Hello again guys. My topic here is about how much tighter I can go with the truss rod. Now before you say not too much or it will break, I know this, so let me describe a little further. Ok, HW1 strat 2009 model, and the tweeking / tightening is becoming tight but I wonder is this because it is new? Also do people use any oil in there to make the turns easier, oil like linseed, or olive oil? Or should it be left tight and dry? At the moment the neck looks pretty well straight from 22 fret all the way up to about the 3rd fret then starts to bow up. Any help, ideas welcome.
Thanks from Lancs.

_________________
Let's get out of here before they blame it all on us.

I would suggest taking your Strat to a pro if you are meeting excessive force when tightening the truss rod. They should be able to determine if the truss rod is hard to tighten because you have bottomed out the truss rod nut, or if it's tight because it is a new guitar. I hope you didn't get a bad neck because the truss rod shouldn't bottom out at all. Check Fender's warranty under the Support tab at the top of the page.

When my Tele was new, the truss rod was very hard to turn. I took it to my local tech and it just ended up being that the truss rod nut happens to sit very snug in that particular neck. No big deal. And keep in mind some necks are stubborn and need you to slacken the strings and bend the neck slightly in the direction you want it to go while you turn the truss rod. Sometimes a tight truss rod indicates it can't do all the work by itself and needs you to straighten the neck while you turn.
Good luck!

p.s. Do not pour any oil down the truss rod hole.

_________________
Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Great advise I'd say!

Hi vaarl: there's luthier-type methods for dealing with this - depending on what the issue really is. It would be a very long post and I'm not sure that it mightn't lead to more problems than it solved. I'd second those suggesting showing the guitar to a good, knowledgeable, experienced tech.

But just conversationally: is there actually a problem with how the guitar is playing, or is this just based on observation? And when you describe the neck being straight down to the third fret and then front-bowing - is that from eye or using the edge of a steel rule to measure it accurately?

Whatever: there's potentially a can of worms here. Show it to someone good face-to-face, is my serious advice. I seem to remember that Nikininja has excellent recommendations for techs in your area...

Cheers - C

I 2nd this! Don't mess with something unless you really know what your doing. I have a cheap old guitar I started experimenting with and did not care if I messed it up. I would have never done that with a newer USA Strat!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Assuming here your are trying to straighten the neck and tightening clockwise and know all about the risks of damaging your neck if you don't know what your doing?

You really need a feeler gauge and a straight edge especially if your measuring backbow.

First you need to have a goal as in how much relief do you want or what problem you are correcting. Are you using too heavy strings for that neck? What tuning are you using? What does the manufacturer recommend is the maximum for that model? What relief are you trying to set into the neck?

Then always check the relief to see where you originally are at before adjusting the truss rod and keep taking measurements otherwise its pointless and snappy time for you.

If your happy to play. Look up what kind of truss rod you have.
Take all your string tension off. Loosen your truss rod a bit (counter clockwise) but measure how far your turn! You should expect the neck to get more relief.

If the nut comes off its a standard truss rod, if it goes loose then tightens up again its a Biflex which is similar to a double action truss rod. A Biflex will tighten up the truss rod straight to straighten the neck and exaggerates the curve (that is in the neutral position) to get more relief.

On a standard truss tod the nut will come off you can lubricate it with a small amount of Vaseline on the bottom side of the nut that will come in contact with the washer. On a Biflex or on a model with a small walnut plug (where the nut freely won't unscrew out). Forget about it and take it to repairer if you think it needs lubricating.

With no string tension and having loosened off the nut a bit (in case it was finding resistance) you now should be able to tighten the neck a bit straighter with less string resistance. Only tighten it back to where it originally was. Then take a measurement to see what relief you have. If the necks still not straight you can try an 1/8th or less turn. Recheck your relief. Important to see if the neck is moving if its not = bad.

At this stage if its very tight and you cannot get it straight or with a slight bit of backbow (for heavy strings) you can get a friend to place a towel under the back of the body and on a low table or chair and on the front of the body put downward pressure to hold it steady. While he does that you put a little bit of pressure at about the 3rd fret and see if you can aid the neck while you tighten it and straighten a bit more. Remembering that you want to stop and take a measurement to check relief and be sure your not going miles into backbow.

Leave the guitar for a day or so can let it settle and often get you to where you want to go. You will need to string it up and tune to pitch with full string tension. Ideally let it settle for a bit to take a final measurement before doing the rest of the setup.

