I just bought a squier strat off you idiots things a absolute piece of garbage. Ridiculous fret buzz, chips in the guitar and not to mention the chipped wood where your 3rd world workers presumably used the back of a pistol to hammer in my frets. If I weren’t to return this heap of wood you like to call a guitar I’d have a hand of blood with those sharp ass frets. Astonished to say the least from one of the “leading guitar brands” even if it is a lower cost model.
Mike J747 exact same problem with me but with my open low E and A string so frustrating on a new guitar, have you returned it and if so any tips? During this Rona I’m having a hard time contacting anyone about it
Mike J747 they definitely don’t... I know I’ve seen a video at the Gibson factory there were multiple people employed just for testing the guitars and ensuring quality this clearly isn’t the case with fender. I’m debating trading it in for another squier strat or just putting in a little more money and going with an ibanez
Mike J747 I also have a feeling due to the fretboard itself being chipped that the frets were just poorly placed and that’s the reason for the buzzing. Being as I only spent a little over $200 on it there’s no sense in putting more than a 100 in to repair a brand new guitar
Man, I'm the same way, they shouldn't scare people away from making a truss rod adjustment... I'd turn mine a ton of times until I liked the action and didn't have buzz. Here's my bit of wisdom for anyone that's doing this adjustment for the first time.. While I've cranked my truss rods many times before.. it is wise to go in small increments. Not out of fear of damaging the neck.. but after an adjustment, I can play it and it's the most amazing feeling action I'll ever get on that guitar. However, the next morning, things will be over adjusted. If you're able to, make small adjustments, and let it sit for over night if possible. That'll give the guitar time to settle back into place. Most of us guitar nuts take some kind of caution when it comes to our shit because guitars aren't cheap, and doing your own maintenence can be useful and save you $. Truss rod adjustments are one of those things that aren't hard, and aren't going to do permanent damage as long as you take the usual precautions. adjust it with common sense and you'll be fine, and it makes such a difference in how that guitar plays and feels. Doing the same with saddle adjustments only helps hone in even more. Don't Let these dudes make you nervous, and spend money you don't have to.
I was all set with the ratcheting Allen key, I was going to turn the thing at least a few times. When he said that, I'd maybe done a 1/4 turn, tried it out and it was perfect! Guess I finally did something right!
I do all my work on my Strats, such as changing pickups, pots and most other repairs. However, I’ve always had a fear of damaging the neck with the truss rod adjustment. Thank you for removing that fear.
I've been playing for over 35 years. I have Strats and Les Pauls. I have done tech work and I was taught and still to this day do not loosen strings while making truss rod adjustment. It's safe and gets the job done quicker. You need that tension to make an accurate adjustment. I never pop off a neck unless it needs a shim. That's the dumbest thing to do unless its mandatory. It might not ever play right after doing that for no good reason.. I make all my own adjustments to this day and I play all the time. All my guitars are primo. I was also taught this by a friend 25 years ago who was a professional guitar tech for Kings X and Prong. I guess we all have our own way. But this way has always worked for me. I have never broken or stripped anything. AND YES holy shit at 5:00. WTF man!
The neck off I agree with but if you don’t own a Gretsch(which has the dual action rod; by far the best neck tech ever) … it’s a need. I own all vintage spec fenders. Jaguars, a tele and a Geddy Jazz Bass… All are heel adjustment and you can do it without it off but it might as well be; cause you back the screws out totally to get the angle or eventually pop the neck off 🤷🏻♂️. Yeah…. Not ideal. But if I play a fender I can’t have it without the heel truss. I just like vintage era guitars and that’s most true for a Fender. And I like the Offset which is mostly all heel era. But the Tele deluxe or whatever in the 70’s had a bullet with that tilt shift I’d def get too. Neck is easy adjustments… practical. Although fender needs to wake up and use dual like every other civilized guitar company. I live at the jersey shore.. yeah that one. Like right near it. I hate them and they represent zero about this area. That being said; the barometer changes so drastically I am minutes that I’ve watched the guitar fret out mid playing. And I know my guys es and work on em all. I’ve had the geddy Lee neck on blocks bent so far into a forced back bow you’d think it’s impossible to ever stay untwisted or work again. But it does. It is the only option. The ONLY fender I own that doesn’t require introduced back bow yearly - a Mexican made nitro “60’s lacquered” Jaguar, I’ve played 5k relics and originals… This Mexican gem they did one year of is the best fender I’ve ever played and that neck don’t budge. I lost my point Dual truss rod should be a no brainer on every guitar though. It’s like so simple and I don’t get why it’s not a thing in them all…. Especially once the patent was up… I mean Gretsches cheapest line have em and it’s so convenient. But only a guitarist who does his own setups; living against the Atlantic knows the true reality of what I am stressing lol.
