss rod on the Fender SRV
Strat?
>I can see either the truss rod or truss rod cover at the neck join but
>cannot see a visible means of adjustment!
>Will I therefore need to remove the scratch plate to access this?

Yes - at a minimum.

Preferably, remove the neck (after de-stringing). That way, you'll better
avoid damage to the finish on the neck and the body.

All classic Strats were like your SRV, and many of those older ones show
damage to neck and scratchplate because of "lazy" truss-rod adjustment.

[Steven Douglas]

Thanks for all the advice so far!

At this time of writing I have removed the neck and rotated the truss rod
about a quarter in an anti-clockwise direction to loosen the tension.

The SRV neck is very flat with virtually no bow in it and I find the strings
buzz alot at both the saddle and bridge end of the neck - I tried changing
the gauge of the strings to 11-49 and increased the action slightly but so
far this hasn't helped the buzzing, but has improved the tone!

I'll leave the neck for a day or so to settle out and see how it fairs up
after the quarter anti-clockwise turn.

Thanks,

Steve

[Chuck]

On Fri, 15 Jan 1999 20:06:11 -0000, "JNugent"
<JNu...@AC30.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>Yes - at a minimum.
>
>Preferably, remove the neck (after de-stringing). That way, you'll better
>avoid damage to the finish on the neck and the body.

Slight problem with that approach.. In order to properly adjust the
truss rod the neck should have the strings tensioned at standard
pitch. Any way other than that and it's all trial and error.

[pri...@nwark.com]

In article <77o0ac$lf1$1...@newnews.global.net.uk>, "Steven Douglas"
<sdou...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote:

> Can anyone direct me on how to adjust the truss rod on the Fender SRV Strat?
> I can see either the truss rod or truss rod cover at the neck join but
> cannot see a visible means of adjustment!
> Will I therefore need to remove the scratch plate to access this?

Yup.