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I recently had occasion to tear apart and completely redo a Yamaha Pacifica. (My girlfriend's parents had bought her a cheapo 112 back in high school when she thought she might want to play guitar, and it has more or less lain dormant since then, so I figured it'd be a nice, safe project.) When it came time to set it up, I looked online to see which way I needed to turn the truss rod nut to get the adjustment I wanted. (I set guitars up infrequently enough that I never remember, and in any case, I don't even know if this is standardized across guitar or neck brands or even models.) What I found confused me.
As I understand it, the truss rod helps the neck resist the pull of the strings to control the amount of relief. In the several resources I read (and watched), there seemed to be no consistent relationship between the direction they suggested turning the nut (clockwise vs counterclockwise), the terminology they used to describe what this was doing ("loosening" vs "tightening" the truss rod), and the desired effect of this adjustment (increasing vs decreasing the amount of relief). Some resources described turning the nut counterclockwise as "loosening" it; some described turning it clockwise as "loosening" it. Some used the term "loosening" to describe the adjustment to increase the relief; some used the term "tightening" to describe that same adjustment.
So which is it? What seems right to me would be to describe the act of decreasing the relief as "tightening" the truss rod, because it is increasing the degree to which the truss rod is doing its intended job; likewise, "loosening" the truss rod should seems like it should increase the relief, because it's causing the truss rod to have less of a neck-straightening effect. The sources I read seemed to be split, though. It might have to do with the fact that a counterclockwise turn of the nut, which we usually think of as a "loosening" motion, actually straightens the truss rod in this case?
I dunno. Some of you guys definitely seem like you could give a definitive answer to this.
As I understand it, the truss rod helps the neck resist the pull of the strings to control the amount of relief. In the several resources I read (and watched), there seemed to be no consistent relationship between the direction they suggested turning the nut (clockwise vs counterclockwise), the terminology they used to describe what this was doing ("loosening" vs "tightening" the truss rod), and the desired effect of this adjustment (increasing vs decreasing the amount of relief). Some resources described turning the nut counterclockwise as "loosening" it; some described turning it clockwise as "loosening" it. Some used the term "loosening" to describe the adjustment to increase the relief; some used the term "tightening" to describe that same adjustment.
So which is it? What seems right to me would be to describe the act of decreasing the relief as "tightening" the truss rod, because it is increasing the degree to which the truss rod is doing its intended job; likewise, "loosening" the truss rod should seems like it should increase the relief, because it's causing the truss rod to have less of a neck-straightening effect. The sources I read seemed to be split, though. It might have to do with the fact that a counterclockwise turn of the nut, which we usually think of as a "loosening" motion, actually straightens the truss rod in this case?
I dunno. Some of you guys definitely seem like you could give a definitive answer to this.
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