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Is this truss rod long enough?


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Hello there, thanks for having me here. 

Getting back to a project started years ago,  I have a maple neck for a 28.625" scale baritone.   The truss rod cavity I routed Is 19" long and starts around 1" from the nut.   That puts the brass block loosely inbetween the first fret and nut which I believe is an OK place for that end to be.   I have a double action truss rod but it is only 17 5/8"  long from the outsides of the brass blocks.   This puts the end of the brass block 1 3/8" away from the end of the neck heel.   Although it would be position well into the heel/body join area, it certainly seems significantly further in than well, any other guitar I've seen!   Its one of those Stew Mac Hot Rod truss rods that I bought around 10 years ago.  I'll need to make sure the threads haven't oxidized as well.  But, I'm really on the fence about using this one and thinking that getting a 19" truss would be a much better idea.  That would put the adjustment right at the end of the neck heel as opposed to being over an inch in.     Just curious what you would do.  From a functional standpoint I'm thinking it would perform the intended function.  It just seems a little "goofy: to have to stick an Hex adjusting tool that far in to set the relief.  

Sure like to hear your comments.   Feel free to tell me to suck it up, be smart and just get a longer rod! 

Thanks all, 

Phil Donovan

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At first I thought you were talking about the spoke nut version but the word "Hex" clarified the type a bit.

Also I read that you're going to adjust it from the heel. In that case I'd recommend a full length rod.

If you had the adjustment access from the headstock the 17" rod would suffice as it wouldn't do anything inside the neck pocket anyway.

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Hi Bizman, thanks for coming by. 

The adjustment element is a 1/4" dia or larger "X" adjusted end - the diameter of the round adjustment is larger than the width of the truss rod slot so, I'd have to remove wood to make it fit anyways.    I like your advice of just getting a full length rod, that will take care of worries and ruminations.  While measuring the shaped out maple neck back I realized if I wanted 21 frets there would need to be a slight over hang of fingerboard, maybe around .25" or so. I'm fine with that and a full length rod would allow truss adjustment with the neck fastened with tensioned strings - which I would think is an optimum situation for guitar set up.   

I found a place that has a good selection of rods, one of those being 19" which would bring the truss rod adjustment right to the very end of the neck heel.    I'm hoping that the hex adjustment kind of rod will slip in so I wont need to remove any more neck wood to fit the truss rod.   Its time for some shopping now I'd say!  

thanks for your comment, its actually pretty nice to be back to this baritone guitar project after having put work into making the neck back form and truss canal.   I'm actually pretty excited about this. 

Best, - Phil Donovan

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