Help! Truss Rod?

[Tamaguchi]

Hey everybody! I'm new on the forum and a proud owner of a 2009 Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature Model (Mystic Dream) Ok so, my issue is the following. I currently live in Costa Rica and had my JP shipped from the States. I see these guitars are manufactured in San Luis Obispo, California, which has a very dry climate as compared to ours. I've had my guitar for about a month now, and the higher frets are starting to buzz. My best guess is the wood from the neck is going through a process of climate adjustment which is making it bend, along with the truss rod. I read fret buzzing can be caused by low action and that a simple truss rod adjustment should correct it. Opinions?

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hi Tamaguchi and welcome. the truss rod is easily adjusted on an EB guitar.

First of all just imagine that if you didn't have a truss rod, then the neck would be pulled forwards by the tension of the stings and cause a bow in the neck. So by introducing a truss rod into the neck means that when you tighten the rod it pulls against the strings and one cancels the other out -you end up with a flat neck/fretboard. Some players want a super low action and will adjust the string saddles down to lower the action and stop adjusting the saddles when the strings start buzzing. Then they slacken the rod to introduce a slight bow or relief in the neck to stop the buzzing. Some players will not do that insisting that a flat neck is the best for them - I remember seeing the pro guitarist Alan Hines saying he preferred a flat neck.
Anyway just do the adjustment a small amount at a time - there is a video clip on the EB website showing how to do this.
I'll try finding it and editing it into this reply. Let us know how you get on?

Edit - Here is the link that I was on about
http://www.ernieball.com/tv/18-33

 

[TNT]

Yeah, Spud pretty much covered it.

Just "untighten", as it were, the truss rod a little; the force of the strings will then "pull" the neck upwards and provide "relief" in the neck. This will probably eliminate it.

 

[Tamaguchi]

Ok, I messed around with the truss rod and the fret buzz seemd to have gone away... But I don't know if it's me but now, from the 12th fret to the 24th the strings seem to have moved away from the fretboard... I don't know maybe I'm freaking out or something, although I can't remember if they were so apart when I first got the guitar

 

[luv]

its a good idea to measure string height before making the adjustments, so you know how much change you made. Possibly you adjusted a little too far...possibly you can now lower your saddles to a lower string height...it's usually going to be a combo of the two. Keep in mind that the wood is probably not done adjusting to your climate and you'll probably need to keep making adjustments. No need to freak out....it's all normal stuff.

I live in Colorado and it's been really humid and wet for the last few weeks...my guitars necks are doing the same thing right now.

 

[Tamaguchi]

Thanks! And are the saddle adjustments done individually by strings or should I lower the bridge.. Also if I do that will I screw the intonation up?

 

[luv]

Thanks! And are the saddle adjustments done individually by strings or should I lower the bridge.. Also if I do that will I screw the intonation up?

individually....and you might need to adjust intonation...

 

[Bluplirst]

You might want to take the guitar to a tech or someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[buckethead777]

I'm sure he can do it himself...It's not that hard after all