Too much truss rod adjustment?

[Juriy Linitskiy]

Hello all!Finally got my first Music Man!

But there is a problem.Summer,ugh!Yesterday I adjusted truss rod on my EBMM BFR 7 guitar 4-5 times for 1/4-1/2 per time with about half-hour time perio (2 times in the morning and 2 or 3 in evening) to find the best positions and adjusting the action of new strings.
A good friend of mine says that this should certanly damage my neck and guitar would now play lot worse because of too much adjustment in a one day(BTW always done a lot of truss rod adjustments for a past guitar for slide play).Is it so?
Also interested of temperature harm on neck,because sometimes in cold winter times I have to go out for 30min - hour out in rather cold temperature(28-30 C I guess).Is the standart Music Man case good enough to protect guitar?Thanks.

 

[DrKev]

Your neck will be fine. Generally, I would not encourage truss rod adjustments that are not necessary but I would not be concerned about damage.

Neck wood can move with changes in temperature and seasonal changes humidity. If your neck is affected, the neck relief will change and the action will change a little too. If your string height changes and you did not make any adjustments to the bridge or saddles, then adjust the truss rod to correct - to the left (loosen) to raise the action, to the right (tight) to lower it.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

When you are making adjustments, are you actually measuring relief or just seeing how it plays? I know that experienced luthiers are able to make an adjusment and measure nothing and get great results, but I don't set up guitars 7 times a day so I rely on my feeler gauge. That way, if nothing else, if I have problems, I can say that my relief is 0.01" and action is 4/64" to convey that I have done the basics.

 

[coldsummer]

When you are making adjustments, are you actually measuring relief or just seeing how it plays? I know that experienced luthiers are able to make an adjusment and measure nothing and get great results, but I don't set up guitars 7 times a day so I rely on my feeler gauge. That way, if nothing else, if I have problems, I can say that my relief is 0.01" and action is 4/64" to convey that I have done the basics.

I've tried both, spent quite a bit of cash on tools from Stewmac and followed the technical guidelines but in the end, you can get just as good, possibly better, results by doing it just by feel. I'm no expert and have benefitted from the valuable advice from others on this forum. DrKev on the other hand is an expert and I recommend you follow his advice, no doubt he will add to this later.

BTW, don't ignore the other aspects such as saddle heights, intonation, etc, but you know that anyway.

 

[DrKev]

but I don't set up guitars 7 times a day so I rely on my feeler gauge.

Even when I did set up guitars 7 times a day (up to 20 times a day in fact) I would always use my tools and measure the setup. It's the only way to be sure I was actually was factory spec.

And the great thing about accurately measuring your setups is how easy it is to get back what you want the next time round. It takes out the guess work and makes everything faster.

 

[Spudmurphy]

The tool that I would love to get one day, is the dial guage indicator. The one you place over the strings at the first fret to measure the distance between the string and the fret - enables you to get the nut slot filed at the optimum height?

Yeah Yeah, I know, feeler guages will get you the same results, albeit with a bit more effort but a dial guage indicator would enable you to achieve 100% accurate results. Maybe I ought to start an early "Christmas list".

 

[TNT]

In my "personal" opinion, I do not use the truss rod for any adjustment other than attaining a "straight" neck - period! All "action" and "string" related concerns I do via neck pocket angle; nut height; bridge height (straight up and staright down only); individual saddles for height and neck radius.

 

[Spudmurphy]

100% agree with TNT here.

I only consider the truss rod tweak as a fine "hot rod" tuning procedure.
The truss rod is not intrinsically designed purely for action. It's purpose is to keep the neck straight.

 

[coldsummer]

Presumably if a guitar has been playing fine previously, but the action changes, in these circumstances would truss rod adjustment be the first thing to look at? (Obviously it would make sense to check the other parts at the same time).

 

[Spudmurphy]

Presumably if a guitar has been playing fine previously, but the action changes, in these circumstances would truss rod adjustment be the first thing to look at? (Obviously it would make sense to check the other parts at the same time).

...and without wishing to sound like a "yes man" ..... Yes( in that context.)

 

[coldsummer]

...and without wishing to sound like a "yes man" ..... Yes( in that context.)

Thanks Spud! I'm a bit of a Yes man myself, I have all their albums