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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Truss rod trauma

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Hello SG101ers

I bought an EKO Condor a while ago and have only just got round to trying to set her up properly (what can I say, I lack motiviation).

Upon looking at the truss rod access-thing I suddenly realised I have no idea how to adjust it. I'm used to Fender-style truss rods where you just twizzle an allen-key around, but I'm stumped by this one.

Can anybody help me out?

image

Stick a rod in a hole and turn it?

afraid so.......

Same as a Teisco!

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Use an allen wrench or other suitably hard steel tool. If you stick a screwdriver in it you will just ruin the 'driver. Now my question is: which way do you turn it to give relief to the neck – i.e., to create more of a bow in the neck, increasing the space between strings and frets? I have to adjust my Teisco ET200 project guitar's neck.

Squink Out!

Just try turning it.. an audacious suggestion, but by God it may just work. I'll give it a go.

And JObeast - I assume the age-old 'righty-tighty, lefty-loosey' should be equally applicable here.

Looking at that picture, to turn it tighter you probably want to stick a bit of steel rod into one of those sets of holes and pull the free end of the rod across the neck from the 1st string towards the 6th string. (i.e.: looking down the neck from the headstock end, I'm picking that clockwise rotations will tighten it.)

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

Just to keep you all updated on my exciting quest:

I have turned the trussrod probably about 1/8th of a turn so far - it's quite resistant though so I am not overly keen on giving it too much welly.

Is it possible for an old truss rod to become 'stiff' - or is she trying to tell me to go easy on her? There's still quite a bit of bow in the neck and she's only wearing .10s at the moment, so I don't see it being overly tight at this stage.

p.s. sorry if I'm over-thinking all this. She's 'my baby', though..

p.p.s. would any of you recommend trying to give it a turn with the strings off instead? That might mean there's less tension working against it and therefore make it easier to turn (perhaps)

Last edited: May 10, 2013 17:16:13

It's always a good practice to loosen the rod a little before tightening. This can help with rods that seem frozen some times.
It's also a good idea to note where the rod is adjusted at the truss rod nut either visually or with a small mark made with a sharpie, top center. This way you can gauge your progress.

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maxtib wrote:

Just to keep you all updated on my exciting quest:

I have turned the trussrod probably about 1/8th of a turn so far - it's quite resistant though so I am not overly keen on giving it too much welly.

Is it possible for an old truss rod to become 'stiff' - or is she trying to tell me to go easy on her? There's still quite a bit of bow in the neck and she's only wearing .10s at the moment, so I don't see it being overly tight at this stage.

p.s. sorry if I'm over-thinking all this. She's 'my baby', though..

p.p.s. would any of you recommend trying to give it a turn with the strings off instead? That might mean there's less tension working against it and therefore make it easier to turn (perhaps)

Don't keep turning it if it's giving you resistence. Instead take the neck off and loosen the truss rod. Then clamp the neck into straightness against an aluminium beam. Leave it like that for say 3 months or so and then re-tighten the truss rod and un-clamp the neck. It should be straight now.
I did this with my strat. The neck was badly bowed beyond what the truss rod could remedy. It worked like a charm.

image

image

image

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+! what psychonaut said. The neck, being old wood, has probably bowed permanently into the concave, and the timber grain now needs to be unbowed the other way in a clamp for a few days or weeks to help the truss overcome the ingrained bow.

If that doesn't work, you might want to consider upgrading the truss rod arrangement. I bought a cheap '97 MIM Jazz Bass recently and it had a concave-bowed neck which made it unplayable. In my (albeit gradual and incremental) attempts to get it to behave, I eventually overtightened and stripped the truss thread - and that was when i discovered that the truss that was in it was crappy steel (cos it shouldn't've done that). So I just had that replaced with better quality steel and its all good again.

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

Last edited: May 10, 2013 23:06:32

I am totally naming a song "truss rod trauma" now.

Psycho surfabilly!

www.thealderkings.com

Psychonaut - you've got some serious-looking pieces of equipment there. Is there a particular name for the kind of clamps you used? I've been looking online but can't find to see any that resemble those (and they would be ideal).

I got that set up for about $30 on ebay from a company called axemasters. I can't find the listing but their email is i1532@sbcglobal.net. You might be able to write them and see if they still carry it. It's just a simple straight beam and some C-clamps. You could probably find this stuff at a home DIY shop. You just have to make sure you pad the metal so it doesn't marr the wood.
Many luthiers use a heated table to achieve this task:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-NECK-STRAIGHTENER-ARIA-TOOL-IRON-HEAT-PRESS-MADE-JAPAN-LUTHIER-REPAIR-/261211144052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd165bf74
As heat helps to soften the wood

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Last edited: May 11, 2013 07:45:53

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