So, if I read this correctly, the rod counteracts the strings. And there is a tug-of-war between the strings and the rod. So by loosening, you are allowing the strings to "win" the tug-of-war, and pull the neck, which will add concave bow, and by tightening, you are allowing the truss rod to "win" the tug-of-war, which will overpower the strings slightly and flatten out the neck. Good analogy? I am trying to explain this to my 11 year old daughter and little real life comparisons help!
Good god! Thank you! I was thinking the same thing, but the same time I was thinkin, if it was like a normal screw throug a little piece of wood, if you tighten that, it would bend the wood so.. I was like.. why can he not just show with his arm «if I tighten, it goes like this, and I loosen it goes like this» damn! Its like.. 50/50 chance to missounderstand the whole thing!
My new Fender came with the truss rod so tight that all strings on frets 1 and 2 were buzzing like CRAZY. I had to loosen the truss by almost half a turn to get it normal.
playing 20 years, I've never touched my truss rod. Times are tough here so to save money I just changed my oil for the first time 2 weeks ago. Exhilarating experience and the car is running great. About a month ago I traded my Gibson Les Paul Studio for a Fender Classic Series Mustang Bass. The strings were a little high, and I tried to lower the strings at the bridge, but sadly it was no good. After watching this, I finally decided, "Hey, if I can not mess up my car, from an oil change, maybe I'm good on fixing this great bass up. Tonight, I went for it. This bass is now absolutely amazing. Plays great. Sounds great. Is great. Thanks again Fender.
Something has to give. As someone who has worked in a wood shop, built guitars, and understands physical limitations of wood, the big thing with that bass adjustment is the two screws that are still partially screwed into the neck. When you kink the neck back like that, something has to give. Either the screws are now bent or the wood is compressing - either way can result in the holes striping out and having to plug and re drill them. Would doing this once ruin the instrument? Most likely not. But over and over again... the little time you saved doing it this way will be lost in more extensive repairs.
@@RByrne I believe he's including the body also. The screws are loosened to tilt the neck & then there is a pulling pressure on the threading of the wood.
My father recently gave me an old fender musicmaster 3/4 size guitar from the early 60s and it, of course, has the old school truss rod. I’ve taken it apart twice now and loosened that thing a full turn and it’s still not enough!🤬🥵. It’s a real pain to mess with! If it wasn’t such a super cool guitar there no way I’d keep screwing with it. It’s a beauty though! Vintage white, tortoise shell pick guard, the pup did have a white cover on it when I was a kid but it has completely rotted away now exposing the black pickup underneath with magnets. Such a classic looking instrument.
You shouldn't unscrew and take off the neck without loosening the strings, you risk damaging or breaking it. I would go mad if even the most experienced guitar tech did that on my bass.
I agree I would prolly whooop his ass if I seen him do that to my Marr Jag lol What a joke this guy is gonna have all these noobs really jacking up their guitars when they try it like he did . HEY FOLKS !!! this guy has prolly done this a billion times PLEASE LOOSEN YOUR STRINGS FIRST did you see they guy beside him pucker up when he did it like that LMAO stripped out neck screws SUCK and are a pain to fix
Tommy Fargo This guy is really playing with fire, HE risks very little (if anything breaks...well he works at Fender, so I doubt he would get fired for breaking a guitar), but I would never give such advices to others. This is just plain laziness, loosen the strings and put a capo on 1st fret. My fear would be, as you said, to rip the neck away from the screws. This would normally happen only with a major shock (guitar falling down the stairs, etc.) but I wouldn't take the risk to get a crack or break a screw... Fender guitar are very solid, but still.
