Guitarfrenzy Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 I am helping someone build a Statocaster but I ran into a new problem. The neck won't really work with a Stew Mac Truss rod the way it should. Here is the problem. The neck is gonna be made from a 3/4" maple with a 1/4" rosewood fingerboard which is normal for a Fender guitar. If you go ahead and cut the truss rod slot to 7/16" like it's suppose to be, the allen nut will end up being way below where the headstock is. The headstock will be cut to 1/2" thick taking 1/4" off the top of the 3/4" maple where the headstock will be. That's only 1/4" drop, and 7/16" is alot more, so basically if this makes sense I decided that it would have to be an angled hole drilled into the heastock that will give access to the truss rod adjustment. The only problem is that I'm thinking that it would be such an angle that you couldn't adjust it anyway. I called Stew Mac and asked tech, he told me that I could turn the truss rod around so the truss rod allen adjustment will be up and not laying down like normal. I don't want to do it this way if I can help it, simply because someone later on could miss adjust it because it would make your adjustments backwards.. instead of righty tighty.. it'd be lefty tighty.. lol.. Also, I thought about placing the adjustment at the heel end, but then again, I don't want to have to take the neck off to do simple adjustments. I'm kinda thinking about going with a standard truss rod here, but just thought I'd post this here to see what some others might suggested,... I'm definitely open to any suggestion.. This is the first neck I've made that didn't have a 13° angle headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 You've got to start with a thicker piece of wood and take more wood off of the face of the headstock to get where you want to be. Personally I'd make it adjust from the heel and cut a notch in the body so you can adjust the neck without removing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 Good observation with the Hot Rod. I'm new to neck builds so I'm certainly no expert. I did notice in the sheet that comes with the hot rod that for Fender style necks they want you to put the adjustment at the heel of the neck. You'd have to use one of the spoke type adment do-hickys to avoid taking the neck off. I'll keep this in mind for my next neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 I've built a couple of necks (fender style) with a hot rod and adjustment at the headstock end. I drill the access at an angle and have not had any problems. It may not end up looking exactly like a fender truss rod adjustment hole but if it works and it still looks good - who cares. When adjusting, I use the short end to plug into the rod and adjust with the long end of the wrench. Since the short end doesn't end up sticking out much at all into the headstock area, the angle of the hole really doesn't become a factor. If you wanted to use a straight wrench - you'd probably need one of those ball end wrenches. I can send you a pic later tonight if you'd like to see what I'm talking about. I found a pic of my limba guitar that kinda shows the hole: I think I may have gone as thin as 1/2" on that headstock but I need to measure to be sure. You should still be able to do it with 9/16" though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted June 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 Thanks for all the tips.. again proving that whenever your in a bind you can almost always find someone whose run into the same problem as your having on this web site.. Scott, I'm thinking about doing that if I can't get a test neck to turn out like I want it. I thought about how using a thicker piece of maple would help, but the neck might look a bit odd since that's gonna make it stick out more than normal. But the real reason is because all I have are the 3 maple boards I bought from Stew and they are all 4"x27"x3/4". I was thinking along the same lines as DaveQ if I can pull it off.. still not certain about what angle I'll end up with and if it will be adjustable after I'm done. I'll make a trial run with some scrap pine or something and see how it turns out.. Any more suggestion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 I just finished putting in a Hot Rod truss rod with the slotted adjustment nut at the headstock end. I checked it out and it adjusts just fine this way as Dave said. I may be at a slight advantage, however, since I purchased the rod with the rather large slotted adjustment nut which I have no problem accessing even though it sits low in the channel. I bought this one on purpose since I hate trying to fit in the wrench and crank on those small allen nuts. Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted June 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 Good observation with the Hot Rod. I'm new to neck builds so I'm certainly no expert. I did notice in the sheet that comes with the hot rod that for Fender style necks they want you to put the adjustment at the heel of the neck. You'd have to use one of the spoke type adment do-hickys to avoid taking the neck off. I'll keep this in mind for my next neck. Yeah I'm just glad I thought about it before I actually barreled into it and cut out the truss rod slot first, like before I'd have normally done.. lol.. But having made so many mistakes before, I trend to think things out before I try anything, thank god.. lol It's still very up in the air as which is the best way to do this. Even the head tech at Stew Mac didn't really have an answer except.. turn it upside down or have it at the heel end.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 I built a 7-String neck and I simply reversed the hot rod trussrod so that the adjustment nut is at the top of the peghead. This worked great for me. You have to adjust the other way round then, but as it is MY guitar I have no problem with that. Besides that anyone who knows his stuff should be careful enough during truus rod adjustment to not ruin the neck or rod.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted June 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Your right GuitarMaestro.. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking of just turning it around, and using carbon fiber rods that way no one should ever have to adjust it.. lol More money , but well worth it.. Still not 100% sure what I'll do though.. but narrowing it down to two.. drill an angled slot for truss access or reversing it like you have suggested.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 I don't know much about thrus rod, but i know quite a bit on machine shop, and thinverting the rod won't change the way it gets tightened. the screw will be in the same position, tighten CW and loosen CCW, the only way to change this is by inverting the threads on the screw. Please if I'm wrong let me know because like I had said before, I'm here ot learn. I'm new to guitar build but I got wood working and machinist experience, so I might be able to trade off some knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 I don't know much about thrus rod, but i know quite a bit on machine shop, and thinverting the rod won't change the way it gets tightened. the screw will be in the same position, tighten CW and loosen CCW, the only way to change this is by inverting the threads on the screw. Please if I'm wrong let me know because like I had said before, I'm here ot learn. I'm new to guitar build but I got wood working and machinist experience, so I might be able to trade off some knowledge. well it still tightens...it is just the way the neck bows that changes...tightening it while upside down will move the neck the opposite way from if it is right side up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted June 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Wes is right, and that's why I'm debating if I should do it that way or not. Just in case someone trys to adjust it later and messes up the neck because they went the wrong way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulNeeds Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 I don't know much about thrus rod, but i know quite a bit on machine shop, and thinverting the rod won't change the way it gets tightened. the screw will be in the same position, tighten CW and loosen CCW, the only way to change this is by inverting the threads on the screw. Please if I'm wrong let me know because like I had said before, I'm here ot learn. I'm new to guitar build but I got wood working and machinist experience, so I might be able to trade off some knowledge. Wes is correct in this, because this is a double action truss rod - it has two rods in opposition to each other, so the neck can be made to 'move' in either direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 well it still tightens...it is just the way the neck bows that changes...tightening it while upside down will move the neck the opposite way from if it is right side up thanks Again Wes!!! So when you tighten it it doesn't create tension on itself but it bows back. I had it wrong! When I look at things I look at them at a mechanics point of view, thanks for the info... I thought that by increasing the tension you actually pull the neck ( increase the "hardness" or strenghten the neck) back from the string pull not bow it back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted June 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 We'll when I was first thinking that I could turn it over and it would the same, I tightened the truss rod and could see that it wasn't gonna work the same. But my main concern is that if I do install it this way, will someone mess up the neck later down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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