Tighten truss rod which way

Tightening or loosening the adjustment nut adds or lessens pressure on the rod and neck. However, with a one-way truss rod, if the neck warps away from the string pull, no amount of loosening the truss rod will pull the neck straight, because the truss rod only works against the pull of the strings.

This is why, in the s, double-action truss rods began to be used widely. Loosening the truss rod will relive back-pressure on the neck, essentially allowing the neck to bend forward. This can happen with excessive humidity, which causes the fretboard wood to swell enough that it actually bows the neck backwards slightly or makes it flatter than it should be.

You can really end up chasing your tail this way, so be patient and give the neck enough time to settle. You can still play your guitar during this time.

Check the clearance. Make another adjustment, if necessary. Visit the Martin website for their instructions. NEVER force or over adjust a truss rod—in either direction—at one time. You risk breaking it. Once for summer; once for winter. Also, if you travel to a different climate, some adjustment may be necessary.

Knowing how to sight down the neck—or use a straight edge—and a feeler gauge to check relief, is the correct and most accurate way to set the neck with the truss rod adjustment.

Great info, simply and clearly presented. The illustrations are a great help. Thanks and merry Christmas a happy new Year! Thanks a bunch. The guide explains how action affects playability, how to measure action and how to adjust it on acoustic or electric guitars. Intonation is how in-tune your guitar is across the fretboard. Intonation is mainly controlled from your bridge, but adjustments you make to your truss rod can affect intonation.

The red line and arrow show how far the string needs to be pushed to reach the fret. That extra distance creates extra tension in the string, which will push the note out-of-tune.

This means the lower fretted notes and open strings will sound in tune, but as you move up the neck, the notes will gradually become out-of-tune. A slight relief in the neck creates low action in the higher frets while preventing fret buzz in the lower frets.

Low action can create better intonation. The key point to remember with intonation is that any adjustments you make to your truss rod can affect intonation. So if you do adjust your truss rod, check your intonation and make further adjustments from your bridge if you need to.

Find out more about intonation in this guide. The guide includes step-by-step diagrams and tips on how to properly adjust intonation. For all other types of guitars steel-string acoustic, electric, bass , you should expect it to have a truss rod. You can tell if a guitar has a truss rod by checking at either end of the neck for either a truss rod cover or direct access to the truss rod. Some guitars provide access to a truss rod on the headstock, while others provide access on the guitar body.

Some of the above guitars use a truss rod cover to hide the truss rod. If your guitar has a plastic cover on the headstock with a screw holding it in place, behind it will be the truss rod. Acoustic guitars typically provide access to the truss rod through the sound hole, but some provide access on the headstock, so check both areas on your guitar. The above photo shows a wheel you insert a truss rod tool into to make adjustments. Now that you understand what a truss rod is, how it works, how it affects playability, and where to access yours, we can look at how to adjust it.

It takes a day or two for a truss rod adjustment to completely settle. For this reason, it is highly recommended you only make minor adjustments to the truss rod and give your guitar time to settle before you make further adjustments. Before you make any adjustments to your truss rod, have a think about what you are trying to achieve. I recommend reading through this entire section before you adjust your truss rod.

You can easily do this by looking down from the headstock and checking the bow of the neck against the strings:. Take note of the bow of the neck and how close the strings are at different points along the neck. If the bow is quite large, it means you need to tighten the truss rod. A large bow is caused by too much tension from the strings, so tightening the truss rod will compensate for this tension.

Tightening your truss rod means it creates extra pull away from the strings. This means it will pull your strings out-of-tune. To avoid any problems, loosen your strings before you make adjustments to your truss rod. Loosening the truss rod will allow the strings to create more pull on the neck.