Strat Truss rod problems

[blingdogg]

On my MIM Strat, I'm having trouble adjust the neck relief. If I need to tighten the truss rod, it seems to be fine. But I need to loosen the truss rod to adjust the neck, and when I turn it in that direction to loosen the rod, at some point the allen wrench begins to just spin around.

 

Since tightening the t rod gives me normal resistance without problems, but I just get the wrench spinning when I loosen it... that means I don't have to worry that the truss rod is broken right?

 

Could it be that the rod's nut is stripped? I hope I don't have to buy a new neck.

 

Can someone help? Thanks.

[tiltsta]

It means you have a single action truss rod and the rod is completely slack. Turning the rod looser offers no resistance, as the rod isn't doing anything to the neck wood. I don't think the rod is broken, it is just at the end of its useful travel. If the neck needs more tweaking than the rod can supply, it is probably a good time to have a pro take a look at it. One easy answer is to go up a gauge or two in strings to see if it will pull the neck enough to allow you to get the truss rod into play.

[blingdogg]

 

It means you have a single action truss rod and the rod is completely slack. Turning the rod looser offers no resistance, as the rod isn't doing anything to the neck wood. I don't think the rod is broken, it is just at the end of its useful travel. If the neck needs more tweaking than the rod can supply, it is probably a good time to have a pro take a look at it. One easy answer is to go up a gauge or two in strings to see if it will pull the neck enough to allow you to get the truss rod into play.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking that this was the problem. The truss rod doesn't seem broken because I can tighten it and that definitely has an effect on the neck relief.

 

I'm going to take it to a tech for a setup and hopefully it won't be an expensive fix. Shouldn't be.

[catscurlyear]

my friend had his late 70`s strat round at my house a couple of weeks back , the neck was bang on flat ,so we attempted to relief it a bit but we had same problem has you, the truss rod had no more relief left in it ,he uses 9`s strings, anyway we`re not concerned that it is causing any problems.

[Belva]

Worst case: it will need to physically have some relief forced into it by clamping and heating with the truss rod all the way loose. This is a job best left to a pro.

[Pope on a Rope]

Some times you have to show a stubborn neck who's boss when adding relief. If it doesn't move on it's own when you loosen the truss nut, make it go with a little show of force.

 

I set the body between my knees, grab the neck at about the twelfth fret and at the nut then pull it the way I want the neck to move. It's often just a bit of friction keeping it from moving and you just have to break it loose.

[blingdogg]

 

my friend had his late 70`s strat round at my house a couple of weeks back , the neck was bang on flat ,so we attempted to relief it a bit but we had same problem has you, the truss rod had no more relief left in it ,he uses 9`s strings, anyway we`re not concerned that it is causing any problems.

I use 9 guage strings too, so maybe that's an issue. The 9s are fine with my other Strats and Tele, but maybe this guitar is different.

 

It's probably nothing to worry about, but it is affecting the neck playability and feel in a bad way.

 

 

Thanks for the help guys. The suggestions to use a little force to adjust the neck may clear up the problem I'm having. But I admit I'm kinda afraid to do this. Since this Strat's giving me more problems than what I'm used to, I'm taking it to a tech so he can fix it for me.

[DaleH]

 

I use 9 guage strings too, so maybe that's an issue. The 9s are fine with my other Strats and Tele, but maybe this guitar is different. It's probably nothing to worry about, but it is affecting the neck playability and feel in a bad way. Thanks for the help guys. The suggestions to use a little force to adjust the neck may clear up the problem I'm having. But I admit I'm kinda afraid to do this. Since this Strat's giving me more problems than what I'm used to, I'm taking it to a tech so he can fix it for me.

 

 

I use to have a stat that would only set up properly with 10s. Even had it to a rech. Switched all my strats to 10s since.

[Belva]

The proper way is to get something long, hard and straight (don't even go there!). I have a piece of 2" square steel tubing I use. I take a hardwood dowel that I cut a small amount of radius in, stick that at the ninth fret and use C clamps on either end of the neck (neck removed). Of course I have blocks I made to keep the C clamps from denting the neck. Once I have the neck clamped with a bit or relief in it I use 2 heat lamps to warm up the neck and leave it like that overnite. I then remove the heat lamps and let the neck cool down. Once I've pulled the neck from the straightening jig it ends up completely flat with no string tension and the truss rod just snugged up a bit. The old yanking on the neck trick is a temporary solution at best. My method puts a permanent set in the neck. I've only done 2 this way, but the guitars are still doing well after over a year. The customers are happy and the downtown techs refused to even try.

[catscurlyear]

you could maybe put a set of 11`s on it or something and adjust the truss acordingly and let it sit there for a few weeks (as long as this is`nt your number one guitar you always play) see what happens ,this seems a more natural way of trying to correcting it.