String tension and truss rod

[Youngspanion]

Is it necessary to loosen the strings every time you want to adjust the truss rod to add or remove relief?

[Marty Forrer]

No.

[96tbird]

no. It IS necessary to re-tune after each adjustment.

[Rocky McD]

Most if not all truss rod breakage is due to improper adjustment technique. If you are asking the question, then I would guess you do not know the possible dangers. The answer "No" leaves a lot to be explained.

[Turnaround]

It's a good idea to loosen the strings if you are removing relief from the neck, but unnecessary if you are adding relief.

[96tbird]

Specific answer to the specific question, that is, no. Many here whom say they know how to do a full setup say yes, but the reality is no.

[togglehead]

Agreed. Not necessary. But one major thing to think of is this...

The truss rod isnt there to move the relief itself...morse to hold it where you set it. More clearly what i mean is...when adjusting for more or less relief...try to massage the neck into the new position with your hands...then set the truss a little.

Little pressure on neck...little turn on the truss. Little more pressure on the neck...another turn of the truss...etc...

[Emibass]

Originally Posted by Turnaround

It's a good idea to loosen the strings if you are removing relief from the neck, but unnecessary if you are adding relief.

it makes sense

[JTE]

The best way to tighten a truss rod is to (after making sure it's the truss rod that's the problem!!) pre-stress the neck to about where you want it, and then tighten the nut. If you just start torquing the nut it will eventually probably compress the wood and you'll run out of thread. There are several ways to pre-stress the neck ranging from the neck jigs for which Stewart MacDonald sells plans and a lot of tech's use, to merely holding the instrument between your knees and pulling the neck with your hand.

To loosen a truss rod, simply loosen the nut a little bit, then gently push the neck to make sure the wood releases from its previous position. Don't expect to get a neck exactly where you want it the very first time you move the nut too. The wood may continue to move for a day or so after the rod is turned, especially if you're loosening it. I never remove string tension when I'm doing routine truss rod adjustments except on instruments with the vintage Fender-style truss rod nut at the heel. Some (but not all, nor even most of them) have the neck set deep enough into the body that you can't access the truss rod nut without removing or at least loosening the neck. Of course for those you need to relax the strings.

John