truss rod stuff

[Ethan]

So i cleaned up and restrung my sg today, and noticed some buzz on the open strings...I sighted the neck and saw that it was pretty fairly straight, with just a slight bit of relief around the 12th fret...I wanted to take a shot at loosening the rod a bit and putting some relief in to see if this takes care of the buzz...pop the cover off and the truss rod is as loose as it can get. I kind of imagine that this isn't good although I've never run into this problem before. Could I get rid of this buzz by having a new nut made? What's the fate of this neck that won't usefully adjust anymore and what could have caused this? I'm kinda bummed as this is my main guitar, I'm afraid with this buzz and kinda choked out sound on the open strings that I'll have to set it up for slide only or something...any ideas?

[3of5]

Did you put on lighter strings? That could allow the neck to straighten out some. I have one guitar that requires at least 10's to have proper relief as the tuss rod only adjusts so far.

[Ethan]

I switched from 11-52 to 10-52, not a huge change

[landon w]

So i cleaned up and restrung my sg today, and noticed some buzz on the open strings...I sighted the neck and saw that it was pretty fairly straight, with just a slight bit of relief around the 12th fret...I wanted to take a shot at loosening the rod a bit and putting some relief in to see if this takes care of the buzz...pop the cover off and the truss rod is as loose as it can get. I kind of imagine that this isn't good although I've never run into this problem before. Could I get rid of this buzz by having a new nut made? What's the fate of this neck that won't usefully adjust anymore and what could have caused this? I'm kinda bummed as this is my main guitar, I'm afraid with this buzz and kinda choked out sound on the open strings that I'll have to set it up for slide only or something...any ideas?

I know a lot of guys are going to cringe when they hear this, and I am not advising this in any way so i am absolving yself of any and all liability..................now with that said, depending on which way your neck needs to go in order to be able to adjust it again properly, i have, in the past been able to put the right "bow" in the neck by placing it at an angle against a wall, propping it up it a chair,etc. where ever i could get the weight of the guitar to rest against the neck. It helps if the air in the room or where ever yo end up doing this, is pretty humid.

It wont have to be there long. Long enough to put as natural of tension as you can get unnaturally, then re-apply the tension correctly with the truss rod.

At least this has worked for me, more than a couple times. And they still play beautifully, years later. what ive found is at times you wont have your truss rod adjusted properly to begin with, (mind you, this was years ago when i knew less than i do now, which is less than nothing) then if its in an area with less than desirable humidity it will release to far.

I dont know, like I said, i know there are going to be a lot of luthier guys that will rip me a new one for this, but its worked for me.

Good luck

[3of5]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse and I am no expert on trussrods but, you may simply have crossed a threshold for that guitar. On mine, I am great with 10-46s but, when I go to 9-46 I run into problems. If an expert provides a solution for you than I may benefit too. I will watch with interest.

[RoyB]

I believe you are fighting two issues here. one is the season because almost all guitars necks straighten out in the summer because of the extra humidity. This causes the truss rod nut to because loose if it was only snugged up normally and two being the change in strings because even though going from 11-52 down to 10-52 does not sound like a big change; in real life it represents a difference of 10-12 pounds of tension on the neck. I'd suggest changing back to 11s and you should be fine through the summer. A big part of the whole things is what the guitar has settled in with, so if it's had 11s it's got use to them. I'd hold off on the change to 10s till the winter and I think you will be able to get away with it then.

[Ethan]

bummer...looks like i'll wait and give it a shot! thanks for your responses guys!