Truss rod (noob question)

[Q24]

So I recently got a Squier Jaguar V-mod SS, have been quite enjoying it. Went ahead and swapped the stock strings out for some RS66S and applied some Guitar Honey to the neck and some Ernie Ball instrument polish to the rest of it; to my surprise, the thing did not explode, and the entire process actually wound up being fairly successful. The done-up neck looks great, the polish helped to bring out that signature look and feel I'd become familiar with bopping around with local jam bands back when I was a drummer.

Unfortunately, the E string buzzes when I hit it hard, but other than that, we're pretty much good with the exception of mild intonation; IE when I play, I notice that all the notes are a microscopic fraction off of what they really should be. I'm going to guess that this necessitates the utilization of the truss rod.

It would seem that the truss rod on this guy is accessable via a nut on the top of the headstock. Am I going to want to crank this guy to the right, as indicated by the green arrow in the image, or to the left, as indicated by the red arrow? I only color-coded them as such because I believe that turning to the right would "tighten" it, which is what I think I need to do. I could be wrong tho. Thanks ^o^

 

[lowplaces]

So I recently got a Squier Jaguar V-mod SS, have been quite enjoying it. Went ahead and swapped the stock strings out for some RS66S and applied some Guitar Honey to the neck and some Ernie Ball instrument polish to the rest of it; to my surprise, the thing did not explode, and the entire process actually wound up being fairly successful. The done-up neck looks great, the polish helped to bring out that signature look and feel I'd become familiar with bopping around with local jam bands back when I was a drummer.

Unfortunately, the E string buzzes when I hit it hard, but other than that, we're pretty much good with the exception of mild intonation; IE when I play, I notice that all the notes are a microscopic fraction off of what they really should be. I'm going to guess that this necessitates the utilization of the truss rod.
View attachment 3339225

It would seem that the truss rod on this guy is accessable via a nut on the top of the headstock. Am I going to want to crank this guy to the right, as indicated by the green arrow in the image, or to the left, as indicated by the red arrow? I only color-coded them as such because I believe that turning to the right would "tighten" it, which is what I think I need to do. I could be wrong tho. Thanks ^o^

Yes, turning the truss rod nut clockwise tightens it.

A good rule of thumb is always loosen the truss rod before making any adjustments. That way if the truss rod is already maxed out you won't overtighten it.

 

[JGbassman]

Looking down at the nut, where the hex key goes in the nut, turning clockwise will tighten. By tightening, it will make the neck flatter, with less relief, or bow. If you are getting fret rattle, I'd suspect the action is too close (strings to frets) or the neck needs a little relief, or loosen it about a quarter turn.

 

[JGbassman]

YouTube John Caruthers from elixir strings. He has a nice collection of videos out for setting up a bass. Well worth looking up.

 

[mongo2]

From the picture of the headstock it looks to me like the E string may also not have enough wraps to push the string down sufficiently to avoid buzzing at the nut.

 

[BruceWane]

Hold on! Sounds like you need to adjust your intonation at the bridge, not the truss rod.

The truss rod is used to adjust the flatness of the neck. You generally don't want a neck to be dead flat under string tension, you want just a tiny bit of forward bow.

Check the setup guides that are stickied at the top of the Hardware, Setup, and Repair sub-forum.

 

[BruceWane]

From the picture of the headstock it looks to me like the E string may also not have enough wraps to push the string down sufficiently to avoid buzzing at the nut.

Yep, this too.

With Fender style headstocks, i.e. headstocks that don't tilt back, you have to be careful to leave the strings long enough that there's 3-4 wraps around the post so that the string comes off the post right down at the bottom. This gives you the best possible break angle over the nut, which prevents the string from rattling in the slot. The higher strings have a retainer that forces the angle to be OK, but the E and A strings (and the B on 5s) on this style headstock are prone to rattling at the nut if you don't have enough wraps. You don't want so many that the string wraps over itself though.

 

[BruceWane]

Just to clarify - intonation adjustment will address the fretted notes being slightly out of tune.

The only way the truss rod could affect intonation was if it was so far off that the neck had a ton of front bow, causing action so high that you're bending the string sharp just by pushing down to a fret.

