Neck/Truss Rod adjustment help
Neck/Truss Rod adjustment help
Not trained person should not adjust it by eye inspection - it´s quite but You must know what You are looking for. Easier to measure.
I have regulated quite a few guitars and for now, I do it by looking in bare eye.
I think You´ve certainly got some guitar technicians in Your local area - ask them to show You, first time You pay them to do it, but if You observe it, You may be able to do it later Yourself.
Of course, there are many useful tips and stuff in Youtube/google also.
Truss rod is something you can spot quickly. If you have a capo put it on the first fret...if not you can use your index finger of your left hand but you will need to have a little reach to test it. Now fret the 17th fret with your right hand. There should be about a hair to a millimeter of space between the strings and the 8th fret. If you used a capo use your left hand to lightly tap the string down towards the frets while looking closely. If you don't feel it contacting the fret as you are tapping it then you need a truss rod adjust. If there is enough space to squeeze a dime in then you need it adjusted. PLEASE NOTE....you should have your strings on and tuned when you do this test. 99% of the guitars I have ever owned did not need a truss rod adjust right out of the factory. If you feel the action is to high then make sure the nut is the proper height before you do any thing else 75% of your guitars operation is dictated by the nut. Most guitars have a means of adjusting saddle height at the bridge but if you Nut is to low or to high you have problems and need to either get it in to a tech or plan for a big risky project.
I did not use to feel confident about trying to adjust the truss rod. Also, the ESP manual - and some others - never helped because they never seemed to bring enough info to drive me into "doing it myself".
Only after thoroughly reading Dan Erlewine`s "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" I started to try to adjust the truss rod. Following his recommendations, I just try such adjustments after measuring relief and action with a feeler gauge and a ruler respectively. Anyway, I`m a lay person only trying to learn more about this subject.
There are very experienced guys here, so that I ask your permission to put this question in other words:
a) does a skilled person usually adjust the truss rod based only in bare eye inspection?
b) should a not trained person (like me) try to adjust the truss rod based only in bare eye inspection?
Thanks in advance!