Potentially stupid question about truss rods

[Legion]

So I gots me a Prestige Ibanez RG652FX.
All my time with it I spent with a pretty straight neck, low action, ya know, the shred setup. But recently I've been reducing string gauge and picking hard. Way more fret buzz. No problem, I thought. I'll raise the action and increase the relief and boom, done.


Except when I tried to loosen the truss rod to let the neck bow forward a bit, the "nut" on the end of the truss rod just....came off? This is a bullet end style truss rod. Turns out the bullet end is just screwed on to the truss rod. When I loosen it as much as it'll go, the neck is still quite straight.


What am I looking at? Do these guitars have single action truss rods and I just didn't know?

 

[nightsprinter]

There was once an old thread here questioning the same thing and I'm not sure a definitive answer was given.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out it has a single action rod to be honest. Warmoth necks are still single action.

What year is your 652? Some of the older ones had an issue with neck humps in the lower register.

 

[Legion]

There was once an old thread here questioning the same thing and I'm not sure a definitive answer was given.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out it has a single action rod to be honest. Warmoth necks are still single action.

What year is your 652? Some of the older ones had an issue with neck humps in the lower register.

I See.

The serial number starts with F16 so I'm guessing it's 2016. I don't have any neck hump issues, just that I'm surprised to see what is possibly a single action rod. I thought all modern guitars had dual action.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

These are single action rods.

A lot of brands stick with them because the trade off is they're more easy to work on and especially repair/replace, though obviously less adjustable.

If the rod is completely loose and you still need some relief after letting it sit overnight, then the best/least invasive option is to use slightly heavier strings.

There are other procedures you can do, but they're not guaranteed to work and may not be worth it for something that can be fairly easily replaced.

 

[Alberto7]

I have an EBMM JP12-7 with the same issue. Neck is dead straight. Tried to introduce the slightest bit of relief by loosening the rod and letting the strings get their way worh the neck. The rod's nut came loose. Turns out they use single action rods too.

Like Max said, the only solution I found is to get heavier string gauges. The other solution I found while reading online is to take the neck off the guitar and heat it up while applying pressure to create a forward bow using some sort of jig... kind of an involved procedure that I haven't tried yet, and it may or may not work.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I have an EBMM JP12-7 with the same issue. Neck is dead straight. Tried to introduce the slightest bit of relief by loosening the rod and letting the strings get their way worh the neck. The rod's nut came loose. Turns out they use single action rods too.

Like Max said, the only solution I found is to get heavier string gauges. The other solution I found while reading online is to take the neck off the guitar and heat it up while applying pressure to create a forward bow using some sort of jig... kind of an involved procedure that I haven't tried yet, and it may or may not work.

Yeah, in my experience "heat pressing" has like 40% chance of working well enough to make a real difference, and one that doesn't slowly fade back into the wrong bow in a few weeks/months.

There's a less involved version without heat where you just put a really heavy set of strings and tune them tightly enough to move the neck to about twice as much relief as desired and let it sit flat for like forever (a couple weeks) and I've seen that turn out decently enough, not sure how long it would last in most cases, but at least you won't break anything.

The most invasive option is to replane and refret the board, but like I said, unless it's absolutely unplayable and a very hard guitar to replace, it's just not worth it. I've only done it twice ever and in one case it was on a bass made by the client's now passed away dad and thus it was worth it. The other was an old Martin that was limited and already worth five figures, so it was peanuts compared to value of the guitar.

 

[Legion]

Okay then, heavier strings it is. bit of a bummer it isn't dual action.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Alberto7]

There's a less involved version without heat where you just put a really heavy set of strings and tune them tightly enough to move the neck to about twice as much relief as desired and let it sit flat for like forever (a couple weeks) and I've seen that turn out decently enough, not sure how long it would last in most cases, but at least you won't break anything.

If Ken Parker is to be believed, mahogany supposedly doesn't creep as much over time as other woods, so might wanna go to triple the relief and leave it for even longer? Then again, wood being wood, it seems an almost arbitrary claim to make. Might be worth a shot.

It's probably easier to just buy a new neck. If it wasn't a limited edition EBMM, a whole new guitar might have been more worth it.

 

[Legion]

If Ken Parker is to be believed, mahogany supposedly doesn't creep as much over time as other woods, so might wanna go to triple the relief and leave it for even longer? Then again, wood being wood, it seems an almost arbitrary claim to make. Might be worth a shot.

It's probably easier to just buy a new neck. If it wasn't a limited edition EBMM, a whole new guitar might have been more worth it.

Idk if I want to do anything that invasive. This is a really lovely guitar that I would like to keep for life if I can

 

[Alberto7]

There's a less involved version without heat where you just put a really heavy set of strings and tune them tightly enough to move the neck to about twice as much relief as desired and let it sit flat for like forever (a couple weeks) and I've seen that turn out decently enough, not sure how long it would last in most cases, but at least you won't break anything.

@Legion I am currently trying this as of today and I can report my results back if you want me to. I think I'll leave it for a good month or so, only making sure the new strings remain tensioned.

I went to check my JP12 and the action lowered quite a bit, it's all buzzy, and the neck now has zero relief tuned to standard and the nut on the truss rod is fully loose, so I decided it was time to do something about it. I just finished putting a set of Ernie Ball Mammoths (12 to 62) on it plus a 72 in the low B. I brought it up to a little over a semitone higher than standard tuning and then a bit more. I'm actually tightening the middle strings (A-D-G) more than the bass and treble strings so that I don't break the treble strings and so I don't have tension that is too uneven across the neck. I'm getting around .008 relief now, but I'm pretty uncomfortable tuning it any higher. I'm just not used to this kind of string tension on a guitar. I'm letting it sit out on a rack now.

 

[Legion]

@Legion I am currently trying this as of today and I can report my results back if you want me to. I think I'll leave it for a good month or so, only making sure the new strings remain tensioned.

I went to check my JP12 and the action lowered quite a bit, it's all buzzy, and the neck now has zero relief tuned to standard and the nut on the truss rod is fully loose, so I decided it was time to do something about it. I just finished putting a set of Ernie Ball Mammoths (12 to 62) on it plus a 72 in the low B. I brought it up to a little over a semitone higher than standard tuning and then a bit more. I'm actually tightening the middle strings (A-D-G) more than the bass and treble strings so that I don't break the treble strings and so I don't have tension that is too uneven across the neck. I'm getting around .008 relief now, but I'm pretty uncomfortable tuning it any higher. I'm just not used to this kind of string tension on a guitar. I'm letting it sit out on a rack now.

That would be super helpful.
In parallel I'm doing the same thing. 11-54 strings in E standard. Not as heavy as yours but once I tuned it up the buzz completely went away: that tells me that it's seriously pulling the neck. Gonna let it sit for a few weeks. Let's check back in here after that and compare notes?

 

[Alberto7]

That would be super helpful.
In parallel I'm doing the same thing. 11-54 strings in E standard. Not as heavy as yours but once I tuned it up the buzz completely went away: that tells me that it's seriously pulling the neck. Gonna let it sit for a few weeks. Let's check back in here after that and compare notes?

Sounds good to me! Here's hoping it actually does anything.