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I often take the nut off a new purchase and put a little white lithium grease on the threads, if there's enough threaded rod I add a thin stainless steel washer as they seem to be smoother than the Gibson metal washer and the nut turns easier. I live in an area with really low humidity and before seasonal adjustments I will apply Dr Ducks Axe Wax to rosewood or ebony fretboards and wait a day or 2, often this rehydrating the fretboard is enough to straighten the neck. After a couple winters and applications of Dr Ducks the necks are usually pretty stable.
Dr Ducks comes from Las Vegas where humidity is extremely low, he seems to have found a good solution.Last edited by MaxTwang; 07-02-2016 at 01:51 AM.
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07-02-2016 01:47 AM
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Ducks Axe Wax...gotta try that. Some fellows recommend bore's oil (snoooorrrrr) like Fret Doctor but I have been warned against drenching a rosewood, especially, fretboard with it because it softens the wood and it gouges easily when the strings chafe against it.
It is kind of a guitarist nervosa to attack the truss rod. Just because it can be adjusted does not mean that it should be adjusted as and when you feel like it. Wood is organic; it changes with the weather; that is inevitable. It is never gonna be perfect like a finely machined tourbillon. Is neck relief that critical? Some days there is more relief; some days there is less relief; some days it is just right. I live with it. The guitar doesn't always play like butter but it is always I who is at fault.
I recognise the nervous tic to fiddle around from my audiophool days. Audiophilia nervosa, we joke about it. I have guys in my group who cannae sit still to listen to a record, no, one track. They are constantly getting up and adjusting the VTA of the tonearm, azimuth of the cartridge, adjusting the loudspeakers, more toe-in, less toe-in. From track to track. It gets ridiculous and wearing on the nerves.
Unlike women, men are fools with tools. We don't know when enough is enough, when to stop.
Neck relief is never gonna be perfect. I accept that and settle on a compromise. I tweak the truss rod once for a string set gauge and leave it at that until I change the gauge.
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The guitar itself is what demands taking action, to me. Some guitars aren't bothered by seasonal changes, other are. I want my action the way I want it, so on the latter, yes, a late-spring and late-fall TRA was in the works. Other guitars, the neck didn't float nearly as much, and so rather than deal with the hassle, I worked it out with my touch instead.
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But neck relief is NOT for adjusting playing action. Any luthier or tech will tell you that. You gotta look elsewhere for that.
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If your situation requires adjusting the truss rod 2 or more times a year then it might be time for a roasted maple neck. Roasted maple doesn't react to changes in humidity.
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Don't be afraid to learn how to work on your own guitars. That includes cutting nut slots to the right depth, setting the action height, and adjusting the relief. Work to be done as needed.. not based on whatever you might read on Internet.
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Another fix - which is difinitely not for do it yourself people - is to drill the cavity for the truss rod at the nut a little deeper into the neck and then cut more thread in the truss rod. StewMac has a special drill for that. But it's also something which weakens the neck-to-peghead joint. And if the reason for the truss rod maxing out is it's digging into the wood at the body end, it's only a temporary measure. Me, I'd stay away from guitars with maxed out truss rods.
Originally Posted by Franz 1997
As for the 1/8 turn a time - yes, that's how I do it. Living in a central heated house, the humidity fluctuates with the seasons and for some of my guitars I have to adjust the truss rod twice a year. For those guitars 1/8 to 1/4 turs is enough for that. BTW, I don't use any humidifiers or the like and have never in my 50 years with guitars experienced cracks, so I figure the seasonal humidity fluctuations are within reasonable limits.
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I see that many here have posted saying 1/8 of a turn or 45 degrees is where they start there adjustment. An 1/8 of a turn should be a safe amount but on some guitars that may be far more than is needed. Some guitars will need much less than a 45 degree turn of the nut to see a result. As an example, on my most recent build I made the final adjustment a 7 degree turn of the TR nut to remove some relief, the neck responded and that was all it needed. So sometimes just the slightest turn is all you need. It is different on all guitars so get to know your guitar and follow the great advise given by all the other posters in this thread and you can't go wrong.
Last edited by Matt Cushman; 07-05-2016 at 12:25 PM.
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Dear friends,
The truss rod of my Ibanez Artstar Af155 reached the maximum. There's no more room to tight and put a higher tension string set. Now it's set to 11's.
After some research, I've noticed that this is really a serious thing. To fix this problem, the truss rod must be replaced, and to do that, the fingerboard must be taken off. After that probably the binding must be redone and of course painting too.
Have you guys ever faced a problem like that? It's a good guitar, but I don't think it deserves such a costly repair, don't you?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Thank you!
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Often you can take off the truss rod nut, add a washer or spacer to the rod, replace the nut and thus get some extra adjustment in the rod.
Look it up online
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Thank you, Franz!
There's a video on YouTube by StewMac showing that washer/spacer workaround.
I afraid the Ibanez kind of truss rod is different than Gibson as explained in the video. Ibanez has an Allen type bullet.
As you suggested, I'll try to find some solution online or try to find a local Ibanez authorized service.
Thank you!
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The allen type bullet is a nut in another shape. The washer shim should work, and if it doesn't, you're only out a few cents and a little time. Good luck! Originally Posted by Campos
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You need to loosen all the tension in the rod first. Then get a washer behind the place leading to the neck on the other side of truss rod. Hopefully you can do this and if you can use a washer that is cut so you can bend around the rod. Finally and the most important part is you must do the truss rod work yourself in a jig. A luthier can do this for you and I do it all the time even on truss rods that work normally, if I think I could be near the limit.
You get 2 blocks of wood on the neck at 1st fret and around 17th fret. Then get a heavy piece of metal like a cast iron pipe, although I have a heavy maple straight block I use. Put it on the blocks and then get a clamp under the neck on back side ( I have blocks I use). Then take clamp and start clamping to bow the neck into place. In fact over shoot it so that there is a convex hump in the neck. Then take the truss rod and tighten it as far as it will go. Get it very snug and then release the clamps and take off the jig. This many times will be all that is needed to get neck were you need it. In fact you might have to back off the tension of the rod. The jig is acting like a truss rod over the fingerboard and the truss rod then just become a stop when you release. Believe me it works many times on impossible rods.
In effect what you have done is by releasing the tension on rod and resetting it without the truss rod doing the work, you have hopefully created space and a new " set point" for the truss rod.
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