Setting up an Ibanez part 2: Truss Rod adjustment

Usually, when we purchase a guitar from the store, chances are no setup was being done to the guitar. There is a high percentage that the neck is warped or bowed if it's a metal/steel string guitar. The good news is that it can be rectified with slight adjustment of the truss rod.

What is a truss rod? The truss rod is a piece of metal rod within the neck that is used to stabilize and adjust the lengthwise forward curvature (also called relief), of the neck. The truss rod is also the fear of many players who never dared venture into the realm of setting up guitar themselves and mere mention of adjusting the truss rod can probably scare them away. However, have no fear. It isn't that scary if you know what you are doing. IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

First, to determine if you guitar needs a truss rod relief. You will need to check if the neck is warped in anyway.We usually call this up bow or back bow. To determine the bow, please click here. Once you determine the warp, it's time to rectify the problem.

We can determine that the guitar used in this example (My friend's Ibanez Guitar) has an up bow, due to the action and the slight curve at the 12th fret.

Usually located at the headstock of your guitar, covered up by a plate is the access to the truss rod of your guitar. Use a Hex key or an Allen wench (depending on the shape of your truss rod) and slot it in as shown above. There are 2 schools of thoughts on whether you should loosen the strings or not. In my opinion, there isn't a difference. We would want to determine that after straightening the neck, it should be straight right? If that's the case, why not leave the neck with strings strung on with full tension?

Anyway, the guitar used for the example in the picture above has an up bow neck and the way to rectify it is to tighten the truss rod. Usually the direction to turn (left), as shown in the picture above is to tighten the truss rod and the opposite direction (Right) is to losen the truss rod. There are exceptions but I am use you can feel if the truss rod is tightening or losing when you are turning the wench. Continue tightening the truss rod until the neck is straight or the truss rod is really tight. Which in this case, stop turning. If you force tight truss rod, you might break the truss rod and hence spoiling the neck. It causes as much as replacing the neck to replace the truss rod. So, do not force it to turn! Remember to do small turns and constantly check the relief of your guitar after adjustment.

After adjusting the truss rod, check the relief again. After that proceed to tune up the guitar and play the chromatic scale on the whole neck making sure that all notes right out properly and isn't buzzing. If it's buzzing, check the action of the bridge, making sure that it isn't too low. At the same time, check the relief making sure that the neck isn't bowed at all. If the notes are buzzing around 1st to 12th frets, chances are the truss rod is too tight. Proceed in loosening the truss rod and try again. If it's buzzing around 13th fret and above, chances are, the action of the bridge is too low. Raise the action and check again. Just make sure that all the notes on all the frets are ringing out nicely. Once the notes are ringing out on all the frets, neck adjustment is done. Now, it isn't that hard isn't it?