Truss Rod
Jaime Sol
out a neck, so that there is no relief? If the neck cannot be made
perfectly straight, is there a problem with either the rod, the neck,
or both?
dhn...@sbcglobal.net
the neck. There should be some relief (i.e. bow) depending on your
playing style. You can measure neck relief by depressing the D string
at fret 1 and the last fret up the fretboard. I usually use a capo to
hold the strings down at the first fret. With the D string held down
at these two spots, use a feeler gauge (like the one you use to measure
the gap of a spark plug) to measure the gap between the 6th fret and
the D string. .013 is a good place to start; a little more gap (say
.020 or .025) if you play more aggressively.
Too little relief may cause fret buzz somewhere along the fret board.
In any event, be careful to not over tighten the truss rod. Stripped
threads, a broken truss rod or a damaged neck can all result from over
tightening. Check out frets dot com (Frank Ford's site) for more
information on proper truss rod adjustments.
Good luck
LarryV
with a properly functioning truss rod. If you're adjusting the truss
rod and not seeing any change, or it's locking up before the change you
want occurs, then you might want to bring it in to a luthier and have
it checked out. Also remember that the total change can occur over a
matter of hours and will not necessarily be immediate right after you
adjust the truss rod.
oasysco
should be able to straighten a neck such that there is no relief.
Of course, being 100% straight is dependent on the quality of
construction of the neck.
In any case, remebmer a truss rod does not work all the way up the
neck, aFAIK.
Greg
Jaime Sol
tighten the truss rod, a hump seems to appear on the first few frets on
the bass side of the neck, and the relief is not fully taken out of the
neck. I had hoped to be able to go from relief to back bow on my neck,
but it doesn't look that will be possible. It would be a real shame if
the neck were to bow slightly over time, and the truss rod didn't have
enough play in it to straighten it out.
These problems wouldn't bother me if I were dealing with a mid priced
guitar, but that's not the case!
Max Leggett
wrote:
Hie thee to a luthier before you do any damage.
------------------------
"I woke up this morning an' I was fixin' to die."
Jailhouse Max Junior
---------------------------
Joey Goldstein
The truss rod should be capable of achieving optimum relief according to
the manufacturer's spec which will always include a bit of bow.
I'd say that if you are using light strings, like a .009 to .042 set or
a .010 to .046 set then yes, you should be able set the truss rod for no
bow at all, although I don't recommend it.
With string sets from .011 thru .049 and up all you can really ask for
is optimum relief in my experinece. Some necks can't handle the heavier
strings and that's when you get problems.
--
Joey Goldstein
http://www.joeygoldstein.com
joegold AT sympatico DOT ca
Michael L Kankiewicz
> Proper truss rod adjustment does not completely straighten or flatten
> the neck. There should be some relief (i.e. bow) depending on your
> playing style. You can measure neck relief by depressing the D string
> at fret 1 and the last fret up the fretboard. I usually use a capo to
> hold the strings down at the first fret. With the D string held down
> at these two spots, use a feeler gauge (like the one you use to measure
> the gap of a spark plug) to measure the gap between the 6th fret and
> the D string. .013 is a good place to start; a little more gap (say
> .020 or .025) if you play more aggressively.
I like it as straight as possible when using heavy strings.
MK
Joey Goldstein
The usual way is to put a capo across the 1st fret, depress the highest
fret, and measure the gap at the 8th fret on the low E string with a
feeler gauge. There should be a *minimum* of .010" between the bottom of
the string and the top of the 8th fret. Any less than this and you're
asking for trouble.
In my experience, when the low numbered frets start crapping out it's
because there is not enough bow in the center of the neck.
--
Sean
1143157318.1...@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, "Jaime Sol"
<solj...@hotmail.com> wrote:
You don't want a perfectly straight neck.
pmfan57
That's not what he asked. The question was should it be able to
straighten the neck and the answer is yes. Whether you go all the way
to no relief is up to you.
Mark Cleary
neck straight but not necessarily depends on how it is put in. They don't
work past the fret where the heel joins the body on an archtop usually about
fret 12-14. The neck should have some relief but how much depends on many
other things. Most guitar makers these days go for necks that are straighter
than in the past on vintage type guitars. You also need the frets to fall
off a little on the very end of the neck at about fret 17 to the end. This
leaves room in the higher registers to play notes cleaner.
I can speak from Bill Hollenbecks guitars and how he does his truss rod. His
are put in so that the rod has a tension of about 20 pounds pushing against
the strings with the rod not having any tension on the nut that you turn to
adjust the tension. If he has made the guitar perfect and no changes happen
then all that is need is to put the nut on the rod and tighten it so that it
is not loose. Then if over time the neck needs to have some bow removed then
the nut is tighten down very slow in 1/4 turns. It should never need much
over a 1/4 turn. My own Hollenbeck guitar is 13 years old and the nut on the
truss rod is only snug against the plate. It has never needed an adjustment
at all. I have very little relief but I could actually tighten this to make
it straight or even put a hump in the neck. This will be different with
every guitar made and it does not matter if it is a factory L5 or gibson les
paul. My son's Fender American Delux Strat is tighten really hard and I hope
it does not need any more adjustment as the truss rod is really tight now.
It has not over the past two years but I made a large adjustment when he
bought it 2 years ago.
