Truss rod Adjustment Help.

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Hey guys. how are are?
i have this problem for a long time now...
i want to ****ing fix it so here i am.
i got two recomendations for books to buy but couldnt buy them YET.
so... i just cant SEE the neck properly to be able to make the adjustments. that "put a card between the fret and the string".. or "fret the first and the 12 fret and see the space between the string .."
I CANT see that ****. dont know why. and my vision is pretty ****ing good.
so.. i read that some books features on the index.. the type and number of the tools you need to set your guitar up properly.
SO.... do you guys have any foto or recommendation of a tool i could measure where in the neck do i need to adjust?
a tool that will show me in which part show i relief or tight the truss rod up.
thats my "wish" Q: )
Thanks
JP

[Bludave]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

Actually if you are having a real hard time seeing what needs to be adjusted no tool will help. Its not the tool its how you use it.

Here is the easiest way to check your truss rod. Hold down the 6 or 1 string at the first fret & at the 12th fret. Then you want to see how much space you have between the 7th & 9th fret(this is called relief). If you do not have enough you need to loosen the truss rod, if you have too much you need to tighten the rod. The way I try to think of it is you are raising or lowering the fingerboard in the middle. If you turn the rod to the right you raise the middle(right raise), if you turn the rod to the left you will lower the fingerboard(left lower). Its easy to remember. The other thing you need to keep in mind is DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING. Make small adjustments ¼ turns at a time. Then once the neck is set the way you want it you can adjust action & intonation! Its really not hard but you need to be able to see what you are doing. If you can't see the space it is really hard to adjust it. I would recommend taking the guitar to a tech because you can really mess up a guitar if you don't know what you are doing!

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

All you need is a straightedge.

Truss rod adjustment is not to adjust the guitar's action.

Truss rod adjustment is to get the neck straight.

Action adjustments are to occur only at the nut and bridge.

All you need to adjust the truss rod is the truss rod wrench and a straightedge. When the neck is straight, stop adjusting it.

[karpathion]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

All you need to adjust the truss rod is the truss rod wrench and a straightedge. When the neck is straight, stop adjusting it.

Then back off about a 1/4 turn for the relief.

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

Thats what im talking about.
I Like my truss rod Straight. no relief in the middle.
it happens that im changing pickups and pickguard in my fender and i was also curious to see if it was really original or not.. so i completely disassembled it. except the tuners. i pulled out the neck from the body also. and ill need to set up that neck when i got the neck pickup here and want to install and assemble everything . I did change pickups in my Ibanez 7 also.. had to pull all strings out cause this guitar is a ***** to swap pickups.
Whats a Straightedge thing? is it a word or a tool?
its some kind of ruler that you can use to see in which parts of the neck its concave or convex ?

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

THe Ibanez came with 010 string set. dadario 7 string cause its a 7 string guitar. and i then switched the tuning to Eb and now its in D. so A. and i bought thicker strings also. so i need to set this up. instead of bringing it to a tech. only because my money is short this month.

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

Whats a Straightedge thing? is it a word or a tool?
its some kind of ruler that you can use to see in which parts of the neck its concave or convex ?

Yes, A straightedge is kind of like a ruler. In the case of a purpose-built straightedge, however, it is intentionally machined to have a perfectly straight edge (hence the name ) for precision.

I bought one at my local hardware store for my guitar building endeavors. It looks like this:

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

top ****ing class. how much costs one of these straightedges?

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

Also of note, the tension of the strings will cause the neck to bow to the front a bit, so if you are adjusting the truss rod while the neck is off the guitar, go ahead and adjust the neck so it's perfectly straight, but once you get the neck back on the guitar and the strings up to tension, check it again, and adjust it again, if it's necessary.


The reason I say just go ahead and make it straight instead of trying to compensate for the neck bow that the string tension will cause, is that in my experience, sometimes the string tension does not cause the neck to bow for whatever reason. Better to start with a neck you KNOW is straight, and adjust from there only if necessary, than compensate for it blindly.

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

top ****ing class. how much costs one of these straightedges?

A real straightegde is pretty pricy. I think mine was $40 USD.

You can get them cheaper. The price is usually related to 1) how thick they are, and 2) how long they are. I needed one that was 36" long so I could mark a centerline on a guitar neck and a guitar body at the same time, but you could get away with a shorter one for neck-only measurement.

I also got a big thick heavy one, so it would last forever and be easier to clamp and such for my other woodworking projects.

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

And where can i find that **** here? ahahahahah in Germany. ahahahah
stew mac?

[karpathion]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

The reason I say just go ahead and make it straight instead of trying to compensate for the neck bow that the string tension will cause, is that in my experience, sometimes the string tension does not cause the neck to bow for whatever reason. Better to start with a neck you KNOW is straight, and adjust from there only if necessary, than compensate for it blindly.

That's what I keep coming across. All the necks I have and have played with, never backbow when I string the guitar up. Well, it will after a few months.
That's the only reason I add the relief before stringing it up.
I know some necks won't work that way though.
Good call.

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

Yeah. do this company have a website or something?

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

And where can i find that **** here? ahahahahah in Germany. ahahahah
stew mac?

I'd just shop around on Amazon

http://www.amazon.de/

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Truss rod Adjustment Help.

i found a straightedge on stew mac. lest see how deep is the stab WOUND. ahahahahah