sdgails Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 im rehabbing a 95 mexi strat, the rod was stiff as hell. Loosening only,i gave it less than 1/8 a turn,gave it a little rest rest, and proceeded. i think i gave it about a 2/3 for the total turn,as i marked beginning to the ending. As I loosened it, i could here a turn,at the the final slight turn, i heard a clickish pop. The neck is in the right relief position now. I was wondering if anyone ever got a noise when turning tuss rods. The truss is still tight when loosening, and harder when trying to tighten. I read somewhere that a broken truss rod will loosen and tighten really easy,and that you can hear a rattle when the guitar is shaken. The guitar plays great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volt1281734017 Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 I remember adjusting mine years ago and I recall hearing a few creeks. Creeks are okay, although I'm no expert. But then I adjusted it further and crack!!! It broke. Yes, a broken one will turn easily. Also the neck was obviously warped with the broken rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Doesn't seem like it's broken, probably that the threads are tight. I would think that if it was broken off near the threaded anchor, it would turn a lot easier than what you describe. I've adjusted truss rods in the past that clicked that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokestack Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 No, doesn't sound like it's broke. I think You'd know if you'd busted it ;^) Truss rods are probaly the scariest things of all for the inexperienced. Yes they are often very hard to turn... and they can make all kinds of evil creaking noises as baring surfaces move against each other. It is true that where the inexperienced owner meets a particularly tight feeling rod...discretion should be the better part of valour... and safe is better than sorry. Take it to a tech if you're not sure you have the mechanical nous or feel for the task. That said, a little understanding and common sense is usually all that's required. Some necks are inherently stiffer than others and varying amounts of truss rod tension will be required to keep the fretboard straight . Consequently some nuts will feel a lot tighter than others. Truss rod adjuster nuts that haven't been touched for a while can also get partially seized up. They're seldom lubricated and the threads may be full of all kinds of crap. Time does the rest. Especially with a guitar that you're not familair with, it's not a bad idea to let the string tension off and remove the truss rod nut completely. Lube the threads with a tiny amount of oil or grease and replace it. [Don't use too much lubricant so that it may find its way onto the wood. Machine oil doesn't like wood !] Once the nut is lubed and free, you'll then have a far better feel when you tension the rod. You'll know it's stiff because it's tight and not because it's stuck ! So how tight will it need to be ? That depends on how stiff the neck is, the gauge of strings you fit and how much adjustment is required. [ Remember that the trus rod is not able to cure a warped or S shaped neck !. That will require a level of the fretboard ]. It's important to understand how the traditional compression truss rod works. It's surprising how many folks don't. The tension of the strings above the fretboard has the effect of compressing the front of the neck, which results on a net bending force on the neck as a whole. The idea of the truss rod is to compress the back of the neck with a balancing force to keep the stresses in broad equilibrium. You have a foot or more of metal rod compressing the same depth of wood in line with it's grain. It's not surprising that quite a bit of torque may be required ! If the nut turns steadily and suddently stops...be careful. Sometimes, [due to compression over time of the wood surrounding the anchor points] the nut will run out of travel and reach the end of the threaded section of rod. This isn't a big problem. Remove the nut and add one or two appropriately sized washers over the end of the rod. This will normally restore the required range of adjustment quite adequately ;^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Some necks are inherently stiffer than others and varying amounts of truss rod tension will be required to keep the fretboard straight . Consequently some nuts will feel a lot tighter than others. Truss rod adjuster nuts that haven't been touched for a while can also get partially seized up. They're seldom lubricated and the threads may be full of all kinds of crap. Well I sometimes wake up with a stiff neck in the mornings,so I can appreciate what the guitars feel by somebody twisting their necks. Looks like I might need a truss rod for my own neck as well. ..as far as some nuts feeling a lot tighter than others..well I won't go there. :-) Gibson use or have used in the past, a brass nut to avoid seizing against the truss rod thread, but the original poster mentioned a Strat neck, and that has a different type of adjuster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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