truss rod routing

[TKOjams]

I use two way rods with no filler strip, just a small dab of silicone at the midway point of the rod in the bottom of the channel. They never rattle at all.
Should the rod break for any reason, all you have to do is grab ahold of the end of the rod, pull it till the silicone breaks loose, slide it out and slide a new one in half way, add a dab of silicone and push it in the rest of the way.

 

[gator payne]

I do exactly this Gator,

I use a 1/4" chisel to inset those short square end blocks. they only need like a 1/32" deep square bottomed channel to sit in.

and the square channels tend to hold the rod in place and reduces any "twisting" motions when actually useing the rod.

to respond somewhat to both of your previous post Bruce:

What you discribe is perfectly logical way to do this. In fact it is better than what I am doing now and very well may (wait change that to will) change my procedures and here is why. A straight edged channel induces a strress riser point all along the 90 degree intersection of the channel bottom and the channel side. Cutting the the channel with a radial bit and then mortising out a flat for the nut ends of a two way rod is a great way to all but get rid of the stress risers and therfore possible sheer fracture at this intersection

 

[vilered1]

Thanks Bruce! so I built a rudementary version of what you show on your post out of some osb and some 1/4 inch dowell rods. I didn't get to run it on my necks yet, but it looked pretty good on my test piece. I've got an old 1980 V2 neck that I'm using as my profile template. the toughest thing was getting the depth figured out so that I had good working room to shape the neck, and had enough filler strip at the end of the neck, and the right position @ the end of the headstock to make it all work out. I thinks I'm goanna take that v2 neck over to a friend that owns a guitar shop and if he doesn't want it I'll probably slice it in half, analyze it and give you all some killer info on it. thanks again all. I will try to get some pics up soon.

 

[bruce bennett]

Thanks Bruce! so I built a rudementary version of what you show on your post out of some osb and some 1/4 inch dowell rods. I didn't get to run it on my necks yet, but it looked pretty good on my test piece. I've got an old 1980 V2 neck that I'm using as my profile template. the toughest thing was getting the depth figured out so that I had good working room to shape the neck, and had enough filler strip at the end of the neck, and the right position @ the end of the headstock to make it all work out. I thinks I'm goanna take that v2 neck over to a friend that owns a guitar shop and if he doesn't want it I'll probably slice it in half, analyze it and give you all some killer info on it. thanks again all. I will try to get some pics up soon.

OSB tends to flake and would likely be a hinderance to your router base as you try to slide the router over it. which is why I used the baltic birch plywood.

 

[vilered1]

I'm going to try to get a better jig built this week, the one I built didn't quite work out. it cut a decent channel but it took a while to set up. I have an idea for something that would be easier for me to use repeatedly. it'll either be great or a huge waste of time...

 

[bruce bennett]

I'm going to try to get a better jig built this week, the one I built didn't quite work out. it cut a decent channel but it took a while to set up. I have an idea for something that would be easier for me to use repeatedly. it'll either be great or a huge waste of time...

thats exactly how most "new design" jigs tend to be.

I've filled a dumpster with them.

 

[landsharkey]

If you're making a straight or angled channel had you considered sawing a dado rather than routing? (See this post.)

 

[vilered1]

well... after tinkering some more with the jig I built I scrapped it. I read that post on cutting a dado, and just went down that path. I taped a 1/4 inch piece of scrap moulding across the nut line and set the saw blade @ about .550" and pushed the neck blank through. I got a nice even taper down the whole lenght of the neck. best of all it was super easy to replicate. I kept the 2 pieces of moulding and just the edges against the nut line on the next neck blank. I had a little work to do on the headstocks since I am using a scarf joint, so I didn't glue the rods in yet, but I should be doing that this friday. I took a few pictures, but left my camera @ the shop so I hope to post them friday as well. I think I'm going to look further into double acting truss rods. I read about them on the Warmoth web page. Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Truss Rods seems like they're a bit different than a 2 way rod. any thoughts?