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About 2 years ago I bought new a Fender Squire 'Mustang' MIM regular guitar. The neck is straight but a slight buzz on the strings---higher up the fingerboard. I have checked the frets--they seem to be OK. I want to add a little concave bow to the neck. I have done a little research on the Fender regarding the truss rod and found that some Fenders only have a one way truss rod---some have 2 way. How do you tell which way the truss rod turns---right or left? (Left to add 'concave'?) Before I did the research I turned the truss rod to the left to add a little concave bow. That turned very slightly but the nut was quite tight. As the nut managed to move--tightly---could it be the 'newness' of the guitar? Perhaps the routed part of the neck for the truss rod was very narrow?
Other points regarding the truss rod on a guitar-----Do you turn the nut when strings are up to pitch--or slacken the strings? I have read that some add a little WD-40 to the nut to loosen the nut. Your thoughts welcome on my subject.
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11-13-2024 06:48 PM
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All truss rods regardless if they are 2 way will tight the neck by turning to the right. To take out relief you tighten the rod to the right. To put more relief you turn the other way. If it is a 2 way rod it won't make difference but you should be able to tell by how the rod acts. If it is a one way rod then tension will drop a bit different than a 2 way.
There are luthiers who disagree with me on this topic, but I hold a fast powerful recommendation to never adjust the truss rod with the strings up to tension on the neck. The one exception is on a 1 way truss rod you can loosen the tension of the rod to add relief with string tension. Most important point is to mark the nut so you know where you started and turn in 1/8 turns or even less. If a two way rod I take tension off the neck and loosen the strings.
Many argue the guitar was designed to be made like that, but I believe they are quite wrong. It is the height of stupidity to tighten the truss rod with string tension. You have opposing forces working against each other on a piece of wood. No chances will I take splitting or damaging the neck or truss rod.
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How much higher up the neck? On an acoustic the trussrod typically has an effect on relief (i.e. fingerboard curvature) only/mostly between the heel and the nut. Beyond that the fretboard curvature can't be changed but the action can still increase if the nut raises w.r.t. to the saddle.
The principle must be the same on an e-guitar but the range over which the rod works can be completely different.
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When dressing and setting up a guitar the last frets about 15 an up the dressing should allow just bit of fall off. This keeps things from buzzing and good practice. It is critical for many guitars that the truss rod stops at the neck block, which most do or close. This can vary by a fret or two.
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It depends on how high. If the buzz is above the fret at which the neck joins the body and the entire board and frets are fine (as you describe, although you don't tell us how you determined this), the problem is most likely either too steep a neck angle or excessively low bridge saddles. But it may not be that simple.
Originally Posted by swingtoneman
Did the buzz develop recently or has it been there since you got the guitar? If it developed over time, something has shifted or worn and you have to find out what it is. Is the buzz on all strings, one, or a few? If it's a few, are they adjacent to each other or spread across the neck? Unless you're gigging heavily with it and/or using heavy strings, I doubt that you've worn the frets enough to have made divots in them after only 2 years of home playing. But I won't assume anything. If you've worn selected frets enough to lower their contact surface below the one above, you'll get buzzing wherever this has occurred. Blues players who play a lot and bend heavily at the 10th to 15th frets often wear divots under the E1, B and occasionally G strings up there . So it could mean that you need a fret level / crown / polish.
If the buzz is lower (somewhere between 3 and 8 or 9) and the frets are fine, it's probably a truss rod issue. But it can also be some combination of relief, angle, and / or bridge height. With a bolt-on bneck, you can shim for neck angle if tht's the problem. But after only 2 years, it's hard to imagine that the angle has become a problem if it wasn't this way when you got it.
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What the others said is accurate.
As a first step you can turn the truss rod screw to the left a quarter or half turn to add some more bow to see if it helps. If that doesn't help, you might need fret work because the frets at and above the heel react little or not at all to increasing the bow or action. But sometimes you can finesse things to get the strings to clear without buzzing.
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The difference between one way and two way truss rods is that one way rods can only pull the neck contrary to the way strings pull it, whereas two way rods can pull both ways (thus helping with backbow that can occur sometimes, especially if the woods aren't properly seasoned).
