Mozzy Posted July 7 Posted July 7 Hi all, i recently bought a uk acoustic used its a Hartwood Villanelle dreadnaught a retailers own brand from Andertons ) and when it came to adjusting the truss rod i turned it right in small increments to tighten it and the relief decreased leaving a large gap midway along the necks fingerboard so i turned the truss rod left a few turns and it straightened the neck, is this normal? its working back to front,is it because it may have a two way rod? even so can anyone explain it? i know hey i should just play it and enjoy but im curious...Question is will a dual action truss rod eventually add less relief if its turned the opposite way eventually? or is the rod the wrong way round?
Skinnyman Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Which end is it adjusted from? The sound hole? Or the headstock end? I can never get my head round which way truss rods adjust as they seem counterintuitive but I’ve always worked on the assumption that if I do (as you have) small adjustments, count them (so I can go back to square one as needed) and don’t do more than a half turn in total in any direction, it should be okay… I’ve always believed most truss rods are two way so loosening it should be fine - what I have found is that the neck takes a little time to settle when loosened so it’s easy to go too far and have to retighten a bit. All that said, despite being generally cack-handed and not really having a clue, I’ve managed not to break anything yet by sticking to the small-bit-at-a-time rule. Good luck! 1
Skinnyman Posted Sunday at 10:58 Posted Sunday at 10:58 1 hour ago, Mozzy said: Hi its the soundhole area So I think that means that clockwise would add relief, loosening the strings which is in line with what you’re seeing. It’s the looser strings which always seems counterintuitive to me….. 1
Mozzy Posted Sunday at 19:50 Author Posted Sunday at 19:50 Hi yes thats what i thought but it actually straightened the neck,i did it in small increments and slowly but surely it worked fine, so in this instance the truss rod worked in reverse, i thought righty tighty lefty loosey was the industry standard but maybe its not with 100% of guitars 1
ezbass Posted Sunday at 20:20 Posted Sunday at 20:20 27 minutes ago, Mozzy said: i thought righty tighty lefty loosey was the industry standard but maybe its not with 100% of guitars No, no it isn't. Generally it is, but there are exceptions. I have 2 custom basses that came with ultra low actions and little or no relief, not my tastes. So I did my usual set up only to find that all the strings were choked out - reverse action truss rod . 1
