truss rod adjustment...

I went to adjust my truss rod today on my guitar which is less than a year old (never adjusted a truss rod before). And I turned it and it felt like there was literraly almost no resistance, it sort of felt like it was just sliding around when I turned it, is this normal?

when i did mine i kept spinning it untill it looked even to the eye....and when i played it, it was sounding better. no vibratones or anything. yea its pretty normal....you know its straight. but if it was difficult that means that its a little bent, and thats a problem...but your ok

You do know that you should slacken all the string before adjusting the truss rod ...yes ?

Damn I didnt know. 3 of them were loosened just so I could unscrew the thing covering the truss rod. What happens if you adjust the rod with some strings still tight? =(

What's a trus rod? lol...I only know what is a GUITAR or an AMP...duhhh......:p

go to google.com and type in truss rod

So...truss rod is the neck...?

wow you didn't search very well... oh well I'll explain it. The truss rod is an adjustable metal rod running thru the middle of the guitar neck. It's purpose is to counteract the tension of the strings, which are pulling the neck up and trying to bend it. You can adjust the truss rod to slightly change the bend in the guitar neck, tightening it straightens the neck out and loosening it makes it resist the strings less and bends the neck more. It was invented so guitar necks could be made smaller and easier to play without them bending way out of shape. (invted in the 1920s i think by gibson.)

No, you didnt search too well lol... The truss rod is an adjustable metal rod running down the middle of the guitar neck. It holds the neck straight and prevents the tension of the strings from pulling the neck up and bending it. It allowed companies to build guitars with thinner necks that are easier to play without the necks bending a ton (they used to have to be super thick and hard to play just so they wouldn't bend). And you can adjust it if you want to slightly adjust the bend in your neck. You tighten the nut connected to the truss rod if you want to straighten your neck, you loosen it if you want to allow the neck to bend with the strings a bit more.

Oh...Now I see...y adjust it?

oops sorry about the 2 posts in a row, it said the first one didn't work... I guess it did. You adjust it just cause of personal prefference, some people like the strings really low, some don't. Sometimes when you buy a guitar new the store sets it up really badly so you usualy have to adjust the truss rod on a new guitar unless you pay the store to do it, and over time the neck will change a bit depending on tempurature and humidity.

pretty much right on that last one. your neck could bend over anything and everything. I mean when you tune your guitar to E witch alot of people do, you are putting great tension on the neck. If it didn't have the truss rod then it would look like an arc LOL. Loosen the strings LOL...how did you get to your truss rod with the strings ON? wasn't it a pain in the ass to work around the strings? When i adjust mine, i don't even have strings on them. i figured it was impossible to get to with the strings on it LMFAO. you shouldn't have tried it with the strings on man. but if you did then i guess it'll be ok, your lucky you didn't snap your neck or crack it.

I understand it all now...I have an epiphone les paul and I don't see anyway to ritch the rod....how do I ritch the rod?

On the headstock of your guitar (where the 6 tuning pegs are) there will probably be a little plastic flat plastic thing (probably black) screwed down with 3 small screws, if you unscrew it there will be a nut connected to the truss rod in there. If it isn't there it will be at the base of the neck down by the body of the guitar.

someone once said, if there's nothing wrong with it DON'T FIX IT....if your epophone is ok, don't mess with the truss. but if the strings are too high off the fret board, WHICH MOST OF THEM ARE ON EPONPHONES NATURALLY, you can try to mess with it...but its not very smart. don't go around fixing **** that isn't broke...LOL TIM TAYLOR.

I agree with the don't fix it if it aint broke thing. But if you use common sense and be careful there's no harm in adjusting a truss rod a little bit, and it's good to know how to do instead of being afraid of it and stuff. Then next time you need to adjust it like in the winter when it's less humid, you will know exactly what to do and it will be as simple as changing strings.

Floyd Rose+Changing strings=A difficult pain in the as*!

Originally posted by trendkillah
Can someone please explain to me why exactly you should not adjust the truss rod with the strings still on the guitar(at full tension except for the ones in the middle obviously)?

I rarely (like pretty much never) need to tweak the truss rod at all. If I'm changing the string gauge, the nut slots and the bridge saddles will need to be adjusted as well, so I pass my axe over to my favourite tech. It has to be done right, and I know my limitations (well some of em, anyways).

If you really feel that you must do it yourself, you should make the adjustment with the strings [u]in place, and tuned to proper pitch[/u]! You have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting it right, without having the strings on the guitar, to show how much the neck bow has changed in response to your adjustment. Tweak it just a little bit at a time, and play the guitar for an hour or so between adjustments, to allow the change in truss rod tension to be distributed evenly along the rod.

Well-intentioned, but misguided, fooling around with the truss rod can trash an otherwise perfectly good guitar. Proceed with caution!

I have just checked the Dan Erlewine book and you are all right, the truss rod should be adjusted with the strings strung to pitch and the guitar in the playing position...my bad !!!!

I was getting confused with hearing a "squeaking noise" which means the rod is over tightened which is a bad thing as it can strip the thread !!!

One day I will remember where I put my head and with any luck that will let me get my foot out of my mouth !