How much time should i wait before making a second truss rod adjustment on my Sub1.

[jim_messina]

I'm currently working on my musicman Sub1 and i don't want to make a mistake, so...how much time should i wait before making a second truss rod adjustment?

Best regards.

 

[Metropolis777]

Don't have an answer for you but how do you like the single coil in the neck? Can you get a good blues tone with it?

 

[DrKev]

Whenever it's required. Guitar necks are not as fragile as many people believe. Adjust it to where it's supposed to be (be that factory spec or your own preferences). If it needs another adjustment in a day/month/year, so be it.

 

[jim_messina]

Drkey. I did the first adjustment but i'm not satisfied with the results... i want lower action and the truss rod still feels good for making another adjustment, so...how much time between any adjustment is ok to wait?

Metropolis777's. That single coil actually feels really good, i get very nice blues tones and when i need more gain i have no problems because is stacked...the bridge pickup is a JB seymour duncan with push/pull. Is a very nice combination for getting strat tones, i did this mod inspired in the 80' superstrats.

 

[wheres my pick?]

I actually just adjusted my sub for the first time. It works well if you wait around 15-20 minutes between each turn. I found the most important thing was to just do about 1/4 turn at a time, and to use common sense, if you think your cranking it too hard, you probably are. As long as you feel it has more give, you should be good. Musicman really hit the nail on the head with their truss rod design, it makes a great difference and is much easier than most other "budget" guitars.

 

[Fro]

If you want lower action you should adjust the bridge. The truss rod adjusts the bow of the neck.


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[Spudmurphy]

If you want lower action you should adjust the bridge. The truss rod adjusts the bow of the neck.

+1

However, I adjust my truss rod, play it for 5 mins or so then tweak again.

 

[DrKev]

Drkey. I did the first adjustment but i'm not satisfied with the results... i want lower action and the truss rod still feels good for making another adjustment, so...how much time between any adjustment is ok to wait?

You don't have to wait. If you need to make small adjustments, go right ahead and make them. Some people think necks need time to "settle" after an adjustment. I've never found that to be an issue. Some people actually put their guitar away for a day or two (or even a week!) after tweaking the truss rod, which is totally unnecessary. Adjust when you need to and get on with playing your guitar.

If you don't have already have a steel engineers rule (or the stewmac string action gauge) and feeler gauges for measuring neck relief, do make the small investment. It gets rid of all the guess work and optical illusions and makes life so much easier. No matter what happens, you can always get back to factory specification. And when you do dial in your own preferred setup, measuring and writing it down means you'll always be able to get there again.

If you want lower action you should adjust the bridge.

There is a time and a place for every adjustment and sometimes the truss rod is appropriate.

Saddle and bridges don't change height or position of their own accord. So, if over time our action changes then it can only be due to changes in neck relief (as the neck reacts to seasonal changes in humidity). In this case, adjusting the truss rod is the correct way to correct the neck relief, and therefore the string height.

Besides, we cannot break a guitar neck with a truss rod and there is a range of acceptable and necessary neck relief. If people know and understand what they are doing and want to make small adjustments to action with a truss rod, that's fine. Not enough relief - it will buzz on the low frets. Not enough height at the bridge - it will buzz on the high frets. It's pretty clear what needs to be done. It's not rocket science.

 

[straycat113]

Kev is correct (as usual) lol. As long as the bridge and saddles were set correctly you really do not have to touch them again and a tweak to the rod is what would be needed. Just give it another 1/4 turn and see how it plays and just keep going in small increments until it is where you like. So many guys are frightened they are going to snap the rod, but I can honestly say I have never seen it happen once in over 20 years of hanging my my buddies store. Most times you read on the internet of someone damaging a truss rod it was on an old guitar that the rod was seized up on and they really yanked it.