How do you adjust truss rod on a guitar?Truss Rod Adjustment Most electric and acoustic guitars use an adjustable truss rod to manipulate the shape of the guitars neck. The truss rod was first developed by Gibson Guitars in the 1920’s. Since then it become a standard feature for most guitars.
How do you adjust a truss rod?Maintaining and adjusting the truss rod for correct neck shape is an step in a guitars set-up. Neck relief is the amount of bow or bend in the neck and should be adjusted to allow excellent playability and so the strings to vibrate freely without buzzing on the frets. The correct setting or set-up depends on your playing style. To evaluative the guitars neck shape, first sight the neck by holding the guitar out in front of you (the end of the body should be on the floor or table and the headstock should be pointed at you) supporting the underside of the head stock, and at arm's length, sight the length of the neck. Not you notice any bow-in, bow-out, straight, high frets, twist or humps. This will tell you a lot about the general health of a guitar as well. We recommend this be a consideration at the time you purchase the guitar. You can also check the neck by using a capo to hold down the strings at the first fret and then fret each string at the fourteenth fret to determine the gap under each string at the seventh fret. You can adjust the neck of the guitar with the truss rod to correct excessive bow. If the next is “Twisted” an adjustment to the truss rod will not help. The truss rod can be found at either at the headstock under the plastic cover plate, through the sound hole at the butt end of the neck for acoustic guitars. Each guitar is different and may require different tools for making an adjustment.
After adjusting the truss rod with the strings of install a NEW set of string and tune the guitar. Allow a minimum rest period of hour or longer to let the strings stretch and the neck to reshape. Then retune the guitar and check the shape of the next. The neck should now have bowed up from the initial adjustment. Hold down each string at the first fret and the fourteenth fret, and determine of the amount of gap under each string at the seventh fret. If the addition of the strings caused the neck bow up more than expected, the space between the strings and the fret board will be to much. It will be necessary to tighten the truss more. Leave the strings on but with slightly detune the guitar. Make only small adjustment for example a 1/8th or 1/16th turn o the truss rod. However if the neck relief bowed back or is in a straight condition, you will need o loosen the truss. Loosen the string and make an adjustment to reduce tension. Check the guitar again and allow it some time to settle in. Don’t constantly fiddle with the truss rod. Get it as close as you can and the live with it a while. Some other considerations:
The most important thing to remember when working with a trust rod is to be patient and to be very careful not to make BIG adjustments. Allow your self the time to do the job right, because you can break a guitar’s neck if you don’t do it properly. If you are just too freaked out take your valued instrument to a guitar tech. For about $40 they can adjust the guitar for you. |
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While it is recommended that a guitar should be consulted for making truss rod adjustment, it is not a difficult process, as long as you take the time and make only small adjustments.
For most guitars a 5mm Allen wrench is need to make the adjustment. Make sure you have the right tool. The first adjustment should be made with the strings off. Different types of wood react differently to truss rod adjustments. If the neck is made from mahogany the initial adjustment may require more negative relief (bow out); while a neck made from maple have a zero relief (flat or straight). This is important because when the strings are put on it will pull the neck into more bowed in shape. The hardness characteristic of the guitars neck impacts how much you need to offset the pressure cause by the addition of the string.
