How do you properly adjust a truss rod?

[VastHorizon]

Is it with strings in standard tuning, or tuned a step down, or with string tension at all?

I have read about different turns of the truss rod but I don't know WHICH is right. Counter-clockwise? Clockwise? How much turn?

 

[AXE]

What are you attempting to achieve ?

 

[VastHorizon]

What are you attempting to achieve ?

Straightening a neck with a bit of "under-bow".

 

[Adwex]

Clockwise to tighten..this will oppose the tension of the strings, reducing the relief/bow...straightening the neck.

Counter-clockwise to loosen...this will allow the tension of the strings to increase the relief/bow.

1/4 turn at a time. Give the neck time to "settle in" before adjusting further.

 

[AXE]

Click HERE

 

[VastHorizon]

Thank you sir. Do I need to loosen the strings first or take them off or in standard tuning?

Clockwise to tighten..this will oppose the tension of the strings, reducing the relief/bow...straightening the neck.

Counter-clockwise to loosen...this will allow the tension of the strings to increase the relief/bow.

1/4 turn at a time. Give the neck time to "settle in" before adjusting further.

 

[Adwex]

Thank you sir. Do I need to loosen the strings first or take them off or in standard tuning?

I don't think you need to loosen the strings. I would imagine that you'd want "normal" tension, but I'd better let someone more experienced answer that.

 

[twiddlebug]

Click HERE

Wanna here some dumb s***?

All that clockwise and counter-clockwise stuff always messed me up, because I thought: "clockwise from my perspective looking down the neck from pickups toward headstock" or is it "clockwise looking down from the top of the headstock straight into the truss rod adjustment nut?"

Luckily, even if you are confused, by measuring the gap (as described in the excellent article AXE linked to) you will know if you are tightening or loosening, even if all the clocks in your house run backwards.

 

[Adwex]

It's just like a nut or a bolt...when you are tightening a nut, you are looking at it face on, turning it clockwise will tighten it...or...make it "move away from you".

Opposite for loosening...turning it counter-clockwise will make the nut "come off", or "closer to you", as you are looking at it face-on.

Then of course there's the age old phrase....
"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey"

So, for the truss rod, you look at the nut face on, looking at the neck with the headstock close to you, the body away from you.

 

[twiddlebug]

It's just like a nut or a bolt...when you are tightening a nut, you are looking at it face on, turning it clockwise will tighten it...or...make it "move away from you".

Opposite for loosening...turning it counter-clockwise will make the nut "come off", or "closer to you", as you are looking at it face-on.

Then of course there's the age old phrase....
"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey"

So, for the truss rod, you look at the nut face on, looking at the neck with the headstock close to you, the body away from you.

Thanks Adwex. Even though this would seem obvious and elementary to some (or most) folks, I think it should be part of every truss rod adjustment article, especially since many people may hold the guitar closer to the playing position when making this adjustment.

And "lefty loosey, righty tighty" is the single most valuable mnemonic device in the English language that I know of!! I still remember the friend who first told me that when we were both kids. It impressed me almost as much as if he'd told me the meaning of life.

 

[Adwex]

Thanks Adwex. Even though this would seem obvious and elementary to some (or most) folks, I think it should be part of every truss rod adjustment article, especially since many people may hold the guitar closer to the playing position when making this adjustment.

....

Good point, right and left can easily be confused when holding it in playing position. It does seem obvious to me, and I often assume something like that would be obvious to everyone, but it isn't always.

 

[axslinger]

It's just like a nut or a bolt...when you are tightening a nut, you are looking at it face on, turning it clockwise will tighten it...or...make it "move away from you".

Opposite for loosening...turning it counter-clockwise will make the nut "come off", or "closer to you", as you are looking at it face-on.

Then of course there's the age old phrase....
"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey"

So, for the truss rod, you look at the nut face on, looking at the neck with the headstock close to you, the body away from you.

I put in a truss rod with left-handed threads just to mess with my tech.







Not really.