Japhet Anciado this video covers the basics, it should work for you. whether you adjust from the top, or the base of the neck, loosening string tension will make the process easier. i'm adjusting my bass rod because the neck is bowed backward.... in your case, if the neck is straight ( hold your eye close to one end of the neck, look to the other end, and you'll see if it's curved or not, alot or a little ), and you want to change string height or action, you'll probably want to play with string saddle height at the bridge.
Looking for an accurate and consistent way of measuring relief, "I think is about...." and "I do it by feeling" is pretty dissapointing for an official manufacturer channel.
Hold the first fret and the 17th fret of your low e string (you can use a capo on the first if you like) and tap the string around the 11th and 12th fret. Sometimes i'll repeat that on the high e if i suspect there's a twist in the neck. There should be a little bit of space there, maybe enough for a business card to slip into while just barely touching? I usually keep mine VERY close, almost straight, the tiniest bit of space there. But i work on guitars for a living and my frets are level to an almost goofy extent. If they aren't, you miiiiight not get away with it. A good rule to live by is to just keep the neck where it wants to be with minimal buzzing. A little is fine and most guitars have it anyway. But if you can't hear any buzzing through the amp and you have good sustain, anything else is just icing on the cake.
Guillermo Pamanes well that’s sad but true.. i keep watching these videos hoping for absolute value but reality is every guitar is different because of varying built & condition. These videos really serve only as guide, a safe ballpark value. I ended up in trial and error till it worked. I hate it actually lol 😂, because I bought all right tools first, gauge, nut file, steel ruler. There’s one similar video here by John Caruthers, I followed exactly his values, the end result: my bass buzzed, and I have to buy again a new nut 😆.
5 років тому
If you dont do it be feel you are just measuring the gap to someone elses preference.
I'm going to grab the set of feeler gages that I have from the old days when you had to set the points on a distributor. Boy I'll bet that goes over the heads of most of the folks watching this video.
Just loosened the strings on my Nacho Tele and successfully adjusted the truss rod using the technique described by the Fender guy in this video. There was a slight "crack" when the neck separated from the body but guitar necks are incredibly strong and the whole thing was a quick easy job with no damage to the guitar body or neck.
Quick tip, if your adjusting the truss rod on a new guitar for the first time, there may be some glue from manufacturing around it making it kind of stuck. Take a hair dryer and warm up the cavity to make the glue a bit more malleable and it should turn easily.
Also another point to point out about high action for blues players, is that it's really difficult to play slide guitar on a guitar with low action. You just end up with a lot of buzzing. But it's true that a lower action is so much better for fast playing. The best evidence is to play on a guitar with a high action using a heavy gauge string (by the way this is probably a recipe to destroy a single guitar, so buy another! :P) for a few months and then switch to a guitar with a lower action and lighter gauge strings. You will zip faster than Mozart could with 10 fingers on a harpsichord.
“Do you need to detune the strings at all ?”, John asked diplomatically as he watched in disbelief... “I don’t...”, Chris answered confidently as he pretended to know what he was doing even though he didn’t. After all, once the neck bolts have been loosened and the neck to body coupling has been compromised, there is only about 190 pounds of force pulling the now unstable neck in a concave direction... What damage could possibly be done to the neck by not detuning the strings ?
Had to chime in. I have a Fender Jazz Special Bass. You can't do what he does by loosening the neck screws and pushing to just expose the truss rod. On this bass, the body isn't counter bored... the screw threads hold onto both the neck and the body... do if you try to do what he does, you could strip or break the neck. I had to fully remove all four screws to release the neck. I suppose you could counter bore the body yourself so you could do what he does.... but I just wanted to point this out so others don't possibly screw up their necks.
My Fender Jazz Bass (used) arrived yesterday, it has a vintage truss rod adjustment system and it needs correction, so this video is exactly what I needed. Thank you!
also, probably a terrible idea to show most people. i get he's very experience, but for teaching other's this should show what will work for others. i can tell you right now this doesn't work at all on at least some new fenders not to mention potential disasters when trying
In 28 years of playing and being around guitarists, bassists, technicians, and luthiers, I've NEVER seen anyone do what Chris did at 5:00. I'm sorry, we all pour hard earned money into our instruments, and the least that can be extended to an owner is a modicum of effort commiserate with our connection to these instruments. I would not be inclined to let anyone do that to my guitar or bass. If I'm paying your shop rate, then take the neck off, adjust, reset and repeat if necessary. Bill me for your time, don't cut corners, and treat my instrument like the investment it is - with all due respect to Chris.