Now here is a totally different angle. My 1937 D'angelico has no truss rod
( metal bar built into the neck) the neck is almost straight with almost no
relief. It plays well and of course has not changed in almost 70 years. The
moral of the story is that truss rods are fine but they don't make up for
poor workmanship and don't cure all problems. Proceed with caution.
--
Mark Cleary
Hollenbeck Jazz Guitars the Finest
Handcarved Jazz Guitars
http://members.cox.net/ruthster/hollenbeck/
"Jaime Sol" <solj...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1143157318.1...@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Jaime Sol
I called Jay Wolfe to let him know that I was getting some buzz on the
first few frets on the low E string, and was told that I would have to
drop the guitar off at his shop for a week for repair. Since I don't
live in the area, it didn't make sense to drive 2 hours there twice to
pick up a guitar getting a setup, so he suggested I have a local
luthier take a look at it. The local luthier said that the reason I
was getting buzz was that while the neck was adjusting properly on the
treble side, it was only adjusting on the bass side after the 4th fret.
In other words, there was no relief on the bass side of the neck above
the 4th fret.
The local luthier said that the neck had a slight twist in it. I
called Jay to let him know what I had been told, and he told me that
the condition is normal, and can be worked out with a proper setup at
his shop.
So that's that. Maybe I expect too much from my instruments.
I have now come to the end of my truss rod saga. It looks like I may
either get my local luthier to file down a few frets to compensate for
the wood's imperfection, or I may send it to Joe Glaser's shop for a
Plek job.
Max Leggett
wrote:
>
>The local luthier said that the neck had a slight twist in it. I
>called Jay to let him know what I had been told, and he told me that
>the condition is normal, and can be worked out with a proper setup at
>his shop.
Take it in. I know it's lots of driving, but your local guy may or may
not do the right thing.
>I have now come to the end of my truss rod saga. It looks like I may
>either get my local luthier to file down a few frets to compensate for
>the wood's imperfection, or I may send it to Joe Glaser's shop for a
>Plek job.
That won't resolve the neck issue.
Jaime Sol
told me that all they will do is provide a setup. Of course, what I
would like is either to return or exchange the instrument, or to have
the fretboard planed so that I have a perfect neck, but that's not
going to happen.
I could live with the guitar if it plays well after some fretwork and a
setup, but knowing myself, I know I will think about the twisted neck
every time I pick up the guitar.
Such is life.
Max Leggett wrote:
> On 27 Mar 2006 15:46:45 -0800, "Jaime Sol" <solj...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Take it in. I know it's lots of driving, but your local guy may or may
> not do the right thing.
>
>
Joey Goldstein
Why not just let Jay do what he said he'd do?
Jaime Sol
have to compensate for a twisted neck on an expensive guitar.
Looking forward to some long distance driving. Oh well.
Joey Goldstein
Jaime Sol wrote:
>
> The problem is. . . take it in and ask them to do what? They already
> told me that all they will do is provide a setup. Of course, what I
> would like is either to return or exchange the instrument, or to have
> the fretboard planed so that I have a perfect neck, but that's not
> going to happen.
>
> I could live with the guitar if it plays well after some fretwork and a
> setup, but knowing myself, I know I will think about the twisted neck
> every time I pick up the guitar.
Maybe the guy you took it to doesn't know what he's talking about.
Neck relief is often a bit different on the bass and treble sides. It
might not mean that the neck is twisted.
As far as I know Jay Wolfe is a pretty reputable cat. He'll most likely
do what needs to be done to make this right. Plus it's under warranty
isn't it?
> Such is life.
>
> Max Leggett wrote:
> > On 27 Mar 2006 15:46:45 -0800, "Jaime Sol" <solj...@hotmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > Take it in. I know it's lots of driving, but your local guy may or may
> > not do the right thing.
> >
> >
> > ------------------------
> >
> > "I woke up this morning an' I was fixin' to die."
> > Jailhouse Max Junior
> >
> > ---------------------------
--
Jaime Sol
guitar. I don't doubt that Jay is a good guy, he has been great to
deal with from the start. The problem might be that my other archtops
have pretty much perfect necks, and they are considerably less
expensive than the Golden Eagle, so it may simply be a matter of having
unrealistic expectations. I have also already had problems with
Heritage necks, so I went into the deal with a certain nervouseness
that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Jaime Sol
assume he knows what he's doing.
Woland99
My guitar teacher had a rule - anything beyond 1/2 turn
on truss rod must go to luthier.
Shawn Strickland
Paul ads) seem to be taking this on, don't know if that might help with
the fairly larger gauge jazz string too...
LarryV
years now. Seems Gibson is just starting to adapt this on some newer
guitars. They allow you to fix a reverse bow in the neck as well as a
forward bow. For a good description, see the following link:
Shawn Strickland
archtops, benedetto, etc.)?
Max Leggett
<ShawnSt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Is it common or sensible to do this on handmade archtops (american
>archtops, benedetto, etc.)?
>
Do what? You need to quote the post to which you're replying for it to
make sense. If you're asking, Is it common or sensible to do a Jimi
and pour lighter fluid and then torch a handmade archtop, then the
answer is no.
Shawn Strickland
Is it common or sensible to do this on handmade archtops (american
archtops, benedetto, etc.)?
Jaime Sol
insertion of graphite rods along the sides of the neck. The rods are
installed inside the neck on either side of the truss rod, and provide
what one luthier calls "cheap insurance" against neck warping in the
future.
Tom Ribbeck, I believe, is a pioneer in the use of these stabilizor
rods.