Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 it's been a loooooong time since I've been here, but I've got a problem I've never had to deal with before. the truss rod adjustment bolt on my SG decided to not work properly anymore. I can reverse-bow it more, but when I try to turn in the opposite direction, it just spins around the rod... I've never had this problem with any other guitar. is this something that a little glue would fix or am I gonna have to bring it into a pro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bubbluz Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 Define "reverse bow it" please. Your truss rod is single action,made to counter act the pull of the strings.Turning clockwise tightens the rod,thus straightening the neck.If it spins freely counter clockwise,it is at it's max adjustment in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 I'm guessing you've got a partially stripped nut or rod. If you can find something that will grab the nut so you can put some "pull" on it while you turn it might come back onto the thread. If it's a valuable guitar, I'd probably take it to somebody. If not, maybe try a small dab of epoxy to stick a driver onto the nut - hopefully, you could break it out after trying it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 balls... it's been so long since I've had to actually use proper terms... I feel like an ass... but it makes no sense... I've always had to compensate for heavy strings, if it were going to reach it's breaking point, it should have been in the other direction... sucks... I was just getting ready to sell the damn thing... now I can't do that in good conscience... I guess I can put a really nice new truss rod in there and make the thing a monster... but that's pouring money into it, rather than cashing it in... funny, I was really into this one, but I didn't expect to actually need to replace one any time soon... 2-way truss rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 Define "reverse bow it" please.Your truss rod is single action,made to counter act the pull of the strings.Turning clockwise tightens the rod,thus straightening the neck.If it spins freely counter clockwise,it is at it's max adjustment in that direction. This is what I would guess. Are your strings tuned to pitch? That should put some relief (bow) in your neck, which you would then tighten the truss rod to counteract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 Well, maybe I'm misunderstanding the original post. I thought there was no relief in the neck. Can you see the nut back off any from the snug point, or does it immediately just start to spin in place when you take the tension off? Maybe take the tension off the nut and give a few days with it strung to see if the neck will pull back into relief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 This is what I would guess. Are your strings tuned to pitch? That should put some relief (bow) in your neck, which you would then tighten the truss rod to counteract. E standard 440... 11-50's... they're fretting out... I thought that was odd, because I always keep my guitars set perfectly... when I went to adjust it, it just spun in place... never a fun thing to see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 Your wrench is making good contact with the nut, and the nut is just spinning free when you attempt to loosen it? As in, no tension of any kind, even after you tighten it? If this is the case, I think you might have bigger issues than I originally surmised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 I get it on there, turn it and it gives to resistance... I can tighten it more... but when I try to loosen it again, I get to a certain point, and it just keeps rolling without any effect on the neck... not psyched... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members louloomis Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 why don't you just take it to a repairman? from what i'm reading, if it isn't broken already, you may be in the process of breaking it now. LouLoomis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 I haven't touched it, since I realized there was a problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 Okay, fresh perspective here. I'm thinking maybe this is one of those "failure to communicate" situations - and maybe the other guys had this right the first time. You can force the neck to back bow with rod tension, but you can't "force" any relief into it with rod adjustments. String tension has to pull it into relief - and that may take a while to occur. I would back the nut off maybe a quarter to a half turn from snug, and then just let the guitar sit for a day or two. If the nut feels snug after that time then it's probably working correctly, (string tension is pulling the neck back up). You can continue that process until you get the adjustment you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pope on a Rope Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 You have to show it who's boss. Some necks will require a bit of physical persuasion to get some relief if loosening the nut does nothing. What I usually do is, loosen the truss rod nut, put the guitar between my feet or my knees, grab the neck from the back at around the ninth fret and at the nut. Then I pull the headstock and the neck in opposite directions as if I were trying to fold the headstock in towards the body. When it moves and the neck has relief, adjust the truss rod where you need it to be. At this point it should move in either direction when you turn the truss rod nut. But, the next time you need to make an adjustment, you will probably will have to force it again. Loosening the nut and waiting for it to move on it's own may take a long time or may not happen at all. A little force isn't going to hurt anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 blurg... I'll see what I can do... I just need it to play well enough to sell it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goldsparkletop Posted February 13, 2010 Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 I have a friend who had the same problem with a brand new, neck through guitar. Truss rod was completely loosened, but there was still not enough neck relief. He took it to a repairman who remedied it with a heat press of some kind. I was a little skeptical that this solution would hold up long term, but 5 years later the guitar is still fine. According to the repairman, heat treatments intended to ADD relief are often successful; heat treatments intended to REDUCE relief not so much so. Take it to a good repairman. It was an inexpensive fix for my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted February 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2010 ugh... this just sucks... I've never needed anything repaired that I couldn't do myself... I've always been proud of my ability to maintain all of my guitars, amps, friends guitars... and now, right as I want to sell them, I need to put money to the ones I wanted to part with... ...irony's a bitch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pope on a Rope Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 ugh... this just sucks... I've never needed anything repaired that I couldn't do myself... I've always been proud of my ability to maintain all of my guitars, amps, friends guitars... and now, right as I want to sell them, I need to put money to the ones I wanted to part with......irony's a bitch... This is not a serious problem and it is fairly common. It's just a bit of friction preventing the neck from relaxing. Put it over your knee or do what I suggested in my earlier post. Two seconds worth of work and then you can set the truss rod to however you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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