Truss rod poll

[Liam]

Just because the truss rod thread kind of interested me, here's a little poll on how people deal with truss rod adjustment.

[BCRGreg]

You are not going to break your guitar with a mild twist of the rod.

[dwagar]

I don't necessarily adjust the rod every set up, but I always check the relief.

[drewbertca]

I check relief now and then...but I always stick with thte same guage strings and haven't had to adjust many of my guitars.....Most were set up by a good tech when I bought them and have stayed comfortable and buzz free....

[hbucker]

If it needs adjusting, I adjust it. But once the neck settles in, it doesn't require adjusting very much. It varies from guitar to guitar. Some I don't ever touch, others I adjust maybe twice a year at the most.

I agree that mild adjustments won't/shouldn't hurt anything. But if you don't know what you're doing, by all means have a pro do it. Or buy a cheap guitar and practice on that. This is good advice for any guitar work you want to do. Practice on a cheap beater before you work on your R9...

[single cut 54]

Fret strings at 1st and 16th frets ,use string as as staightedge to check
relief[0.004'' minimum at 7th fret][use a capo at 1st fret if needed].Provided you always keep the neck in concave relief[strung to tune] then you'll never damage a neck . The most damage you can do,is to cut your nut to optimum depth ,without first adjusting the neck relief to it's optimum setting.if you
reduce the relief after cutting the nut the result can be open string buzz at the first fret.ALWAYS set required neck relief before final nut height adjustment,otherwise you'r likely to need a new nut.Every thing else is reversable[apart from when your adjusting saddle slots to maintain fingerboard/ bridge radius geometry].One Final thing is ,if you do adjust
your guitar[or have it adjusted]to minimal neck relief, very low nut height
and action height,you're more likely to be readjusting everything with
changing weather condituions etc.

[captain tightpants]

Originally Posted by dwagar

I don't necessarily adjust the rod every set up, but I always check the relief.

+1, and I adjust if needed.

[Liam]

Originally Posted by single cut 54

if you do adjust your guitar[or have it adjusted]to minimal neck relief, very low nut height and action height,you're more likely to be readjusting everything with changing weather condituions etc.

Never thought about it like that, but I guess that must be true. I've often found guitars strung very light are sensitive to truss rod adjustment too.

[tarddoggy]

Originally Posted by dwagar

I don't necessarily adjust the rod every set up, but I always check the relief.

Originally Posted by captain tightpants

+1, and I adjust if needed.

+2,every so often if needed.Thats one of the cool things about LPs,I rarely ,if ever have a prob with the neck

[Roman Rist]

On my favorite guitar, I have not touched the truss rod in 15 years!

Roman

[hbucker]

Originally Posted by RFR

On my favorite guitar, I have not touched the truss rod in 15 years!

Roman

Yeah. I check it constantly on any guitar I'm holding. But if it doesn't need it, why do anything but check it?

[shotgunlew]

Originally Posted by RFR

On my favorite guitar, I have not touched the truss rod in 15 years!

Roman

Damn dude thats a sturdy axe!

[lp59aholicDon]

I check my neck regularly and only adjust when I hear and or detect problems ,

[Axeman16]

i just set it when i get th guitar and leave it. it never changes. mines been fine since i got it 6-7 months ago.

[scozz]

I really don't fit into any of the three polled questions. At every string change, I check my relief, my guitars almost never need adjusting. I think I've adjusted my Custom 3 or 4 times maybe, I've had it 25years! I always check though.

[HolyGrail]

Originally Posted by scozz

I really don't fit into any of the three polled questions. At every string change, I check my relief, my guitars almost never need adjusting. I think I've adjusted my Custom 3 or 4 times maybe, I've had it 25years! I always check though.

Caveat ~on Truss Rod adjustments.

On a Rick which has a double Truss Rod, Bow the neck by hand first
then tighten the truss rod nuts. Rick Truss Rods are way different
than the usual guitar.

[Liam]

At every string change, I check my relief, my guitars almost never need adjusting. I think I've adjusted my Custom 3 or 4 times maybe, I've had it 25years!

That would be loads of fret dresses, quite a few refrets and a few more truss rod adjusts for me I reckon.

I always set the truss rod to get the relief minimised when I'm levelling frets, so I guess thats an extra truss rod adjust every time.

[NORML]

I always leave it to my tech .

[st.bede]

i have set up my guitar in the past and I have found out that the pros do it better (with my telling them what I want). I pays my money......

[BobbyK]

I need to tighten mine, I've been researching it so much, but I'm still scared to do it...

[captain tightpants]

Originally Posted by RFR

On my favorite guitar, I have not touched the truss rod in 15 years!

Roman

Yeah, my '55 Junior is the same way. Only time I've had to touch it is when I put 11's on it in place of the 10's, 6 years ago!

[BCRGreg]

Originally Posted by BobbyK

I need to tighten mine, I've been researching it so much, but I'm still scared to do it...

Just do it, you'll be fine. It's not a bomb, it's a tool.

[v8ko]

It depends on when something needs fixed. The local store I do business with will occasionally offer there service for free, a string change and adjustment.

Ive been pretty lucky over the years because I live in a REALLY REALLY dry climate but the humidifer runs year around and keeps things in order.

I will do truss rod adjustments but past that Im clueless.

[Liam]

Just do it, you'll be fine. It's not a bomb, it's a tool.

Couldn't have put it better. 1/6th of a turn maximum at a time, and if you need to turn it much more than 2/3 of a turn think carefully about what's happening. You don't normally need to turn them far.

Liam

[paulygates]

I recently gave my TR a 1/4 turn on my STD because it had some minor fret buzz. It could have been imaginary. It seems okay now but I am thinking of taking it in for a proper set up. A pro will surely do a much better job than me. It would be interesting to see.

[GeeJay]

I tweaked the truss rod (slackened by 1/4 turn to give a bit more relief) when I brought my '02 standard home from the shop having fitted new strings and as part of finding the best set-up for me. I check the neck relief now and again, but it hasn't needed re-adjusting since that first time.

[HolyGrail]

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

Just do it, you'll be fine. It's not a bomb, it's a tool.

DAMN !
Mine just Blew up !

OK ,
I can Hear Greg's thoughts ( Kinda Creepy )
He's thinking " HG, You're the TOOL "

[Harpozep]

Mine broke in my top of the line, upscale , pretty expensive at the time in '93 ( $1,800.00 ) Fender Set-neck Strat. Plus it stripped at the adjusting end.
Fender blew it with that one........ Traded a '70 Les Paul Blake Beauty for some of it too....Grrrr..... ( THE LP needed a neck reset )
I had to adjust the truss rod every week or two on my limited edition G&L ASAT JR

My '68 BB LP, set it once in ten years. Same with my early '90's classic LP. LP's can be real solid guitars!

[Blues Power]

never touched it on any of my guitars and my oldest is 28 now.

i dontt turst my local music store techs so I just leave it alone. no buzzzing no intonation probs so if it aint broke I dont fix it,.

[VictorLazarus]

If I like the guitar I'm too afraid to touch the truss rod on account that bad things happen when things fall into stupid hands. (like mine, lol)

Its something I've never really got round to doing cos a truss rod setup is really cheap and I can use it as an exscuse to visit a guitar shop.

MVL.