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I had 22 shapes and sizes of truss rod adjustment wrenches hanging within arm's reach at my bench, but today I had to make yet another to bring it to 23. That doesn't even count all the odd Gretsch or Silvertone wrenches or hex keys ground down to various sizes tucked away in drawers, or even plain old allen wrenches. That's just dedicated truss rod wrenches. You would think that with this many, it would be pretty hard to find an instrument that I can't easily adjust. That regularly seems to prove wrong however, and I have to make yet another.

If you're going to build a guitar with an adjustable truss rod, it should be easily adjustable up to string tension. If you make it sound hole adjustable and don't want to drill through the shoulder brace, include a Larrivee style wrench in the case. Just make it usable for Pete's sake! The one that drove me nuts this week was made by a forum member, and you should feel lucky I tempered my criticism to the customer about it.

From now on, the old "make the tool and it will pay for itself over time" attitude is gone when I run in to this. The customer will be billed in full for the time making the tool, and I will strongly encourage them to take it up with the builder when they get an $80 bill for a simple truss rod adjustment.

It's like designing a car that has to have the whole engine pulled to get an oil change (actually I think new Volkswagens are designed that way).

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Sucknocity. Was the rod made by the builder with a "unique" adjustment, or just hard to get to?

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Well David my friend it was a lucky thing for the customer that they had you to help them. Very few places that I can think of would have had the skill or the desire to get the job done. Good going.

Your analogy regarding the car is a good one. A truss rod is MEANT to be adjusted, that is why it is there. To me "adjusted" means no proprietary hardware required and easy access.

"It's like designing a car that has to have the whole engine pulled to get an oil change (actually I think new Volkswagens are designed that way)."

My father once had a Cadillac that required dropping the back bumper off to change the signal bulbs. Needless to say, one replaced all at one time.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I do a ton of repairs...especially on old Gretsch's. It never seases to amazing on what I find under the truss rod cover. The earliest Gretsch's that had truss rods used the end of a drum lug welded to a rod. If I remember correctly, it also worked backwards from the standard headstock truss rod.

Make the accessable!

JD

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Joe

David--

Very good point! This brings up a question -- Do you prefer, as a repair person, to adjust a truss rod from the neck or the soundhole? Are there good reasons for either other than aesthetics?

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I prefer to build my guitars adjustable from the headstock, for just this reason. I think
a properly done trussrod cover can add to the appearance of the guitar, and the
adjustment is an order of magnitude easier.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

In addition to Jim's question which makes a stronger neck, less susceptible to breakage at the head stock or anywhere else for that matter?

I'm with Gene. Adjusting a rod through the soundhole sucks, unless it's right near the edge of said soundhole.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I actually prefer soundhole adjustable rods, not because of any aesthetic or structural reasons, but just because there are no screws to remove. Either way though, is just fine with me.

I would just encourage people to keep access in mind when designing. No guitar should require de-tuning to adjust the rod in my opinion - you should be able to observe the response in real time. If you want soundhole adjustable and don't want to drill a hole in the transverse brace, make a wrench for each guitar you build, include one in the case, and have them available for customers to buy it they loose it. Most shops will have a Larrivee style 4mm wrench now and a few will have the old Collings 5mm one, but not the 9/64" or 1/8". Even if it's a 4mm, the Larrivee wrench won't reach it if the end doesn't extend to the edge of the dovetail block.

If you make something that requires a special tool, just include the special tool and make them available.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Well, I happen to disagree with you David .... I dont adjust truss rods/necks with string tension on them .. why ... because I have seen truss rods break this way, and I was taught years ago thats its safer to do this with the string tension off ... and it only takes a minute or two extra to do. I would rather repalce a broken string over fixing a broken truss rod any day.

Now I dont know if it was one of my later built guitars (my earlier ones had headstock access)that caused you all this grief, but I dont think so as I have no guitars anywhere near your shop that I am aware of .. and I do build them just the way you dont like .. well, thats my choice. But what my way of building them does do is force you to drop the string tension on the truss rod before adjusting it, just the way I like to do it. It also makes it more difficult for those who feel tightening the truss rod is the solution to every action problem (and we know there are tons of so called techs in shops out there who do that, I have witnessed it first hand). If you feel the need to make a special tool because the thought of having to drop the strings and reach inside is too much bother, well then go ahead. But dont tell me its an absolute requirement, because its not - I have done this adjustment dozens of times without one. It took all of 3 minutes ....

Maybe we can just agree to disagree on this one.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"