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Backwards Truss Rod?


meaux

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Am I losing my mind? On my recently aquired Chinese Casino when Facing the headstock and looking at the truss rod bolt, with the body the fartherest away, I noticed that my Truss Rod 'Tightens' when turned to the LEFT!!!

 

This really blew my mind... I haven't done any drugs since the 60's and I've had no Beers today... I had to check it 3 times... Sure enough tension builds when turned to the Left (gets harder to turn) and decreases when turned to the Right (gets easier to turn)...

 

I also checked it with my Leveling Ruler and a feeler gauge...

 

Anybody ever see this? I know I have never seen reverse threads on a truss rod, but I have mostly Fenders...

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Am I losing my mind? On my recently aquired Chinese Casino when Facing the headstock and looking at the truss rod bolt, with the body the fartherest away, I noticed that my Truss Rod 'Tightens' when turned to the LEFT!!!

 

Epiphones have dual action truss rods. This means that when you go counter clockwise, you are adding relief / removing back bow. Go the other way til you start to feel tension again, and you'll be reducing relief as usual.

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Damn, that explains it...

 

I thru caution to the wind and cranked down on it, to the Left (felt tighter and tighter) and then checked the relief with a ruler and feeler gauge... Heck, you could drive a truck under the Low E at the middle of the neck!!!

 

Then I loosened it up (to the right) and the Neck straightened back out... Jeeze, thats a new on on me... By 'Feel' it was bass-ackwards... I never suspected a Dual Action Truss Rod on an Epi... I didn't notice it on the Dot Studio...

 

Thanks... Learn something New everyday....

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Which epis come with single action truss rods nowadays? I imagine vintage ones did of course, but modern I thought they'd all switched over by now.

Nowadays? I have no idea. But your comment that "Epiphones have dual action truss rods" said nothing about "nowadays". I just wanted folks to know that not all Epis have them.

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Newer Epiphones do indeed have dual action truss rods. Its only been in the past few years, maybe five tops, that they have been using them. I'm not certain that it encompasses all models, but many electrics and archtops, for sure.

 

The only way a truss rod can move all the way around to work in the opposite direction is if it is a dual action. Single action doesnt work that way. It will either bottom out, unscrew or crack the neck.

 

I had the same problem with my SG Special P90. So iread up on dual action truss rods and did what the articles said to do for a dual action truss (which is to turn it all the way loose until it tightens back up) and VIOLA, problem solved. Dual action truss rod.

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For a lot of guitars, such the P90 SG Special it just says the truss rod is adjustable. :) I'm willing to be most, if not all, modern production epis have dual action truss rods.

 

Interestingly the patent for dual action truss rods is a lot older than I expected, something like 1928.

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Yeah, even the press sheets only list them as adjustable. I dont know why. Maybe they dont think itis a necessary detail. You can find a lot of variations in specifications, too. But the retailers get their info from epiphone and if some retailers say "dual action" then they probably got it from the source in some documentation that we arent privvy to.

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This question has appeared on numerous occasions, and the answer has always ended up being that Epis DO NOT have dual-action truss rods.

Actually, I have engaged in a couple of discussions on this board where I've outlined the process of discovering that my 2011 50th Anniversary Casino clearly has a double action rod. It stumped me as well at first, but there's no doubt about it, Epi has made a change. Don't know if the double action rod extends to all new models.

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