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Truss Rod Question


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I can't decide on what type of headstock to put on my new build. An angle or flat? I purchased one with a spoke and I love the ease of a heel adjusted rod, but I don't believe I've ever ever seen an angled headstock with a heel adjusted truss rod. Is it okay to use one? Wise? Thanks.

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There's no reason why you couldn't do a heel-adjust truss rod on a pitched headstock neck. Probably the reason why it's not often done is because most guitarists prefer a headstock-adjust truss rod, no matter whether the headstock is pitched or straight. So when you do get to that somewhat more limited market of people who prefer a heel-adjust, they're almost always vintage Fender guys and vintage Fenders, of course, have straight headstocks. Additionally, with a heel-adjust truss rod, you have to make sure that there is some kind of access to it, which is why you won't find it on set-neck guitars very often.

Of course that's all assuming that we're talking about electric guitars here, because acoustics very often have set necks with pitched headstocks and heel-adjust truss rods.

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Thanks for the reply. Yeah, obviously we're talking about bolt on necks and that's a Fender thing. I didn't even think about acoustic guitars having heel accessed truss rods... I was just wondering if it was wise to have the rod go through the scarf joint. On heel adjusted rods, there are a few inches of fretboard left with no truss rod. It's probably a bit weaker because of the wood removal under the nut. Thanks again.

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I think you are talking about the spoke adjustment commonly found on Ernie Ball guitars and also on the EVH Wolfgang models. If that's correct, I prefer to do the spoke adjustment at the heel rather than the traditional headstock type. Unlike the EBMM or EVH guitars, I do an angled headstock and haven't had any problems. Right or wrong, it's my opinion that leaving the headstock unmolested makes it a little stronger and I like the aesthetics of not having to do a truss cover. Here's some examples of mine...

P9100042R.jpg

Marsh07.jpg

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you can do anything you want. Sounds like a winner

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I thought the new EVH did have an angled back headstock? Something like 8 degrees... no? I don't have one but I am going to build one and I remember this from my research...

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