Official Luthiers Forum!

Back sometime last Fall I made a steel string acoustic. At the time I ordered the truss rod for it I thought it was a double action truss rod, when it can I found out it was not. Like an idiot I used it anyway. Just after I setup the guitar it was okay, there was a little buzzing in a spot or to, but not much. Now that it has settled in for several months the buzzing is pretty bad. What’s causing it? Well, after it’s fretted it bows back, the truss rod only corrects upbow. I filled the frets lower than normal anyway trying to correct the buzzing. So today I pulled out the old frets and heated the neck with an iron. I got the neck hot enough to burn you and clamped it to a level with some heavy paper backed 80-grit sandpaper in the middle as a shim to hopefully give it a little upbow. I don’t know if this is going to do any good or not. How long do you people think I should leave it clamped?

First of all, I'm not in the least a repair expert...so others will have to chime in on that and correct anything stupid I may say. (thanks folks!)
People have used single-action truss rods for decades, so you aren't an idiot for using it. Don't beat yourself up over it. You just needed to approach the fretwork and neck leveling differently than you did. The best place to start would have been refretting the neck and re-leveling the fretboard, not trying to induce relief with heat. You do that by removing the frets, putting tension on the rod, and sanding level. Then when you release som of the tension, you get relief. Then re-fret with wire that won't induce anymore backbow. Matt Gage gave me a great lesson in fretting and simulating string tension while leveling the fretboard. I would suggest Dan Erlewine's videos/books on the subject.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

You probably have to have a weird jig to be able to put tension on the neck and sand level, Right?

Think about putting your truss rod in the neutral position and then
sanding the fingerboard flat. That way you have a starting point that is
flat and when your strings give you forward bow, you can adjust it back.
Keep in mind that depending on the stiffness of your neck you may or
may not get forward bow. Also think about what the change in humidity
has been since you built the guitar.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I would use heat and some clamps and force the neck into a more bowed/flat position. I have seen a video where Dan Erlewine does exactly this and it worked out quite well. How much heat and how long is important because you don't want to burn anything nor do you want the fretboard comming up. After this treatment I would do as John suggests and sand the fretboard flat and true and your problem should be resolved.

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

[QUOTE=Colby Horton] You probably have to have a weird jig to be able to put tension on the neck and sand level, Right?[/QUOTE]

No, you put tension on the neck with the truss rod. This forces it to a little back bow. You then sand the board flat. Upon removing the tension, the neck bows up. You apply tension to set the neck to the proper relief. This has the added advantage that the truss rod is always applying tension and doesn't rattle or buzz (as much, we hope).

I use the neck jig from Stew Mac when doing alot of the work. I know expensive, but easy to make or if not a good investment. Not so sure the one way did it, but things happen was it loose when you did the neck. I would just treat it like a neck repair(bowed) and go like Dave B said.

Thanks for your input guys, it has been very helpful. I haven’t got the problem solved yet but I’m working on it.