When a quality guitar leaves the factory, the truss rod is adjusted according to the maker’s taste in setup specs. But a change in string gauges, climate (especially a change in humidity), or simply the player’s taste may require an adjustment, even on a new guitar. If you have a guitar that played great when you got it, but has developed a higher, stiffer action over time, it may be time to learn how to adjust your truss rod so you can keep the action just the way you like it.
An adjustable truss rod is a slim steel rod embedded in the neck. One end is threaded for an adjusting nut and is accessible at either the peghead or through the soundhole. The other end is anchored to give the adjusting end something to tighten against.
There are two styles of adjustable truss rods: single-action (“one way”) truss rods, and double-action (“two way”) rods. One-way rods straighten the neck against string tension and upbow; two-way rods not only straighten the neck against upbow, but can also force a backbowed neck into either a straight or upbowed configuration.
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Your truss rod needs adjustment when the neck of your guitar has too much or too little upbow or too much backbow.
Tightening or loosening the adjustment nut adds or lessens pressure on the rod and neck. As a general rule, tightening the nut moves the neck away from the string pull and removes upbow; loosening the nut allows the neck to relax into an upbow again (especially when helped by the strings’ pull).
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 1980s, double-action truss rods began to be used widely.“I recently got brave and bought a tool to adjust the truss rod on my Martins. Not sure I know what I’m doing. Have you published any information that might help me out?”
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I haven’t specifically written a post on truss rod adjustment, which is ironic because it’s one of the top questions I get about guitar DIY. The reason I’ve avoided it is because it’s a tough topic to tackle in writing. Every guitar is just a little different in how it responds to tweaks, so there’s always a bit of “feel” and experience that comes into play.
When it comes to turning the truss rod bolt, just follow the old adage: righty-tighty (clockwise) and lefty-loosey (counter clockwise). That’s if you’re oriented so that you’re facing the truss rod bolt itself. Here’s what I mean:
If your truss rod is inside the soundhole (like most acoustics), you’d be standing at the body-end of the guitar (where the strap button is) staring straight down the guitar toward the headstock. That’s where it’s righty-tighty and lefty-loosey. I’ve shown this in the photo below.
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On the other hand, if you’re doing this with the guitar in the playing position, you’ll push your truss rod wrench’s handle down toward your lap to tighten, or pull it up towards your face to loosen.
Tightening the truss rod will apply back-pressure to the neck, essentially bending it backwards and counteracting the the pull of the strings.
You’ll usually tighten your truss rod if your action (string height) is feeling a little higher than you’d like. Your guitar’s neck may have developed just a bit too much forward-bow (relief), which can be the normal result of humidity and seasonal weather changes.
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Lowering the action on your guitar requires more than just a truss rod tweak. To make a big change in your acoustic guitar’s string height, you’ll need a full setup, which involves adjusting the truss rod, sanding the bridge saddle, and sometimes deepening the string slots of the nut.
If you tighten the truss rod too much in an effort to get your strings as low as possible, you’ll create a back-bow, which will cause excessive fret buzz or notes that fully fret-out (don’t make any sound at all). You never want backbow in a guitar neck.
As a side note: most guitar manufacturers send out their guitars with the action purposely on the high side, so that the future owner can lower it to their personal taste. So, if you’ve ever ordered a high-end guitar and been surprised at how high the strings are, this is why. It’s rarely due to poor setup at the factory.
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Loosening the truss rod will relive back-pressure on the neck, essentially allowing the neck to bend forward. You’ll do this if your strings feel too low, which is usually accompanied by annoying fret buzz or notes that completely fret-out (are completely muted).
You’ll usually loosen the truss rod if your strings feel too low… which is often accompanied by excessive string buzz or notes that completely fret-out.
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).
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It can take a day or two for the neck to fully “settle” into an adjustment. You’ll certainly see some neck movement immediately after making a truss rod adjustment, but wait overnight to see the full effect, as the wood continues to slowly bend into its final position.
Many inexperienced guitar DIY-ers aren’t aware of this and think they’ve got their truss rod dialed-in… only to discover the next day that their action has mysteriously become too high or too low.
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.Adjusting the truss rod is fundamental to any maintenance routine but it’s widely believed to be dangerous, and even that necks can be ruined in the process. You needn’t be afraid of this humble device – but first, some background.
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Back in the day, Leo Fender insisted that his earliest necks were so strong they didn’t need truss rods. However, touring musicians returning to California from the Canadian cold soon persuaded him otherwise. Wood responds to heat and humidity by expanding and contracting, and it only takes a very small movement forwards or backwards for that perfect action to become uncomfortably high, or for the strings to start buzzing on the frets.
Most manufacturers realised this when steel strings became the norm and necks needed to withstand far greater tension as a result. In 1934, Martin began installing a steel T-bar to maintain neck straightness, and other manufacturers followed suit with their own versions. But necks would still bow under tension, so manufacturers still felt obliged to produce very fat necks to minimise the issue.
Look closely and you’ll see that, due to an up-bow, there’s a sizeable gap between the seventh fret and the bottom of the string
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Gibson had quite literally been ahead of the curve – employee Thaddeus McHugh invented an adjustable steel truss rod and filed for a patent in 1921. US Patent #1446758 was granted in 1923, and this allowed Gibson to carve much slimmer necks than its competitors.
Most truss rods only act in one direction, so they’re primarily intended to correct up-bows. Necks can also develop back-bows, so dual-action truss rods were developed to allow neck adjustment in both directions.
Every spring and autumn, I get calls from customers saying their s need a setup, with common complaints being high actions, string buzzing and tuning issues. Often, a full setup isn’t needed because the neck is the only thing that has moved and all that’s required is a minor truss rod adjustment. The same can also apply when trying a different brand of strings or changing string gauge.
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You can assess neck straightness by fretting a string in two places simultaneously – at the first fret and somewhere around the point where the neck joins the body. Using a capo or two can help. Look for a gap between the top of the 7th fret and the underside of the string. If there’s no gap and you have been experiencing fret buzzing, the neck is probably flat or back-bowed. Conversely, a large gap and a high action might indicate an up-bow.
Here there’s a very slight gap between the seventh fret and the string, so the truss rod is set optimally and the plays nicely
How neck straightness impacts string height and intonation is fairly easy to visualise. Imagine the neck is totally straight and the strings are running parallel to the fretboard from the nut to the bridge. If truss rod tension is released, the strings will pull the neck into an up-bow, so the nut increases in height relative to the bridge and the strings move higher above the fretboard.
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Conversely, an excessively tight truss rod can force the neck into a back-bow, where the nut drops in height relative to the bridge and the strings move towards the fretboard. Neck bows also alter the distance between the nut and bridge, which can cause intonation
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