Taco Jiminez Dude. Read the comments. Everybody here is appalled by what that guy did, luthiers included. Nobody should ever treat an instrument that way. The sound it makes alone is a clear indication of wrong doing. Get a life.
Hmmm.....practice his method on the bass which might help, but I normally loosen the strings first as it's easier to tighten the rod if that's what is needed. And, if there's a problem doing this, it's sometimes necessary to clamp the neck down against a flat surface, which then makes turning the rod even easier. It takes very little time to retune the bass and while a bit more tedious, you'll need to retune after any adjustment.
Wow, I never knew that you had to loosen the back plate and lift the neck up to adjust the bass neck. I've always just used a straight screw driver and turned what I could of the neck rod screw without loosening the neck plate or separating the neck from the body. I'd be awfully scared to loosen the back plate and then bring the neck up out of the body!! I'll try it on one of my less expensive basses and not my 73 Fender P bass. :)
I agree that this isn't the ideal way to adjust the truss rod on your neck, but people need to stop acting like it's even possible to break a Fender this way. Jimi Hendrix smashed a guitar holding onto his neck, and the neck was still fine and installed on another guitar. I see people doing neck bends on the guitar all the flipping time, where people purposefully bend their neck out of shape with their two hands, and I've never heard of a Fender breaking that way. The only hard part about detaching a neck without loosening the strings is putting it back together without any relief in the neck pocket. You're not going to break anything by doing it. If anything, you're most likely to break things when you're turning the truss rod. If you manage to actually break a maple bolt-on neck doing this, you deserve an award for doing the impossible.
excuse me for over thinking the CW - CCW. Depending on what angle your looking at the guitar, Clock wise or counter clock wise could be in either direction.
I rather would call this guy Fender Masterdestroyer ! This is not what a serious luthier should do, and he does this just because it costs time. Didn't you hear the screws cracking the wood. This is unbelievable !
There WILL be cases where the neck pocket is very tight with the neck assembled. It does happen when loosening the neck bolts and removing a tight fitting neck cracks the paint on the body at that very thin section. For this reason, I would strongly recommend inspecting the neck pocket around the body before popping it off like this. Seen enough examples of cracked paint in that small area which has me pause and check first. Can never be sure what people have done in the past with a guitar. I've seen necks that have bonded to the pocket and won't separate when disassembled.
One time, I had a really cheap guitar, and I was adjusting the truss rod and it was too tight, but the neck still had way too much relief, so I bit my lip and kept tightening it, and I heard a loud *POP* and I was like 😱 The truss still worked, but after that moment I realized the difference between a good life and a bad life was the health of your truss rod.
I find it interesting all the comments saying "I would NEVER let someone adjust my guitar like that!". In reality if your guitar has the heel adjustment, this is how they dialled it in at the factory. At a big plant like Fender pumping out hundreds of guitars every day, absolutely no one is going to loosen the strings first. That's just how it is with large manufacturers, of anything really.
I’m sure after as many years he’s been workin on guitar he developed his own technique of doing it. All of us are here because we’re learning. And that’s not a way to teach a noob haha
Thank you for the excellent video, I used your rule of thumb as regards checking the rod wasn’t too tight it was. So I adjusted it very slightly anti clockwise, and my strat sounds perfect no fret buzz on my low e string and the tone is much improved,was allways too nervous to do it but glad I have the confidence to do it thanks. 👍😊
I noticed he didn’t say what size the Allen wrench is. Internet people call out different sizes, indicating Fender makes their own size. I also noticed he didn’t define what “vintage style” means. New info: i lost my allen wrench for my 2005 American Deluxe SSH Strat. I tried all the sizes that were called out on the internet: 1/8, 7/32. Someone even said the Fender provided wrench is 3.2mm. On my guitar, I finally found the closest standard (or metric) size that even had a possibility was a 7/64. The short side doesn’t go all the way in so I have to use the long end and use something on the short end to increase my leverage. Why doesn’t Fender or Sweetwater or Guitar center or any other online store sell these? Why does nobody specify the exact size?
the fender hand book tells you to use a capo at 1st fret, tuned to pitch, fret the last fret on 6th string and use a .010 feeler gauge at the 8th fret(not 9th) to measure the relief
this worked on my G&L Fallout. My Top Low E string kept buzzing because it was making contact with the fret and I was getting so annoyed lol. Loosened it up with a little less than one twist, buzzing gone!
