Praise for the truss rod wheel.

[philthygeezer]

It made a concerted effort to adjust the actions on my EBMMs as easy as pie! What a simple but genius design.

I did it this way:

1. Held A string at first fret and past end of fretboard with elbow.
2. Adjusted truss rod until relief was about a credit card thick (no more than 1/3 turn per day).
3. lowered the saddles until I got a good buzz
4. fine-tuned truss rod until buzz was even up and down whole fretboard (tightened if buzzed above the 12th fret, loosened if buzzed in frets 1-5)
5. Raised saddles til the buzzing stopped

5. tune
6. intonate to 12th fret with saddles
7. retune
8. repeat 5-8 ad nauseum

I got this mostly from the Gary Willis site. Do you reckon there's a better or faster way to do it? The results were very good IMO.

 

[Aussie Mark]

There are actually instructions on set up in the FAQ on the EBMM website. I bleeb EBMM don't recommend using saddle height to adjust string height, as truss rod tweaking should have it covered.

 

[bassmonkey]

A great invention. When my basses arrived after being on a container ship for 12 weeks the necks were a little out and action a bit high. A quick tweak of the truss rod wheel and I was good to go.

 

[five7]

Yes, Musicmans are the easiest to adjust.

 

[philthygeezer]

There are actually instructions on set up in the FAQ on the EBMM website. I bleeb EBMM don't recommend using saddle height to adjust string height, as truss rod tweaking should have it covered.

Thanks for reference I'll take a look for it.

But what if your saddles are too high or too low regardless of the truss rod state?

Seems to me there is an ideal curvature to the neck: this is what we are aiming for by fretting the A at the first and last frets to determine relief (eg the credit card thickness).

 

[freddy]

I agree that the truss rod adjustment on an EBMM is a great thing especially in drastically changing climates like Ontario where fluctuating temperatures and humidity are frequent.

It's actually kind of a deal breaker for me as the few times my eyes have wondered from the fold, I reminded myself of this and starting GASing for another EBMM instead.

 

[Freddels]

I love the wheel. My 30th SR just had a little fret buzz around the 14th fret and up. I doubled checked the EBMM f.a.q. section so I'd know which way to turn the wheel, a small adjustment and no more buzz. Did I mention that I love the wheel?

 

[iamcatwarrior]

The truss wheel sure beats the hell out looking into a black hole to make adjustments. Looks aesthetically better than a truss rod cover plate, too.

 

[leond]

As I constantly tweak the wheel, I think it's a great thing.

What I've noticed is that only MM and Sadowsky use it. I'm guessing it's a patent thing.

I'm curious, who came out with the wheel first, MusicMan or Sadowsky?

LeonD

 

[petch]

The wheel rules. A superior design for sure- it sure makes tweaking easy. I set the saddles just once and have never touched them since... I just turn the wheel. There are other basses besides EBMM and Sadowsky that use it; I have one... starts with a P.