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possible to "break" a truss rod?


SynysterGates7

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i just got my tele back from getting a JB put in the bridge(sounds AMAZING!) and i was fixing the action when i heard a "pop" from the inside of the neck. i don't know what happened, as i don't really understand how a truss rod works. call me a noob.

 

i don't really know much about fixing the action on guitars, so if anyone has suggestions on lowering it on a tele, please help.

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It is possible to snap your truss rod.

 

 

I dont know if you know this but the truss rod isnt really for adjusting the action. It is for adjusting the relief on your neck. The nut, Bridge and neck angle (for bolt ons) is what you should really be adjusting for action / string height.

 

The "pop" may have just been a sort of "groan" from tightening it to much to soon. On the few broken ones I have seen...the rod would just spin and never tighten because it was snapped or the broken pc just fell right out.

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You can absolutely break a truss rod. Were you tightening it when it made the "pop" sound? Hope not! It's a pretty expensive repair unfortunately, involving the fingerboard coming off (or the skunk stripe coming out if your tele has one).

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In almost all manufacturer's manuals they allude to the sensitivity of truss rod adjustments with statements like "If you don't feel comfortable making this adjustment, take it to a qualified technician."

 

You need to price out the repair or a neck replacement. In rare and I mean really rare cases, a truss rod could break but the instrument still be playable.

 

Sorry to hear your loss. From time to time truss rod and their anchor's do break though, even with normal operation.

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In almost all manufacturer's manuals they allude to the sensitivity of truss rod adjustments with statements like "If you don't feel comfortable making this adjustment, take it to a qualified technician."


You need to price out the repair or a neck replacement. In rare and I mean really rare cases, a truss rod could break but the instrument still be playable.


Sorry to hear your loss. From time to time truss rod and their anchor's do break though, even with normal operation.

 

 

Ya..going back to the Ibanez I mentioned..my buddy left it the way it was and played it for a few years with a broken rod. He kept the broken pc in the case to show people.

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Tut tut Ryan, misinformation again:rolleyes:

At least 99% of adjusters adjust at full tension, it's pretty pointless otherwise, although apparently Gotoh side adjust rods are ok without tension.

 

 

 

I agree. There have been times on 6 string basses that I relieve some of the tension and then adjust the rod, but that is rare and it's more because I don't want to put extra load on a $70 set of strings and break one. Also if the truss is turning hard I relieve tension just to see it gets easier to turn, but that is less than 5% of the time.

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ok, so i've been messing around with it, the truss rod screw just seems like it keeps spinning, so i took off the neck, and looked at it. its weird, there is nothing on the flat bottom of the neck, but at the end of the "skunk stipe" on the back oof the neck, it comes to a tiny square hole, the size of the stripe, and below it is a circle of wood inlaid, the same color/wood as the stripe. i didn't notice anything broken, but the hole is too small to see into.

 

but when i took the neck off, i noticed there was a piece of sandpaper laying in the lower part of the area where the neck is bolted in. could this help angle the neck for good action?

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If it's just spinning you've most likely broken it, either under the adjustment nut & spacer at the headstock end. Or at the pinged block that anchors the rod at the other end.

 

I had an old Epiphone acoustic that I managed to snap the nut end bolt and part of the rod off on. I repaired it myself (a pretty daunting task for a first timer). Even got the old board back on and it works.

 

For an electric, you're most likely looking at replacing the neck for a bolt on.

 

I generally adjust, in very small increments, while under tension.

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but when i took the neck off, i noticed there was a piece of sandpaper laying in the lower part of the area where the neck is bolted in. could this help angle the neck for good action?

 

 

it could, but if you broke the rod you've got bigger problems. it's internal to the neck, you won't see anything from looking at it

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You could have also have loosened it all the way the adjustment nut off the rod completely. See if the bolt will just fall out when you turn the guitar on end. Don't worry, you can;t break it any further once it's broken.

 

If the nut falls out, and there's no piece of the rod itself broken off in it, you can probably just screw it back on - or run it over to a tech to get it back together for you.

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Busted... The ping noise makes me think you were tightening it so it's a snapped trussrod. I hope the repair isn't TOO expensive, it may well be cheaper to get a replcement neck as suggested.

 

For future information, trussrod adjustments should be done very slowly, in increments of no more than a quarter of a turn :)

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ok. from all the replies(thanks guys) i'm gonna take it up to a tech tomorrow(just got about 6 inches of snow, so they're closing early) and see what he says, possibly see if he can set it up. i have tour coming up and this was gonna be my stage guitar, so hopefully its still playable. if not, i have some others i can use. this is my first guitar, and it means alot to me. i don't care how much i have to put into it, i'm never gonna get rid of it

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