What to use for the truss rod on the bottom of the neck?

Nasnederis · #1 07-11-2009, 08:42 PM

Ok I just bought a fender made in japan p bass from the 80s, but it has the truss rod on the bottom of the neck, not like regular one, what can I use to adjust it?

meta · #2 07-11-2009, 08:48 PM

well... might be similar to the mustang I've got. if you take the faceplate off, you can see half of the nut - and for me it just takes a big head flat screwdriver. I guess I could just take the neck off, which is probably the recommended method - as half of the nut is still below the wood after taking the faceplate off... but i didn' bother removing the neck, as it was easy enough to turn without removing the neck. with a big enough screwdriver i could just turn it. and if you don't **** with your strings too much you will just need to do this once.

so just take the faceplate off and look and see what you need to adjust it. it will be obvious.

JTE · #3 07-12-2009, 02:51 PM

It is the regular one, at least it was until the early '70s. That's where Leo Fender put it when he designed the neck and truss rod for the Telecaster guitar around 1948 or so, and that's where it stayed until CBS moved it to the headstock on the higher-end instruments. It actually makes more sense from a mechanical standpoint because the rod works over more of the neck than it does at the headstock, and it doesn't remove wood at the weakest part of the neck.

However, it's a PIA sometimes to adjust the rod. On many instruments you can get to the screw well enough without having to do anything special. Sometimes you might scratch up the pickguard, but I'd rather do that than have to take it all apart. Other times you only have to remove the pickguard, but sometimes you have to take the neck off, or at least loosen the neck screw substantially.

And you do need to adjust the rod whenever the neck moves appreciably. That'll happen rather often when the instrument is new to you, and generally you'll probably have to make a truss rod adjustment about twice a year when the weather changes a lot in the spring and late fall.

jte

walterw · #4 07-12-2009, 06:33 PM

i like this, because it gives me much more leverage, thus finer control, than a screwdriver.

Nasnederis · #5 07-12-2009, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walterw

i like this, because it gives me much more leverage, thus finer control, than a screwdriver.

Woow, that thing looks dangerous for the truss rod, I dont want some damage on it.

JTE · #6 07-13-2009, 09:09 AM

It's just an off-set, or cabinet-maker's screwdriver. One side is a flat head screwdriver blade, the other end is a Phillips head screw driver. They're originally made for getting at screws in tight places, for example tightening the screws that hold cabinet handles on a drawer.

Any real hardware store will have them, and even many of those awful "home improvement" stores have them too.

jte