Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

[357mag]

On my Les Paul there is a room between the string and the frets pretty much everywhere, except towards the nut. My current issue is that my high E string is actually touch the surface of the first fret. When I run my finger down the fretboard there is a lot of space between the string and the fret, but you can clearly see that as you go closer to the first fret and the nut, the space drastically gets less and less.

So I think what's happening is my neck is kinda bowing up in the lower fret region, causing the string to touch the first fret.

I described this issue to a guy at a local store, and he suggested loosening the truss rod to put more relief in the neck and then I may in turn have to lower my bridge a bit.

But it seems to me if I do that, it will actually cause the bow to get worse.

So wouldn't I have to do the opposite and tighten the rod a little to actually straighten the neck a bit?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

it sounds like its not an issue the truss rod can fix. adjusting your truss rod will take bow out of the neck and youll notice this most in the middle of the neck the 7-12 frets lets say. if you are only having issue at the 1st fret either your fret is too high or your nut is too low

 

[VinceT]

Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

Hey, man - don't know why you started another thread, unless it's another Les Paul you're having trouble with.

Either way, here's how to check the relief of your neck:

1) put a capo on the first fret

2) hold the E string down at the highest fret

3) check how close the string is to the 7th fret

4) test it on both high E and low E strings

Bottom line - at even the lowest action, on a Les Paul, you should be able to get a business card between the fret and the string at the 7th while doing the above, without having to move the string.

If not, the truss rod is too tight.

If you have way too much clearance, the truss-rod is too loose (unless your like it that way)

To loosen the truss rod:

1) remove the cover

2) looking down the neck from the headstock towards the body, turn the truss rod adjuster COUNTER-CLOCKWISE by a quarter-turn - you can do more than a quarter, but until you're really comfortable with the process, take small steps.

3) Retune the guitar

4) test the relief again

Repeat as necessary.

To tighten your truss rod, turn it CLOCKWISE.

Adjusting the relief this way really focuses only on the bow in the neck - you may still find strings grounding out, in which case you need to adjust the height of the tunomatic bridge along with the relief adjustments.

The more you get used to this, the more you'll get a feel for how all the adjustments combine.

I mentioned in the other thread that your nut slot for the high E might be cut too deep. If that's the case, no reasonable amount of adjustment of neck/bridge is going to compensate, you'll either have to get a new nut, or redo the existing slot using super-glue/sodium bicarbonate or similar trick (YouTube it).

Incidentally, I went to play my Les Paul earlier this week and my low E and A strings were grounding out - when I checked the truss rod, the nut was completely loose - it definitely wasn't when I last played the guitar, so I don't know what happened (though I suspect the wood might have shrunk a bit as the winters here are so dry). Weird thing is that the neck seemed to bow the wrong way - odd. All I know is that a quick tighten of the truss rod to introduce a little bow, and everything was fine again.


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[357mag]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

I did check the neck relief. It looks pretty good to me. About .010 or just a tiny bit more. I know righty - tighty - lefty - loosey. Know that. I will monkey a little today. If I gotta, I'll bring it back to them and they will fix it.

 

[VinceT]

Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

Yeah, it really is beginning to sound like the nut is cut too deep. Best of luck!


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[Clint 55]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

If your action including neck bow is right as expertly explained by Vince, you can super glue the low slots and have them dry over night. Next, file it down to between .014 and .018 inches height above the high e first fret using a guitar string to measure if you don't have feeler gauges.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

Action in the first couple of frets is ALL about the nut cutting.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

Action in the first couple of frets is ALL about the nut cutting.

Right.


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[Inkstained]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

One of the best explanations I've seen on truss rod adjustment on a guitar forum. Nice.

Would you agree that turning the rod clockwise has the effect of "lowering" the action (unless something is really warped and off)?

Hey, man - don't know why you started another thread, unless it's another Les Paul you're having trouble with.

Either way, here's how to check the relief of your neck:

1) put a capo on the first fret

2) hold the E string down at the highest fret

3) check how close the string is to the 7th fret

4) test it on both high E and low E strings

Bottom line - at even the lowest action, on a Les Paul, you should be able to get a business card between the fret and the string at the 7th while doing the above, without having to move the string.

If not, the truss rod is too tight.

If you have way too much clearance, the truss-rod is too loose (unless your like it that way)

To loosen the truss rod:

1) remove the cover

2) looking down the neck from the headstock towards the body, turn the truss rod adjuster COUNTER-CLOCKWISE by a quarter-turn - you can do more than a quarter, but until you're really comfortable with the process, take small steps.

3) Retune the guitar

4) test the relief again

Repeat as necessary.

To tighten your truss rod, turn it CLOCKWISE.

Adjusting the relief this way really focuses only on the bow in the neck - you may still find strings grounding out, in which case you need to adjust the height of the tunomatic bridge along with the relief adjustments.

The more you get used to this, the more you'll get a feel for how all the adjustments combine.

I mentioned in the other thread that your nut slot for the high E might be cut too deep. If that's the case, no reasonable amount of adjustment of neck/bridge is going to compensate, you'll either have to get a new nut, or redo the existing slot using super-glue/sodium bicarbonate or similar trick (YouTube it).

Incidentally, I went to play my Les Paul earlier this week and my low E and A strings were grounding out - when I checked the truss rod, the nut was completely loose - it definitely wasn't when I last played the guitar, so I don't know what happened (though I suspect the wood might have shrunk a bit as the winters here are so dry). Weird thing is that the neck seemed to bow the wrong way - odd. All I know is that a quick tighten of the truss rod to introduce a little bow, and everything was fine again.


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[VinceT]

Re: Which way to turn the truss rod to alleviate this issue?

One of the best explanations I've seen on truss rod adjustment on a guitar forum. Nice.

Would you agree that turning the rod clockwise has the effect of "lowering" the action (unless something is really warped and off)?

Kind of. For me, truss rod is all about what happens in the middle of the fret board - from about 3rd fret to 12th(ish) - tightening will lower the action in that area, but it's because it's raising the fret board toward the strings rather than lowering the strings, if that makes sense.


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