All good tricks but bad if you don't understand the concepts behind the truss rod and the forces being exerted. In that case take it to a setup tech or even better a Luthier that specializes in neck repair.

There are 2 kinds of standard truss rods, heel adjust and headstock adjust.

vaarl - Your HWY1 has a standard truss rod, but you won't be able to take the nut off since the nut is located at the headstock with access though a hole in the walnut plug. The walnut plug will prevent the nut from coming off. The quote above is referring to the vintage Fender style truss rod nut at the heel end of the neck, where yes you could loosen the truss rod all the way and the nut will come off.

_________________
Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

NO oil : You'l damped the wood and could leave some damage.

Thankyou all for your kind comments. Like so many guitar issues there is a definite "interconnectedness" (as Coleridge would say). I see the potential "can of worms" scenario Ceri and recall Niki's nod to local expertise but you may recall I am trying to avoid the techs as much as possible, not just financially but for self - teaching/ learning value. All observations/ assessments at the moment Ceri are from a safe distance due to my lack of practical know-how. Don't worry guys I won't tamper unnecessarily.

I don't think the rod is broken as I have hardly tightened it at all.
To be fair the neck plays pretty good and there is a slight bow that, I am led to believe from research, is a healthy thing.

I have kept to the recommended 9-42 strings so tension should be suited to spec. Although to me the frets being so big would better suit 9-46. I may follow the advice of incremental slackening/tightening, taking measurements in the process.

Thanks again from Lancs.

_________________
Let's get out of here before they blame it all on us.

A good course to take at this point is to put a long Allen wrench down the hole with a 1 foot cheater bar and twisted that puppy 5 full turns.... clockwise....... (JUST JOKING!) be careful! as a striped head on, or broken truss rod is a "kiss of death."

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

It's normal that some trust rod nut are difficult to turn.

Before you turn clocwise, turn little bit couter clockwise. This help to clean the nut and bolt treads.
And each time you turn cw, turn ccw.

Be sure to have a good and tight allen key. The one give with the guit is often cheap and lose in the hole. You can damage the nut.

Take your time : many hours: turn little bit 1/8 turn ,leave it an hour , that is what I do in some case

Now that we know you have 9s and have a little relief. It also sounds like your just adjusting it for the first time? Well then it shouldn't be a problem.

The main reason for the backing off and tighten technique is that if the truss rod is as tight as it goes then you can instantly damage the truss rod or neck by further tightening.

You should be looking at relief somewhere between the fender spec and a straight neck if you want to see how well you can setup your guitar. Many players like a straight neck. If your play style suits it (you don't use too much attack on the low E) then there is no reason you can't get a low fast action.

Since you are using light strings slacken them off slightly. Tighten an 1/8th and retune to pitch and recheck the relief.

In my opinion if you can't measure relief on your guitar you shouldn't be using the truss rod. So be sure you have that skill down learned first.

Be aware that generally that the truss rod adjustment is part of a full setup. So just tweaking the truss rod without setting up action (string) height and intonation is really an incomplete job.

Best to learn the works if you want to do it all yourself.

+1 Schockwarrior

Vaarly Vaarly Vaarly Voo

Mate in all honesty I think you need to get it to someone just to have the trussrod looked at. Honestly. Theres a limit to what you can teach yourself. The guy who showed me how to adjust a trussrod was a pub owner that used to demo amps for GrooveTubes across europe. Sadly gone now, someone I miss dearly. You could do with befrending someone who knows about this stuff, get em to adjust the trussrod for you, whilst you watch. There comes a time when experienced hands are vital and nothing else will do.

In the words of the great Johnny Vegas, watch and learn son, watch and learn.


Anyone who gives you a line like 'why should I teach you how to do this and do myself out of work' or any similar crap, is just that. Crap, walk away from em straight away. Theres more to it than just turning a few screws, though thats all thats done. You develop a kind of 6th sense as to what needs to be done, to what degree, with experience. That kind of experience is always worth paying for and anyone who's any good wont be afraid to share what they know because of it. Experience is something you cant buy.
I still from time to time, pay to have my guitar setup. Despite having set my own guitars up for the last 20years I still sometimes pay someone else to do it. Theres still lots to learn, for everyone.

_________________
No no and no

Ajusting trust rod is very easy to learn. Lots of videos on you tube. It's not a rocket science, but you have to know what you are doing.

I learn that by myself and I do that very often for friends whith success. With the years Ibought some tools from Stewmac, like straightedge for easy mesuring trust rod adjustment.