Truss rod confusion...

[MajorJohnson931]

a couple days ago i adjusted the truss rod on my schecter and it played perfect but yesterday, i picked it up and it didn't feel quite right, the action felt a little bit higher, so i tightened the truss rud again just a little bit and it was back to the way it was a day before. anyone know why this may be? does the wood need a while to "settle in?"

 

[TMatt142]

How much did you turn the rod? Always adjust in very small increments. Sometimes it takes a bit for the neck to respond plus if the environment the guitars is in changes that can affect it as well. no worries though, I'm always doing minor lil tweaks from time to time..

 

[I_infect]

I notice changes from summer to winter, and do little tweaks here and there myself. i find schecters are harder just because those frets are so damn big. a good rule of thumb though is to adjust a little, let it sit for a day. It may be good, it may need more or less.

 

[MajorJohnson931]

How much did you turn the rod? Always adjust in very small increments. Sometimes it takes a bit for the neck to respond plus if the environment the guitars is in changes that can affect it as well. no worries though, I'm always doing minor lil tweaks from time to time..

so i've heard, it's my first time messing with it though. from what i've read, 1/4 turns should be the most at one time, but i've probably been doing 1/8 to 1/16, i'm pretty paranoid. i live in colorado, so maybe it's the lack of humidity...?

I notice changes from summer to winter, and do little tweaks here and there myself. i find schecters are harder just because those frets are so damn big. a good rule of thumb though is to adjust a little, let it sit for a day. It may be good, it may need more or less.

thank you sir, i appreciate the input

 

[Hollowway]

I'd say the first thing is that you shouldn't be adjusting your truss rod to correct your action. The only reason you should need to adjust your truss rod is if you have too much neck bow (in either direction). If you're getting a noticeable change in action from a truss rod adjustment you're probably going too far. To check your truss rod adjustment (i.e. neck bow) do this:
Fret the lowest string at the 1st fret and the 14th fret, and look under the string at the 6th or 7th fret. Or gently tap it if you can't really see under there. There should be a VERY thin gap between the 6th fret and the string. Like a playing card thickness. If there's no gap, loosen the truss rod a bit. If there's a sizable gap, tighten the truss rod 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Then let it sit for a day.

To adjust your action, lower the bridge until you get about 1 to 2 mm of a gap between the 12th fret and the string (you probably want about 1mm or so if you're a shredder). Measure it, though, because most people's mental image of a mm is much smaller than an actual mm! You'll probably need the bass strings higher than the unwound ones because of their longer travel when plucked. Then mess around with hit, bending notes, playing chords, and see if you fret out or hear too much buzzing. If you do, raise the action a little at the bridge. Then, once you have it as low as you can reasonably get it (and btw check for buzzing through an amp, otherwise you'll get overly picky just listening acoustically) then check the height of the nut. A high nut can jack up your action pretty bad. To do that, fret the string at the first fret, and make a mental note of how far above the second fret the string is. Then release the string, and the string should sit roughly the same distance off the first fret. If it's substantially higher, you need to file the string slots in the nut to get them down. Otherwise the nut will keep you from getting a really low action. And then once that's all done you'll need to retune and reintonate to the new settings.

 

[MajorJohnson931]

I'd say the first thing is that you shouldn't be adjusting your truss rod to correct your action. The only reason you should need to adjust your truss rod is if you have too much neck bow (in either direction). If you're getting a noticeable change in action from a truss rod adjustment you're probably going too far. To check your truss rod adjustment (i.e. neck bow) do this:
Fret the lowest string at the 1st fret and the 14th fret, and look under the string at the 6th or 7th fret. Or gently tap it if you can't really see under there. There should be a VERY thin gap between the 6th fret and the string. Like a playing card thickness. If there's no gap, loosen the truss rod a bit. If there's a sizable gap, tighten the truss rod 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Then let it sit for a day.

To adjust your action, lower the bridge until you get about 1 to 2 mm of a gap between the 12th fret and the string (you probably want about 1mm or so if you're a shredder). Measure it, though, because most people's mental image of a mm is much smaller than an actual mm! You'll probably need the bass strings higher than the unwound ones because of their longer travel when plucked. Then mess around with hit, bending notes, playing chords, and see if you fret out or hear too much buzzing. If you do, raise the action a little at the bridge. Then, once you have it as low as you can reasonably get it (and btw check for buzzing through an amp, otherwise you'll get overly picky just listening acoustically) then check the height of the nut. A high nut can jack up your action pretty bad. To do that, fret the string at the first fret, and make a mental note of how far above the second fret the string is. Then release the string, and the string should sit roughly the same distance off the first fret. If it's substantially higher, you need to file the string slots in the nut to get them down. Otherwise the nut will keep you from getting a really low action. And then once that's all done you'll need to retune and reintonate to the new settings.

hey man this helped a lot, that's just what i needed. i appreciate that

 

[xtrustisyoursx]

I'd say the first thing is that you shouldn't be adjusting your truss rod to correct your action. The only reason you should need to adjust your truss rod is if you have too much neck bow (in either direction). If you're getting a noticeable change in action from a truss rod adjustment you're probably going too far. To check your truss rod adjustment (i.e. neck bow) do this:
Fret the lowest string at the 1st fret and the 14th fret, and look under the string at the 6th or 7th fret. Or gently tap it if you can't really see under there. There should be a VERY thin gap between the 6th fret and the string. Like a playing card thickness. If there's no gap, loosen the truss rod a bit. If there's a sizable gap, tighten the truss rod 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Then let it sit for a day.

To adjust your action, lower the bridge until you get about 1 to 2 mm of a gap between the 12th fret and the string (you probably want about 1mm or so if you're a shredder). Measure it, though, because most people's mental image of a mm is much smaller than an actual mm! You'll probably need the bass strings higher than the unwound ones because of their longer travel when plucked. Then mess around with hit, bending notes, playing chords, and see if you fret out or hear too much buzzing. If you do, raise the action a little at the bridge. Then, once you have it as low as you can reasonably get it (and btw check for buzzing through an amp, otherwise you'll get overly picky just listening acoustically) then check the height of the nut. A high nut can jack up your action pretty bad. To do that, fret the string at the first fret, and make a mental note of how far above the second fret the string is. Then release the string, and the string should sit roughly the same distance off the first fret. If it's substantially higher, you need to file the string slots in the nut to get them down. Otherwise the nut will keep you from getting a really low action. And then once that's all done you'll need to retune and reintonate to the new settings.

Rep for you my friend. This is a very good and concise guide for anyone curious about this subject.

 

[Hollowway]

^^Glad to help! That's what's cool about this forum.