djhollowman Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 (edited) Hi all, I've bought a truss rod for a neck I'm making. It's a single rod inside a U-shaped aluminium channel, anchored at one end and adjustable at the other. Am I right in thinking that the channel I need to router in my neck will have a FLAT bottom, and be the same depth as the rod's aluminium channel? I thought this was the case until I read this: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/neck.htm where he makes a neck, and in some of the photos (esp. the very 1st one) the rod he's using looks very like a U-shaped channel type one. In this tutorial he installs it into a curved channel, and uses a wooden fillet on top of it! So do I really need to force my rod and it's aluminium channel into a curve??? It's flat at the moment - ie there is no curve in the aluminium channel. I know this is necessary with the Gibson-style single rods, but I bought a U-shaped channel type rod to avoid having to do exactly this! I thought I understood the principles of truss rods until now! Man, I'm confused!!! Please help me someone! Thanks, DJ Edited October 2, 2007 by djhollowman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Flat, don't bend it. jem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Wow.. You have every right to be confused. That part of that tutorial is just plain wrong. That truss rod needs a straight, flat channel. Wonder where he got the idea to curve it like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted October 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Flat, don't bend it. jem. Wow.. You have every right to be confused. That part of that tutorial is just plain wrong. That truss rod needs a straight, flat channel. Wonder where he got the idea to curve it like that? Excellent, thank you guys! That is what I thought. I confirmed this by reading up [again!!] Melvyn Hiscock's book, and I also have an old Hohner strat-copy neck in pieces which was deffo made as I thought. Now I'm back on track, thank goodness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MescaBug Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 (edited) Quick questions on the same topic, related to the Stewmac Hot Rod and Martin Style (aluminum U channel). 1. Does the end of the truss rod (heel side) needs to be anchored? Or it just butts again the end of the channel? 2. Is it ok to have a gap between the truss rod and the fingerboard? Or is it absolutely necessary to add a fillet? The Martin style has a flat top. Can the fingerboard be glued directly on it? Thanks! Edited October 3, 2007 by MescaBug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Quick questions on the same topic, related to the Stewmac Hot Rod and Martin Style (aluminum U channel). 1. Does the end of the truss rod (heel side) needs to be anchored? Or it just butts again the end of the channel? 2. Is it ok to have a gap between the truss rod and the fingerboard? Or is it absolutely necessary to add a fillet? The Martin style has a flat top. Can the fingerboard be glued directly on it? Thanks! 1...no, both of these are integral with themselves and are not anchored in the 'traditional' way. 2...i've used both and have never put a fillet over the top of either - although i'm not saying people don't. As for gluing the U channel to the fingerboard - i've always left 3 > 4mm (1/8 > 3/16"ish) around the U channel clear of glue to ensure the neck moves when you adjust it rather than it popping the fingerboard off at the first turn. Jem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted October 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 (edited) Quick questions on the same topic, related to the Stewmac Hot Rod and Martin Style (aluminum U channel). 1. Does the end of the truss rod (heel side) needs to be anchored? Or it just butts again the end of the channel? 2. Is it ok to have a gap between the truss rod and the fingerboard? Or is it absolutely necessary to add a fillet? The Martin style has a flat top. Can the fingerboard be glued directly on it? Thanks! 1...no, both of these are integral with themselves and are not anchored in the 'traditional' way. 2...i've used both and have never put a fillet over the top of either - although i'm not saying people don't. As for gluing the U channel to the fingerboard - i've always left 3 > 4mm (1/8 > 3/16"ish) around the U channel clear of glue to ensure the neck moves when you adjust it rather than it popping the fingerboard off at the first turn. Jem Now I think I get it! Is this right: You glue the sides of the u-casing to the sides of the routed channel (with epoxy?) The exposed surface of the u-casing would now be pretty much flush with the top surface of the neck, or even slightly lower. You would then apply glue (wood glue, presumably?) onto the top surface of the neck, leaving 3 to 4mm of gap around the entire truss rod channel (and doing the same on the underside of the 'board?) Does that sound right? Thanks, DJ Edited October 4, 2007 by djhollowman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Yep, well that's how i do it anyway. Jem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted October 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Yep, well that's how i do it anyway. Jem Cool, thanks man! DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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