My left handed Ibanez electric guitar is buzzing at the first five frets. I need to adjust my neck so that it bends a little bit forward. It's a great guitar, but I can't currently play it without the E B and the G strings touching the frets near the nut on the top of the neck. That's for this useful video.
Fender makes quality guitars, don't worry so much about anything breaking, especially the truss rod. I have a been a guitar tech for over 20 years and out of the tons and tons of truss rod adjustments, I have only ever broken 1 single truss rod by turning it. You will strip the threads most likely before you break it unless it is frozen completely. I have NEVER seen a guitar break or crack from doing neck bends. If you strip out the screws at the neck plate, they were already stripped before you did any neck bends. #broken #not
There is very little chance of a broken truss rod. You have a better chance of damaging your fret wire with a capo than breaking a truss rod. Don't be afraid of the guitar. Take your time and use common sense and take it slow. Things get messed up when people get in a hurry. You don't need to be a guitar tech to turn a truss rod. You need to be patient.
HEY FOLKS !!! this guy has prolly done this a billion times PLEASE LOOSEN YOUR STRINGS FIRST did you see they guy beside him pucker up when he did it like that LMAO stripped out neck screws SUCK and are a pain to fix
I own a couple of vintage style basses much like what he showed, and I had the same reaction when i saw him do that. Obviously it works in the literal sense, but under tension that could go so wrong so fast. I take the extra minute or two to loosen the strings, and take the neck off entirely(keeping the strings in place with a capo). It might seem obnoxious to do it that way, but it takes very little time.
So to lower the action you turn clockwise as seen from the top of the headstock perspective it pointed at you as you';re stand sit whatever looking down towards the body... that's a clockwise turn from that perspective. Loosen, turn counterclockwise from the same perspective. IF you were standing with the guitar's body closer to you and looking up at the neck's headstock and then bending over to get the allen wrench in good, and from that perspective turned clockwise to attempt to tighten the neck... you'd be in trouble. Perspective is everything, but seldom mentioned, but thankfully shown clearly in tis video.
That's the way the pros do it. I've been doing it that way for the 40 years I've owned my 1976 Precision. It takes time and experience to get a feel for it. If you are a klutz, get a pro to do it for you.
hey @fender I just bought a 23 Mexican Strat player series sea foam green. I love it i really do and i wonder... I bought 7's and i want to put them on instead of the 9s that are on. Someone told me i cannot do that without adjusting the bridge/sadles/vibearm and trust rod. is this true, because in that case i might have to take my fender to a guitarshop to set the intonation right if i swap strings right?
I just watched another video about this and the guy was looking from the body to the neck, so turning lefty loosey is the opposite of where you are looking (from the headstock to the body). So my question is when adjusting the truss rod on the headstock, you must be looking at it from headstock to body?
The biggest mistake most of us make, is to tighten the truss rod under string tention, this is due to laziness. The correct way is to adjust the neck is, with the strings slackend, that way you eliminates negative string tention which prevents stripping or weakening the thread. After adjusting the rod, tune the strings and check the action, if the truss needs to be loosened, it is far better to do this as loosening provideds positive pressure on the truss nut and thread.
Watched the video until 05:00. I swear I heard the cracking because he didn't loose the screws enough so they popped out of their holes cracking the wood. It's just stupid thing to do to your instrument.
Question when you turn the acorn nut or in my case Fender Stratocaster bullet nut counter clockwise what prevents it from unscrewing from the truss rod ? Thanks so much!
They never say. Don’t trust what is on the internet . Apparently what I found is that depends on the model. They don’t say what is modern or vintage. Basses are different and possibly dependent if is American, vs import, standard vs deluxe, tele vs strat vs any other model. The They don’t sell spares as aftermarket. They want you to take it in to them. Thanks Fender for support.
