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Posted

Sorry if this is not the correct forum to post this question...

To make a long story short, the truss rod adjustment end protrudes from my neck end about 3/8 inch. (It's a body end adjustment access.) When I position the neck pick up (single coil) do I need to be concerned about how close it is to the TR end? Would it pick up any/more noise from being too close to that metal "antenna"? Is there a minimum distance I should observe?

On a somewhat related note, every other metal part on the guitar seems to be grounded, except the truss rod. I realize it is outside the circuit created by the strings, the physically touching and the "magnetically connected" parts, but wouldn't it still have some field of influence?

Posted

Theoretically, it could have influence based on interference. If it is electrically conductive and magnetic, then it can act as an antenna and can affect the flux of the pickup to some degree when in close enough proximity through inductance.

In the practical world, it may or may not have a perceivable effect, but I'd guess not. Further, I've not read anything suggesting others ghave had a similar issue, but I guess that does not carry much weight.

I believe the frequency range it picks up on is calculable based on the rod's length, but this is a precision, low tolerance measurement, meaning the likelihood of you picking op on some AM or FM is low, but this kind of theory gets very complex very quickly, and is beyond me as you'd probably have to also consider the other properties within the rest of the system. To demonstrate, a friend and I attempted optimizing the length of the antenna on an iPod vehicle interface. We varied the length by a few hundredths of an inch and failed miserably. The signal was decreased greatly... again, precision, low tolerance measurement.

About the minimum distance, the relationship of magnetically induced signal to distance is inversely and exponentiall proportional, sort of like gravity, so each increase in distance has the effect of exponentionally decreasing the items ability to induce a current.

Posted

Thanks for the reply. It was a dumb question, I guess. I will just make sure it's not touching and go for it. It's my first build, so everything has been a learning experience so far anyway. :D

Posted

well, i do know that if I, or another person, is standing next to the guitar or holding it, and the person is not grounded via the strings, then that person is acting as a satellite dish for hum. the hum bounces off of him and gets all up in the pickups. a truss rod could possibly do that. but i'm not sure to what extent...

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