Truss Rod Nut Tight, Still Too Much Neck Relief - Quick Questions

Tagged: neck relief, neckrelief, repair and setup, truss rod, trussrod

Quick Questions

Truss Rod Nut Tight, Still Too Much Neck Relief

Posted by Ben Schmaus Bench Zen on February 17, 2024 at 9:20 am

How often do folks come across a neck where there’s still too much relief when the truss rod nut is tightened as much as it can be? I’ve mostly come across this on a handful of Squiers and Epiphones and, once in a while, a MiM Fender.

Aside from using something like https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-truss-rods/stewmac-truss-rod-rescue-tools/ are there simpler fixes that folks recommend in this situation?

stewmac.com
StewMac Truss Rod Rescue Tools - StewMac
Fixes damaged and broken guitar truss rods. Cleans old threads, cuts new ones and even rescues rods when the adjusting nut has broken off!

Daniel Rohr Minnesota Guitar Repair replied 1 year, 5 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Daniel Rohr Minnesota Guitar Repair

Member
February 21, 2024 at 10:06 pm

I have a neck I’m messing with right now like that. I’m planning to tear into I’ll take a look and snap some pics and if you don’t hear from me, connect with me later. I remember a section in one of my books about something similar also I’ll dig through those tomorrow.
- Ben Schmaus Bench Zen
  
  Member
  March 10, 2024 at 5:02 pm
  
  Hey @danieltrohr – thanks for chiming in here. Any updates on that neck?
  - Daniel Rohr Minnesota Guitar Repair
    
    Member
    March 10, 2024 at 5:10 pm
    
    Nope. Forgot. Reminder set for Tuesday latest.
  - Daniel Rohr Minnesota Guitar Repair
    
    Member
    March 12, 2024 at 6:48 pm
    
    The anchor is definitely compressing into the wood around it.
Ian Davlin The Looth Group

Administrator
February 22, 2024 at 7:33 am

Gibson also had a run of guitars that they built relief into, but under anchored the rod. You’ll see those with dimed out rods all too much relief. Eventually it needs to have a section of board removed and the anchor embiggened.
Maxi Morales MOMA

Member
February 23, 2024 at 6:08 am

I have been working on a couple of Fender and Squier basses in which the point at which the truss rod began to operate was when I had already turned it several times and by the time I reached the end of the thread the neck still had too much relief. In several of these cases I only added a supplement similar to the one that comes with the truss rod rescue (off-set spacer), generally made of bronze. and with that the truss rod started working sooner and the neck reached the desired relief. I left them for a couple of days to see if they maintained that curvature or if they moved again.
- Maxi Morales MOMA
  
  Member
  February 23, 2024 at 6:13 am
  
  When the neck move again if the neck is worth it I took a more drastic approach hahaha 🫠
  
  https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1KhJ2Pu90P/?igsh=Nm5vd2swcDJ3cGRq
  
  instagram.com
  Moma reparaciones on Instagram: "Un par de problemas con este fender…. El punto de acción del tensor estaba muchoo más abajo de lo normal (llegando al primer traste), la madera del mango se comprimía con mucha facilidad, pasaron completamente de vueltas la bala y la misma empezó a romper el diapasón. 🫤… La acción del bajo en el traste 12 estaba en 3,5mm en la 4ta y no se podía bajar. Salió a 2,5mm 🤓 y se podría seguir bajando. . . . . . . . . . #buenosaires #argentina #chacarita #recoleta #guitarra #bajo #musica #reparacion #calibracion #arte #oficio #lutheria #guitar #loother #loothing #bass #fender #b52s #instamusic #musicaddict #instagram #intagramreels"
  132 likes, 5 comments - moma.reparacion.instrumentos on December 22, 2023: "Un par de problemas con este fender…. El punto de acción del tensor estaba muchoo más abajo d..."