Truss Rod Adjustment

[Darryl Young]

Strung up my guitar night before last and the action is high so on another thread John P. recommended I check my truss rod adjustment. I'm going to do that and I want to make sure I do it correctly.

IIRC, when the truss rod adjustment is correct when about 0.007" clearance at the 7th fret while the a string is held down at the.......2nd and 14th fret? Can't recall which frets to hold the string against to check this.

If I adjust the truss rod, I assume I need to lower the string tension part way (or maybe all the way) then make the adjustment, correct? Then I should probably retension the strings to recheck the clearance.

Should I wait a day in between truss rod adjustments so everything settles into position? Can I make a couple of quick adjustments to get close then wait a day in between adjustments for the fine tuning? Best I recall it's recommended to adjust only 1/4 turn at a time. Is that true?

Thanks!

[Darryl Young]

Thank you RD for that informative post. I'll check it out tonight.

[Darryl Young]

FYI, I checked the relief with a feeler gauge and it was about 0.007". So it appears I need to reset the neck to increase the neck angle. I have a slight ski slope on the fretboard after it meets the body so this should help both situations. If I have time today, I may go ahead and do this. Unfortunately, I need to go to work and get a few things done first.

[Darryl Young]

You shouldn't have to tighten the rod much on a new guitar. How much depends on several factors including the truss rod design and the pitch of the threads. 1/2 turn seems plenty; often, if the fingerboard is leveled with some tension on the rod (as I do), it will take 1/4 turn or less. The addition of carbon fiber to the neck (or really tight-fitting frets) might mean that you need even less rod tension.

Could you give a little more detail about leveling the frets with a little tension on the rod? Are you tightening the rod to introduce backbow (opposite the way the strings pull the neck) or are you adding tension the same direction as the string pull (with a 2-way rod)? Seems you would try curving the neck similar to what the strings will do but I want to make sure I understand what you are doing. If this is what you are doing, about how far do you go with the truss rod to simulate string tension, 1/4- 1/2 turn?

Thanks again for your helpful response!

[kencierp]

I essentially ripped off this set-up process:

http://www.guildguitars.net/resources/g ... _setup.php

Simple -- straight forward -- no "magic fairy dust"

Has works for me for as long as I can remmeber -- when I actually charged for set-ups most guys/gals commented how they could not believe it was the same guitar they left with me!