Have a Yamahahahaha SE 300 Strat with the truss rod adjuster on the bottom ... This strat has a plastic cover at the base of the neck on the body being held on by 1 screw .. So I just leave it off .. If needed , I made the slot a bit bigger so I can get my allen key in there without any trouble ..I do prefer the adjust at the head , though ..
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I just bought a squier strat off you idiots things a absolute piece of garbage. Ridiculous fret buzz, chips in the guitar and not to mention the chipped wood where your 3rd world workers presumably used the back of a pistol to hammer in my frets. If I weren’t to return this heap of wood you like to call a guitar I’d have a hand of blood with those sharp ass frets. Astonished to say the least from one of the “leading guitar brands” even if it is a lower cost model.
Mike J747 exact same problem with me but with my open low E and A string so frustrating on a new guitar, have you returned it and if so any tips? During this Rona I’m having a hard time contacting anyone about it
Mike J747 they definitely don’t... I know I’ve seen a video at the Gibson factory there were multiple people employed just for testing the guitars and ensuring quality this clearly isn’t the case with fender. I’m debating trading it in for another squier strat or just putting in a little more money and going with an ibanez
Mike J747 I also have a feeling due to the fretboard itself being chipped that the frets were just poorly placed and that’s the reason for the buzzing. Being as I only spent a little over $200 on it there’s no sense in putting more than a 100 in to repair a brand new guitar
Great info.... what is the case your using that the guitar is in???
“You should never go more than two twists with a truss today”
Me: *looks up after twisting my truss rod 7 times*
Me : Reads your post then rushes back downstairs to loosen my truss rod after 11 turns 😨
I literally laughed out loud. I haven't twisted mine yet :D
Man, I'm the same way, they shouldn't scare people away from making a truss rod adjustment... I'd turn mine a ton of times until I liked the action and didn't have buzz. Here's my bit of wisdom for anyone that's doing this adjustment for the first time..
While I've cranked my truss rods many times before.. it is wise to go in small increments. Not out of fear of damaging the neck.. but after an adjustment, I can play it and it's the most amazing feeling action I'll ever get on that guitar. However, the next morning, things will be over adjusted. If you're able to, make small adjustments, and let it sit for over night if possible. That'll give the guitar time to settle back into place.
Most of us guitar nuts take some kind of caution when it comes to our shit because guitars aren't cheap, and doing your own maintenence can be useful and save you $.
Truss rod adjustments are one of those things that aren't hard, and aren't going to do permanent damage as long as you take the usual precautions. adjust it with common sense and you'll be fine, and it makes such a difference in how that guitar plays and feels. Doing the same with saddle adjustments only helps hone in even more.
Don't Let these dudes make you nervous, and spend money you don't have to.
At least I'm not the only one
I was all set with the ratcheting Allen key, I was going to turn the thing at least a few times. When he said that, I'd maybe done a 1/4 turn, tried it out and it was perfect! Guess I finally did something right!
I do all my work on my Strats, such as changing pickups, pots and most other repairs. However, I’ve always had a fear of damaging the neck with the truss rod adjustment. Thank you for removing that fear.
I've been playing for over 35 years. I have Strats and Les Pauls. I have done tech work and I was taught and still to this day do not loosen strings while making truss rod adjustment. It's safe and gets the job done quicker. You need that tension to make an accurate adjustment. I never pop off a neck unless it needs a shim. That's the dumbest thing to do unless its mandatory. It might not ever play right after doing that for no good reason.. I make all my own adjustments to this day and I play all the time. All my guitars are primo. I was also taught this by a friend 25 years ago who was a professional guitar tech for Kings X and Prong. I guess we all have our own way. But this way has always worked for me. I have never broken or stripped anything. AND YES holy shit at 5:00. WTF man!
The neck off I agree with but if you don’t own a Gretsch(which has the dual action rod; by far the best neck tech ever) … it’s a need.
I own all vintage spec fenders. Jaguars, a tele and a Geddy Jazz Bass…
All are heel adjustment and you can do it without it off but it might as well be; cause you back the screws out totally to get the angle or eventually pop the neck off 🤷🏻♂️.
