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How often do you tighten your truss rod
- Thread starter bump9987
- Start date
That this needs to be done every time does not sound right.
How are you determining this, and what is your setup routine ?
How are you determining this, and what is your setup routine ?
Once upon acquisition, never again. That's in Austin, TX. Gonna be in PA soon, maybe I'll need to do it more often but I doubt it.
rarely or only when i see too much of a bow on the neck. all my fenders are headstock adjustable. I went thru that heel adjustment thing for way too long. never again.
Although I change strings one at a time, I do it because it's the same amount of work either way. The neck should return to its previous "relief state" within a day or two regardless.
Instrument A twice since new in 1978, instrument B once since new in 1997. Instrument C needs it today, instrument D is one year old and still ok.
Whenever there are sharp changes of temperature and or humidity. Used live in central Contra Costa County CA where it can be a dry 95 degrees during the day and damp mid 60s at night due to SF fog wind blowing inland.
I've owned a lot of basses, most Fenders, and most of them seldom, if ever need tweaking. I'm pretty constant with string choice on them and they live mostly cased, so maybe that's part of it. One G&L USA L2500 of my two takes a tweak maybe once a year, especially if it stays in a stand for days on end. One of my favorite parts Ps has gone from initally several tweaks a week to every other month now, and it may never fully stabilize because it's not an expensive neck on a not very expensive bass, and that makes it pretty stress-free so I'm good with it.
Well, that's normal 'cuz you're changing the tension on the neck. If you have to adjust your truss rod every time the weather changes, then that's a little much and not normal. A simple tuning peg tweak ought to suffice when a front passes.
The fretless import — played purrfectly out-of-the-box but, after a short while, lost it's charm, in the down-home heat. Still, all I had to do was adjust a bridge-screw or two — leaving the rod alone — and that matter was easily sorted.
Rarely, if ever, do I need to tinker. My guess is I'm not fussy about a low action. My guy put the case for a luthier's preference, convinced me, and, as it's higher than a player's preference, there's probably some wriggle room — no noticeable trouble throughout the year, with any of my contraptions.
Those sweating on a low action are bound for trouble, more likely
Two acoustic guitars, similarly predisposed — from across the seas — also needed a tweak once I got them home and house-trained.
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First: we dont adjust TR to deal with string height or as we call it - action. This is bridge saddles function. Though, action is affected as TR changes neck's geometry.
Second: when you put the neck back - carefully insert the screws, you need to feel it when it starts to grip the old thread, this way you prevent stripping.
Third: you actually dont need to remove the neck completely, it is enough to loosen and pop it out from the pocket. Some manage to adjust TR even without that. There's a thread here with pictorial.
Second: when you put the neck back - carefully insert the screws, you need to feel it when it starts to grip the old thread, this way you prevent stripping.
Third: you actually dont need to remove the neck completely, it is enough to loosen and pop it out from the pocket. Some manage to adjust TR even without that. There's a thread here with pictorial.
First - if you're stripping the threads for the neck bolts, then you're doing something wrong. A big +1 to those who have said that you need to make sure to initially rotate the screw backwards until it engages with the existing thread, rather than cutting a new thread each time.
Yes - this sounds like something is wrong in truss rod land.
For heel adjust nuts with a hex head, they do have a small slot in the body which permits the nut to be turned with a ball-head hex key. If the OP's bass has this kind of truss rod nut, then a ball-head hex key is all that they need.
For vintage-style cross-slot heads, there's:
Thanks @vaesto, that might be this thread: Vintage Fender necks don't need to be removed or loosened for truss rod adjustment
Yes - this sounds like something is wrong in truss rod land.
For heel adjust nuts with a hex head, they do have a small slot in the body which permits the nut to be turned with a ball-head hex key. If the OP's bass has this kind of truss rod nut, then a ball-head hex key is all that they need.
For vintage-style cross-slot heads, there's:
Thanks @vaesto, that might be this thread: Vintage Fender necks don't need to be removed or loosened for truss rod adjustment
My Hondo 830 is essentially a P bass copy. I can get at the truss rod nut by removing all the pick guard screws and sliding the pick guard up and over the pickups, then south enough to get at it. The body has a recess routed in front of the neck allowing room for the Allen wrench.
I suppose I could slot the pick guard too, but it's not that difficult for the occasional adjustment. I only touch the truss rod if I change string type to something with a different tension.
I suppose I could slot the pick guard too, but it's not that difficult for the occasional adjustment. I only touch the truss rod if I change string type to something with a different tension.
It depends on the bass, but normally, I tighten 1/8 to 1/4 turn in the Fall, and loosen 1/8 to 1/4 in the Spring.
