Adjust Truss Rod With Strings Tuned Up Or Not?

[Mr. Preston Swift]

I'm about to string up my first FINALLY. I just realized i don't know if the truss rod should be adjusted while all the strings are on and tuned up or not. I've heard arguments from both sides on more than one occasion. Which was do you guys think is the right way to go?

[erikbojerik]

Strings loose. Tweek it 1/8 turn, tune back to pitch and see if it improves. Repeat as necessary (at some point along the way you may have to re-adjust the action by tweeking saddle height).

[ihocky2]

I would loosen them a little but not much. You want enough tension to pull the neck into a forward bow. Otherwise you'll end up with more relief once your are at pitch.

[low end fuzz]

i would agree w/ erik, and disagree with ihocky;

although it makes sense to want the strings to pull the neck, its not something that should be that quik;

loosen the strings, do the 1/8- 1/4 turn;

tighten strings and play around with it; it may seem right away that othing happened but after a lil playing and time , the neck will slowly(properly) give more releif with the strings pulling over a period of time;

like bending sides, if you do it slow the wood ''naturally'' finds it place; if its rushed it will return to where its been for a long time

[Setch]

Strings tuned to pitch.

Read the neck (ie: do you want more relief, less relief) and push the neck gently into the position you want. The best way is to lay the guitar down with the body supported and a padded support under the end of the neck. Push in the middle of the neck, and then tweak the rod (small adjustments - 1/8th at a time) until you get the result you want.

Doing it this way, the rod isn't having to move the neck, it's just taking up slack to hold it in the position you've introduced. I find the neck settles faster this way too.

[Flon Klar Guitars]

+1 for strings tuned.

[erikbojerik]

As Setch points out, you don't want to use the rod to actually move the neck, that is the point. You want the rod to simply counter the pull of the strings, so Setch's method works fine so long as you have access to the rod's adjustment nut with the guitar face-down.

[Mattia]

'Setch style' here as well; tuned to pitch, bend the neck manually, adjust rod a little.

[soapbarstrat]

My routine is pretty much always the same: Neck arrives unstrung. I remove t-rod adjusting nut (if it's the kind that comes off), use a pipe-cleaner to clean the threads, apply some graphite grease into the adjuster nut's threads and on the bearing face of the nut, put nut back on and tighten it all the way (oh crap, sometimes it needs spacers added). String the sucker up and check relief. If it's dead straight or just slightly back-bowed, then in the "set-up" jig it stays for at least a day. If I see right away there's extreme back-bow or extreme relief, I don't want to leave it that way and will adjust to something more reasonable (but at *this point* favor slight back-bow over any relief). If the relief is extreme (which I see all too often these days) then I have to get all medieval chiropractor on it's ass, and then into the set-up jig to settle. For pre-fretwork I want it as dead straight as possible. For a "ready to gig" set-up, I would rather have .002" to .005" relief than even a hint of back-bow.

The main thing is, often you have a neck adjusted straight, and within 24 hours it'll creep into more relief than you wanted.

I don't think there's any reason why the guitar would need to be "face down" when helping the neck adjust.

[Flon Klar Guitars]

It would only need to be face down if you're trying to get some backbow out of it. Otherwise, you'd want it face up.

[DC Ross]

+1 to Setch's argument (this is also the method that Dan Erlewine uses)