If you turn a truss rod clockwise it straightens the neck (pulls contrary to the strings). If you turn it counter clockwise it gives relief, slightly bowing the neck. That basically makes a difference in the middle frets of the guitar, around 5-12. Some players like some relief (Fender suggests the thickness of a medium pick), others want as little as possible. I like a little relief.
Then there is the nut. Notes on the first fret should be in tune, and when pressing on the third fret, strings should be really low on the first fret, with a tiny gap.
Moving to the bridge saddles, the front-back positioning should intonate the guitar perfectly on the 12th fret (with new strings). If the fretted note is lower than the harmonic move the saddle towards the neck, if it is higher move the saddle back. Then for height adjustment (which will affect any buzz from the 12 fret area and higher) you have to follow the radius on the fretboard (although many people don't exactly, they just lower the saddles as much as possible without buzzing - but I think a guitar plays better with the right radius on the saddles). You can buy or print small pieces of plastic that help with that.
Then there is the neck angle. You can check it with a long ruler, and it's relatively easy to change/shim on bolt-on guitars, electric or acoustic (Taylor acoustics for example). Resting on the fretboard edge (so not on the frets), the ruler should finish on the top of the bridge. If on the frets, it should finish on the saddle bone or individual saddles. If it ends low on the bridge or towards the body you have a problem.
When checking for problems, look for worn or uneven frets, a raised or sunken top (that can cause the bridge to get lower or a bump on the higher part of the fingerboard), bad neck angle, or twisted neck (where the bigger tension of the treble strings has raised this side of the neck over time). All common problems that occur with time, usage, or not being careful with temperature and mostly humidity..
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This is fine advice for an archtop, but it's irrelevant for a solid body like the OP's Mustang. It may seem obvious to those of us with experience, but I'd hate to find out that such advice led a novice with a solid body to worry about the top. Originally Posted by Alter
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Yes, it only applies to hollowbodies, acoustics, etc as there is no movable top on solid bodies. If the Op hasn't messed with the bridge saddles and hasn't changed string brand and gauge, probably the neck has slightly moved. I would start by turning the rod 45 degrees counter clockwise.
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All I ever knew is Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey, worked like a charm for me through the years. Slight turns only, it's ok to experiment, see if it works, you can always turn back the other direction. Originally Posted by swingtoneman
I never slacken the strings when adjusting the truss rod, and never saw pro techs who worked on my guitars doing or recomend doing it either. Originally Posted by swingtoneman
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It would also be counterproductive IMHO, esp. when adding relief with a one-way trussrod. Only time I'd do it is when trying to pull out a pronounced bow, just to limit the stress on the trussrod nut and thread. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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I've seen people physically bend a neck back (slightly!) against full string tension before tightening a truss rod. I think I've seen Stewmac doing it. I guess it reduces the friction of the nut against the threads and makes the nut easier to tighten. Also it means you don't have to totally retune to see the immediate effect.
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Why? Originally Posted by garybaldy
FWIW, the strings going uniformly out of tune is a good way to check how you're doing!
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Not if they are totally slackened to alter the TR, as some have suggested. Originally Posted by RJVB
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Before you get to far ahead of yourself, what frets are the strings buzzing on?
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To the question of what kind of truss rod the OP has, none of the MIM have a two-way truss rod (specifically, Fender's "BiFlex" which is different from the double truss rod design other builders use). Only certain US-made Fenders have them, basically, the American Standard and its derivative/continuation models (off the top of my head, the original 80s-90s American Standard and Deluxe, American Series, 2nd American Standard Series, American Professional, Ultra and Ultra II). None of the reissues, and none of the MIM's have them. You can usually tell by looking at the truss rod opening -- if there's a brown wood plug with a hole in it, it has the biflex. If it has a black plastic plug with a hole, a "bullet" TR, or no hole (heel adjustment), it does not. Regardless, it works the same way as a standard one -- righty tighty (reduce relief), lefty loosey (add relief).
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Many thanks everybody for your great knowledge--very much appreciated.
To answer John A:
'If it has a black plastic plug with a hole, a "bullet" TR, or no hole (heel adjustment), it does not. Regardless, it works the same way as a standard one -- righty tighty (reduce relief), lefty loosey (add relief).'
My 'Mustang' has the black plastic plug---so it should work 'righty tighty / lefty loosely' ?
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Yup, righty tighty, lefty loosey. Originally Posted by swingtoneman
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