Yeah…. Not ideal. But if I play a fender I can’t have it without the heel truss. I just like vintage era guitars and that’s most true for a Fender. And I like the Offset which is mostly all heel era.
But the Tele deluxe or whatever in the 70’s had a bullet with that tilt shift I’d def get too.
Neck is easy adjustments… practical. Although fender needs to wake up and use dual like every other civilized guitar company.
I live at the jersey shore.. yeah that one. Like right near it. I hate them and they represent zero about this area. That being said; the barometer changes so drastically I am minutes that I’ve watched the guitar fret out mid playing.
And I know my guys es and work on em all.
I’ve had the geddy Lee neck on blocks bent so far into a forced back bow you’d think it’s impossible to ever stay untwisted or work again. But it does. It is the only option.
The ONLY fender I own that doesn’t require introduced back bow yearly - a Mexican made nitro “60’s lacquered” Jaguar,
I’ve played 5k relics and originals…
This Mexican gem they did one year of is the best fender I’ve ever played and that neck don’t budge.
I lost my point
Dual truss rod should be a no brainer on every guitar though.
It’s like so simple and I don’t get why it’s not a thing in them all…. Especially once the patent was up… I mean Gretsches cheapest line have em and it’s so convenient.
But only a guitarist who does his own setups; living against the Atlantic knows the true reality of what I am stressing lol.
So, if I read this correctly, the rod counteracts the strings. And there is a tug-of-war between the strings and the rod. So by loosening, you are allowing the strings to "win" the tug-of-war, and pull the neck, which will add concave bow, and by tightening, you are allowing the truss rod to "win" the tug-of-war, which will overpower the strings slightly and flatten out the neck. Good analogy? I am trying to explain this to my 11 year old daughter and little real life comparisons help!
Danny Criss That is exactly correct.
Täking Thë High Roäd Not only did it probably help your daughter but helped me and probably others visualize it better too. Great analogy.
Holy shit you're amazing!
Good god! Thank you! I was thinking the same thing, but the same time I was thinkin, if it was like a normal screw throug a little piece of wood, if you tighten that, it would bend the wood so.. I was like.. why can he not just show with his arm «if I tighten, it goes like this, and I loosen it goes like this» damn! Its like.. 50/50 chance to missounderstand the whole thing!
Charlie Foxtrot The 3rd good statement you should work for fender
My new Fender came with the truss rod so tight that all strings on frets 1 and 2 were buzzing like CRAZY. I had to loosen the truss by almost half a turn to get it normal.
Bro my G string is buzzing that to only in 1st to 2nd fret so if i loose the truss rod will it be proper forever?
@@atuldevprabhu You probably need a new nut because it’s cut too low
@@atuldevprabhu no, just adjust the action (at the bridge) of that one string to be high enough to eliminate the buzzing
@@ruefus88 No no no! Adjust the neck FFS!
I just gasped when he moved the neck after loosening the screws, that just sounded terrifying
I can't get the sound out of my mind.... guaranteed nightmares! I'm convinced more than ever to spend the money and let a professional do it.
IT sounded like somebody just broke their back!! OMG!!
He's butchering that poor bass
And not even loosening the strings!
A chiropractor masquerading as a guitar tech...that popping and cracking...😯
when he pushed down on the neck of the bass i screamed a bit and died a little inside
😅 no basses were harmed during the filming of this tutorial.
Did he hurt the guitar?
I was literally feeling the same. Stomach dropped when he exposed the vintage style tross rod opening
I agree, I was a little concerned. I won’t be doing that to mine, I’ll take the time to loosen the strings and then retune after adjustment.
When he said "I lean... Like this..."
I said out loud NO YOU DON'T! 😅😂
playing 20 years, I've never touched my truss rod. Times are tough here so to save money I just changed my oil for the first time 2 weeks ago. Exhilarating experience and the car is running great. About a month ago I traded my Gibson Les Paul Studio for a Fender Classic Series Mustang Bass. The strings were a little high, and I tried to lower the strings at the bridge, but sadly it was no good. After watching this, I finally decided, "Hey, if I can not mess up my car, from an oil change, maybe I'm good on fixing this great bass up. Tonight, I went for it. This bass is now absolutely amazing. Plays great. