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Truss rod help.


Gibson101

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I want to loosen my truss rod on my ES-335, my goal is to straighten the neck. Which direction am I turning the Allen.

 

 

 

I want to take all the tension off and see if I can get this neck a lot flatter, any issues with that thinking. I have never adjusted any truss rod before.

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Do around a quarter of a turn per day then let the neck settle overnight, after tuning to concert pitch.

 

If you have to put too much pressure to turn the adjusting nut, then stop before you do damage, and visit a luthier, which is probably the best advice anyway if you do not know what you are doing.

 

Perhaps considering buying a cheap s/h guitar to learn how to do setup on before messing up your pride and joy

 

Madman Greg

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Yup,

Clockwise to tighten, thereby lowering action.

Counter Clockwise to loosen, thereby raising action.

This may seem counter intuitive, but remember you are counteracting the pull of the strings.

 

 

When lowering action, you should slacken all strings first, snug up the TR, then tune to pitch. Letting things settle over night is not a bad idea.

 

Truss rod adjustment is not much more complicated than re-stringing. However, if you get ham handed with cranking you can screw things up. Slow and easy wins the race.

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Good advice from those instructing How To. The most important thing is that this nut should turn fairly easy so don't force it if it won't turn. A quarter of a turn is a lot of adjustment to the neck so don't get carried away.

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.

The truss rod should be used for adjusting the neck relief, not for adjusting the action which is more properly done with the saddle and nut.

 

It sounds like you're looking for less relief, so the nut should be turned clockwise.

 

Here's a simple reference - http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/truss_rod_adjustment.pdf

 

If you have any doubts, take it to a luthier/shop.

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Righty Tighty

Lefty Loosey

 

Tight = back bow

Loose = forward bow (relief)

 

Flat = tiny bit of relief (slip a business card under the low E string at the sixth fret when capo'd at fret one and fretting at 12)

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