OK so I got a question the other day that I thought I'd answer in blog-form. I hope he doesn't mind me quoting him...
Here's the question:
"I have a few guitars now, and I basically want to keep one in C tuning. I was wondering if this means I need to take the guitar to a tech person and get it all set properly, or is that something I can read about and have a go at myself? Truss rods scare me."
So here's the deal: string tension determines how straight or bowed the guitar neck is. Imagine a bow:
The more tension there is on the neck, the more the ends of the bow are pulled up. When you tune your guitar down (i.e.: down to C) there is less tension and so the neck is straighter (sometimes too straight), and sometimes it's like it bows backwards (we call this "backbow"--creative, huh?). Anyway, the truss rod is a reinforcing rod inside the neck that can be adjusted to compensate for bow or backbow. Still following me? OK. So when you start changing the string tension (heavier or lighter strings, alternate tunings...), you need to adjust the truss rod accordingly, to maintain the proper amount of bow (or "relief") that the neck has.
Someone, somewhere, at some point, has put it into people's heads that adjusting a truss rod is like some dangerous operation that should only be performed by a rocket scientist. Wrong. What is true, though, is that if you break the truss rod (like by over-tightening it...and you should never over tighten anything anyway!), it could be the end of the road for your guitar. Some companies install their truss rods in such a way that it can be removed, but lots don't. But it's kind of a no-brainer: if it gets tight--like, real tight--stop! Do a small bit, look down the neck starting at the top nut and going downwards towards the saddle, and repeat if necessary. Tighter= straighter, looser=more bowed.
Here's the question:
"I have a few guitars now, and I basically want to keep one in C tuning. I was wondering if this means I need to take the guitar to a tech person and get it all set properly, or is that something I can read about and have a go at myself? Truss rods scare me."
So here's the deal: string tension determines how straight or bowed the guitar neck is. Imagine a bow:
The more tension there is on the neck, the more the ends of the bow are pulled up. When you tune your guitar down (i.e.: down to C) there is less tension and so the neck is straighter (sometimes too straight), and sometimes it's like it bows backwards (we call this "backbow"--creative, huh?). Anyway, the truss rod is a reinforcing rod inside the neck that can be adjusted to compensate for bow or backbow. Still following me? OK. So when you start changing the string tension (heavier or lighter strings, alternate tunings...), you need to adjust the truss rod accordingly, to maintain the proper amount of bow (or "relief") that the neck has.
Someone, somewhere, at some point, has put it into people's heads that adjusting a truss rod is like some dangerous operation that should only be performed by a rocket scientist. Wrong. What is true, though, is that if you break the truss rod (like by over-tightening it...and you should never over tighten anything anyway!), it could be the end of the road for your guitar. Some companies install their truss rods in such a way that it can be removed, but lots don't. But it's kind of a no-brainer: if it gets tight--like, real tight--stop! Do a small bit, look down the neck starting at the top nut and going downwards towards the saddle, and repeat if necessary. Tighter= straighter, looser=more bowed.
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