I am so confused by truss rods/neck relief it isn't even funny.

[Poor Tom]

Hi everyone, I have read everything I could about bass setup and truss rod adjustments, but even so, I am confused(and secretly scared of posting this cause of all the warning stickies!)

I have a beautiful neck that I wish to keep in prestine condition for as long as possible, but I keep being mean to it! I have bounced back and forth between heavy and ultra light gauges like no one's business. And through all of this, I have never once adjusted the truss rod. It is extremely hard for me to tell when I need to. Is there a measurement I should take? I mean when I look at the neck with heavy gauge strings on, it looks just as straight to my naked eyes as when I have super light gauges on.

Like I said I don't want to ruin my neck in the long run, can anyone help in determining exactly WHEN I should be adjusting it, and how to determine by how much/in which direction?

Please don't flame me but I could really use some solid advice.

sorry for unnecessarily long post.

Thanks!

[John Wentzien]

Fret the E string at the 1st fret with your left hand and past the last fret with your right hand.
Look at the space between the top of your 8th fret to the bottom of the string.
it should be about the thickness of a buisness card.
Make sure you are tuned to pitch- It's like using your string for a straight-edge...

Tighten the truss-rod nut clock-wise to straighten, or counter-clockwise for more relief.
Don't go more than 1/4 of a turn at a time to be safe.

[Poor Tom]

Thank you very much John, that info was just what I was looking for.

[John Wentzien]

Truss-rod is your freind!
don't be afraid.....

[Jerry Ziarko]

If you have no noticeable fret buzz, and you're happy with the action, leave it alone. I have owned many basses throughout the years some needed tweaking three or four times a year. On the other hand, some never needed it. The neck were rock solid, and other than a little buzz here or there from fret wear, they were left alone. Consider yourself lucky if you have no obvious issues.

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by Jerry Ziarko

If you have no noticeable fret buzz, and you're happy with the action, leave it alone. I have owned many basses throughout the years some needed tweaking three or four times a year. On the other hand, some never needed it. The neck were rock solid, and other than a little buzz here or there from fret wear, they were left alone. Consider yourself lucky if you have no obvious issues.

Exactly. I tweak the truss rods on my bass guitars only when changing weather conditions alter the curve of the neck enough to either raise my action beyond the point of comfort, or cause the strings to buzz on the frets when played normally.

But since I like to keep a very precise set-up on my instruments - and because they happen to be quite susceptible to changes in humidity and temperature - I sometimes have to adjust the truss rods quite frequently - as often as once per week in some cases, occasionally even more...

MM

[Tim Skaggs]

You have some good advise already, but one thing nobody really addressed; how does it play to you? Do the super light gauge strings rattle like a used Jeep? Do the super heavy gauge strings feel like steel bars?

Here is a general rule on massive amounts of relief vs. a very flat neck; a bass with a LOT of relief will feel "tight" or stiff. It's almost like the bass won't let the strings vibrate freely. You can use a heavy pick and thrash it with little string rattle against the frets. It will feel like it takes a lot of pressure to get the string down to the fret even if the action isn't all that high,

On the other end of the scale, a bass with little relief (very flat) may feel like you changed to lighter strings. Pressure to fret the strings will feel less, the strings seem like they can be plucked lighter with more motion. Of course, it will rattle against the frets with moderate plucking pressure.

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, your truss rod may not need adjustment at all.

[bassrique]

http://sadowsky.com/media/support/li...bass_setup.pdf