I have a 2001 American standard with a maple neck. I've set the relief to 0.12 at the 8th fret. I really like the feel of it and i don't get any buzz. However, when I knock on the back of the neck, I can hear the truss rattle. It only goes away when I tighten the rod and I get relief between 0.8-0.10. I previously had the relief at 10, but I didn't like the feel. Is this a common thing? It only rattles between the 7th to 9th fret.

Are you sure its the truss rod? It could be the microtilt nut thats a little loose, i had that happen on my strat, try nipping it up with the allen key and see if that does the trick....

if its the truss rod then remove the nut and add a washer to take up the gap.

It could be the microtilt. Its a Bi-flex truss rod. By nipping, do you mean tighthening it a !@$? I've tried that.

Hi cocteau: can you explain that statement a bit more, please?

Cheers - C

If its the truss rod then remove the nut and add a washer to take up the gap.
---amx05462
How can you remove the nut ? there is a walnut plug there.

___________________________________

I had the same problem with my trust rod, A 1995 Strat buy used. American Standard and maple neck too.
It takes time and many adjustments to have the right relief for me, close to .12 without the buzz with the trust rod. But now it OK.
Yes it take few months with almost weekley adjustments

I have many Strat, I know very well how to adjust trust rod and I have many precision tools from Stewarts Mac.
It's the first one I had this problem.

Cocteau
I have a horrible suspicion that the truss rod has broken, if it is the truss rod rattling.
The washer idea is a good one but as Stratele said, it would only really work on vintage necks. Unless of course you fancy cutting the plug out and then refilling it. Do-able but not for the faint of heart.
What I have found over the years with onepiece maple necks, is that they vary wildly in how they respond to truss rod adjustments.
For instance of my maple necked guitars the hotrod's neck never moves. It never needs adjusting. My MIM is much the same. My american deluxe moves a load at the slightest adjustment. My tele moves very little.
Obviously a lot of the differences are down to the thickness's of the neck's.

Does the American Standard use the same BiFlex rod that the Deluxe uses? I suspect you may have a neck that needs no truss rod pressure for the relief you are giving it. If it is a BiFlex truss rod you could try putting a bit more relief into it. If not then you're stuck to raising string gauge to increase relief.

_________________
No no and no

If its a Biflex truss rod (can adjust neck both directions) then the nut needs to be tightened either one way or the other.
Fender mentions not to leave the truss rod loose in its setup instructions.

If it is loose then the truss rod will be sitting neutral without applying neck tension.
If it is this the rattling could be the truss rod moving in the truss rod anchor (sleeve that supports the middle of the truss rod from blowing out the back of the neck) that is in the area your describing.

What strings gauge are you using?
If you go up a string gauge it will put some more tension on the neck you might get a better truss rod adjustment.

Is there much fret wear?
Try to avoid adjusting the truss rod to setup the action height.
See if you can set the neck straight as you can first with the strings your after and set the saddle height to get in the ball park.

The neck will take a couple of days to settle in even after you adjust the truss rod. If you cannot get it right take it to a Fender repairer for them to evaluate it.

Can you hear the rattle through an amp? Probably not. So don't worry about it especially if you can dial in the releif you want. I bet the releif you want requires the truss rod to exert little to no pressure on the neck, hence wiggle room to rattle.

I once had a 2000 MIM Std that had a truss rod rattle when I knocked on the back of the neck at a certain spot or played a certain note (I think it was at the 12th fret on the B string). Actually it would only rattle during the dry winter months when the neck wood is constricted, and was rattle-free during the humid summer months when the wood would expand.

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

I'm hoping that it's just in the neutral position. But I wouldn't expect this to happen at 0.12 of relief. If I tighten it to 0.10, the rattle goes away. It really sucks, as I don't like a straight neck or anything up to 0.10 relief.

And I'm currently using 11-52 strings.
I hope the rod hasn't snapped.