Official Luthiers Forum!

First off thank you all, I have enjoyed learning from your questions and answers
Now for the question, my son and I are building his guitar with a flat head stock, locking nut, and dual action truss rod. The channel for the truss rod puts the access hole directly under the locking nut with no wood in between them. This is different from other ones I have seen– but those also only have a standard truss rod. Stewmac suggests using silicone under the brass ends of the truss rod to adhere it down and this will make sure that the nut for the truss rod and locking nut never make contact. When you would look into the hole you would see the shape U instead of O. I could flip the truss rod so the access hole was lower creating more room between the hole and locking nut but that would increase the drop between the fretboard and the surface of the headstock and mu son really likes the design we already have (we are copying the neck from a Suhr). I don't see a problem with this plan but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something or that there wasn't a better choice.
Thank you and God bless
nate.

You're good, lots of locking nut guitars have the same set-up.

The alternative would also remove more wood from a critical area if the guitar ever gets knocked over. We repair lots of headstock breaks and that's where they often break using an over sized truss rod access recess to help things break.

Be careful with any silicon contamination of any wood areas that you wish to finish. Silicon contamination is one of the leading causes of finishing issues and once the wood absorbs silicon it's very nearly impossible to correct it and remove it.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, welcome to the OLF!

The adjuster on a dual action rod goes down (away from the fretboard). I use LMI rods, the flat bar part of the rod pushes against the board, for a StewMac rod that would be what they call the "passive" rod. Here are two rods, each has been given one turn CW or CCW to show how the rod bends (the straight edge represents the fretboard)



I've never done a locking nut but the nuts on my guitars all sit right on top of the rod.

Thank you both very much. As for flipping the truss rod since he wants a straight headstock, not angled like the one in your pick, we would have to offset the headstock quite a bit more and he isn't liking the look. We would also be weakening the wood more which I am trying desperately to avoid. I see no issue with putting the truss rod like this, am I missing something?
As for the headstock breakage we are leaving the headstock about 3/16" thicker to aid in its strength and I tone. We will just recess the back a little to accept the tuners. Thank you very much for the heads up! Also thank you for the warning about the silicone, I am aware of this but I'd rather be retold than not warned!!

The adjustment nut can be installed at the butt end of the neck, but then you do need to plan for tool access.
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/i-0975/ ... rnecks.gif

Success with the truss rod, thank you!!