The typical quick intonation check is to tune the open string using a decent tuner, then check to see if it's still in tune when you fret at the octave (12th fret).

The typical quick truss rod/neck flatness check is to capo the 1st fret; now, with one hand hold down a string at the highest fret, and with your other hand press the string down at the 7th fret to see how much space there is at that point. You're basically using the string as a straight edge touching at the lowest and highest fret, checking the clearance t the 7th. There should be just a little clearance at the 7th, about the thickness of an average pick or a business card. The amount of clearance is referred to as "relief", and it's a personal taste thing, but this is a good starting point.

 

[Q24]

Just to clarify - intonation adjustment will address the fretted notes being slightly out of tune.

The only way the truss rod could affect intonation was if it was so far off that the neck had a ton of front bow, causing action so high that you're bending the string sharp just by pushing down to a fret.

Yeah that's actually happening. I'm thinking I might wanna go ahead and get this guy to a local luthier for a tune-up tomorrow before I try to solve more issues that are beyond my noob comprehension xD

 

[Hounddog409]

Hold on! Sounds like you need to adjust your intonation at the bridge, not the truss rod.

The truss rod is used to adjust the flatness of the neck. You generally don't want a neck to be dead flat under string tension, you want just a tiny bit of forward bow.

Check the setup guides that are stickied at the top of the Hardware, Setup, and Repair sub-forum.

To set up the bass....setting the neck relief is step #1.

After the neck is set to spec, the bridge can be adj to taste.

Then intonation is set with bridge adj. Usually last on the list.

 

[Bolsyo]

The E-string has way too few wraps, so there will be almost no downward pressure into the nut-slot, which causes the string to rattle in the nut. I bet it will buzz no matter what you do at this point unfortunately, and that the only solution is to get a new string/set of strings.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

So I recently got a Squier Jaguar V-mod SS, have been quite enjoying it. Went ahead and swapped the stock strings out for some RS66S and applied some Guitar Honey to the neck and some Ernie Ball instrument polish to the rest of it; to my surprise, the thing did not explode, and the entire process actually wound up being fairly successful. The done-up neck looks great, the polish helped to bring out that signature look and feel I'd become familiar with bopping around with local jam bands back when I was a drummer.

Unfortunately, the E string buzzes when I hit it hard, but other than that, we're pretty much good with the exception of mild intonation; IE when I play, I notice that all the notes are a microscopic fraction off of what they really should be. I'm going to guess that this necessitates the utilization of the truss rod.
View attachment 3339225

It would seem that the truss rod on this guy is accessable via a nut on the top of the headstock. Am I going to want to crank this guy to the right, as indicated by the green arrow in the image, or to the left, as indicated by the red arrow? I only color-coded them as such because I believe that turning to the right would "tighten" it, which is what I think I need to do. I could be wrong tho. Thanks ^o^

IMO:
1. Properly tune your bass to include intonating.
2. Using a straight edge (strings in a pinch) see if neck is back bowed, slightly smiling, or straight/flat.
3. Adjust truss no more than 1/4 turn at any single time to achieve flat/straight neck Typically, allow bass to rest a couple of minutes for minor adjustments. Always re-tune first.
4. After resting, check neck again. Check tune again.
5. Check string heights. Adjust accordingly. Re-check tuning/intonation. Detune string if raising saddles.
6. If only a single string is buzzing, typically adjust at saddle. Unless there are buzzes up and or down the fingerboard. May be a fret a tad too high.
7. Re-check everything.
May take a bit of time, but this type of attention will provide for a WAY better playing experience once problems are identified and or addressed etc.
Good luck

 

[ejaggers]

Not trying to Hijack this thread,
but how do you know if a bass is not worth buying because of truss rod issues?
What test do you do?

057912

 

[stingray69]

A truss rod adjustment will not get the intonation sorted out. Intonation is a function of moving the bridge saddles to the proper location(s) - in a forward or backward movement. This process is not the same as making an up/down height adjustment. I would say let a technician sort out the rest from here because of the buzzing E string situation - could be a high fret(s) somewhere or perhaps the nut slot is cut too low on the E string. Fretwork or nut issues are a bit trickier in nature to accurately assess & correct.

