How to adjust your Truss Rod

Will Kelly, from the Hard Knocks Guitar Shop, shows how to adjust your truss rod. using luthier techniques to assess, and correct any neck deficiencies easily and without damaging your valuable instrument.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Guitar Repair
• Vintage Guitar magazine
• Will Kelly
• Adjust
• truss rod
• do it yourself
• guitar neck repair
• guitar maintenance
• tips and tricks
• how to

[535C3]

Check out my new, three part series on how to age/relic metal parts! Should get you where you need to go!

[535C3]

If your neck is 'twisted', it may be unrepairable. The are several ways to try to repair a twisted neck, one of them being removing the frets and planing the fingerboard. Another way is to heat the neck and try and 'untwist' the neck by force applied gradually with heat. But, my guess is, if your neck is twisted, you'll be throwing it away ...

[535C3]

Try and loosen it first. Completely remove the nut and clean and lubricate the threads of the truss rod, as best you can. Then, reattach the nut and slowly bring up to tension. Do NOT have any String tension on the neck when you're reinstalling the nut. You DO want some string tension on when you're removing the nut initially. If you can't get the nut removed, take it to a Luthier ... or make a campfire with it ...

[535C3]

Try to see if it will tighten ... if not, then it's probably stripped. There are several ways to fix this, going from tearing the neck apart and replacing the truss rod, to simply rethreading the truss rod so that a new nut will fit ... Stewart McDonald makes a great Truss rod "saver" tool kit ... I advise you to check w/a pro Luthier on this one my friend ....

[HaardBaroque]

@XAlphaZEROX

Should I see something or hear something? Tried to make a tone between the frets you´re suggesting. Between 1:st and 12:th fret it´s ringing and between 12:th and 22:nd it´s dead. Is that how you mean?

[XAlphaZEROX]

A good way to find out neck relief is to hold the first and the last fret on the string and press the 12 fret.

Every time you adjust your truss rod redo that first step to check relief. That's how I get the board perfectly flat on all my guitars c:

[HaardBaroque]

Hi Will!

I got an old Gibson in my hands (-72) and experience a problem with buzz on the high frets. Had to heighten the string level that it got to the edge of what is comfortable. Still bending on high notes is risky as they tend to die and it has became more hard work than guitar plaing. The nut is completely loose and the neck is slightly bowed. I prefer playing thicker strings.

What would you suggest to do, to get rid of this problem and what would be a possible optimal configuration?

[cisco2fun1]

@Modonaut57 and that's my left ,, if neck faces me is my left not the necks left correct!!! cuz then that makes sense

[Modonaut57]

@cisco2fun1 Twisting the allen key to the left loosens the neck and gives more bow/relief. Twisting the key to the right tightens the neck and gives less relief

[Modonaut57]

Congratulations!!! This is the first video where adjusting the truss rod has been clearly explained- ie which way do you turn the allen key in order to achieve either a tightening or loosening and from which direction you view the nut when talking about twisting left or right. Great!

[DustinAndNatasha]

My strings raise a bit at about the 12th fret but I don't have money for a luthier. I am pretty good at adjusting the truss rod. I think I can fix it myself. I just need to know, will I be able to fix it?

[edgomezuribe]

the RISK on the shelf ROOOOOCKS!!!

[TheAmericanNight]

best explaination on you tube. thank you

[munted66]

Hi I'm new to guitars so I have a noob question. My neck seems to bend up at the head stock (is that what it's called?) but I have no fret buzz. Is this ok or should I tighten it anyway?