Huge props for your willingness & desire to learn to do your own maintenance & setups - many people aren't interested in learning much about it or worse, adopt less than ideal/incorrect methods. You will also save yourself $$$ in the long run - bonus!

Here is that 4-part, John Carruthers video that another poster mentioned earlier - to this day, I still refer back to it myself as a brush-up reminder for the overall process, general specs, etc.

 

[stingray69]

Not trying to Hijack this thread,
but how do you know if a bass is not worth buying because of truss rod issues?
What test do you do?

057912

I can't speak for others, but generally I check that the truss rod first of all turns easily, without great force required - to ensure that it turns at all and is not seized up or broken.

Secondly, I'd check that the truss rod adjustment nut is not stripped or slightly rounded over - ESPECIALLY on a used instrument.

This is caused by the owner not using the proper sized allen wrench and rounding out the interior of the nut making it near impossible for the correct size allen wrench to get a solid grip inside there to make an adjustment. Basically, the same thing as using the wrong size phillips head screwdriver and you end up stripping the head of a screw - then you got no more grip.

These sorts of things can lead quickly to the most expensive kind of repairs an instrument can require. Removing a stripped nut can be tricky sometimes, but usually not expensive unless it won't come out of there at all. Broken truss rods are another ordeal entirely.

Some shops will not even attempt a broken truss rod repair because you have to remove the fingerboard off the neck, install a new rod, glue & clamp the fingerboard back onto the neck. Labor & cost intensive stuff for sure - to the point where the majority of the time, it's actually cheaper to purchase a new neck or a whole new instrument rather than pay for the repair costs.

 

[ejaggers]

I can't speak for others, but generally I check that the truss rod nut first of all turns easily, without great force required - to ensure it turns at all and is not seized up or broken.

Secondly, I'd check that the truss rod nut is not stripped or slightly rounded over - ESPECIALLY on a used instrument.

This is caused by the owner not using the proper sized allen wrench and rounding out the interior of the nut making it near impossible for the correct size allen wrench to get a solid grip inside there to make an adjustment. Basically, the same thing as using the wrong size philips screwdriver and ending up stripping the head of a screw.

These sorts of things can lead quickly to the most expensive kind of repairs an instrument can require - some shops will not even attempt a broken truss rod repair because you have to remove the fingerboard off the neck, install a new rod and clamp & re-glue the fingerboard back onto the neck. Labor & cost intensive stuff for sure - to the point where the majority of the time, it's cheaper to purchase a new neck or a whole new instrument rather than pay for the repair costs.

So owners and stores are cool with you fooling around with the TR on used basses?

OP: I hope you can benefit from this knowledge as well.

057912

 

[stingray69]

So owners and stores are cool with you fooling around with the TR on used basses?

OP: I hope you can benefit from this knowledge as well.

057912

Perhaps - always best to ask the shop how they feel about it.

That said, if they are uncomfortable with it, it usually only takes a glance while onsite to determine if the truss rod nut looks rounded out. If I buy the used instrument and take it home - the complete functionality of the truss rod is always the first thing I check - always. If there is a problem, it goes back for a return.

This is not something you want to discover 4-5 months down the road after the purchase because you go to make your first seasonal/climate truss rod adjustment and then - surprise!

This is why buying online can be a gamble sometimes - hard to do either of these things right off the bat. I always try to ensure there is a window of return opportunity whenever possible.

 

[Jazz Ad]

As said before the buzz on this bass is caused by a lack of breaking angle behind the nut, not a trussrod issue.

 

[stingray69]

As said before the buzz on this bass is caused by a lack of breaking angle behind the nut, not a trussrod issue.

Hard to tell in the pics, but it does kinda look like the E string could stand a couple more wraps around the tuning post (on the next string change) in order to make a better downward angle after the nut.

 

[WardEarth]

The nut could also be cut too deep. But ya I’d make sure everything else is good. Strings with a higher tension can also help fight the E string buzz.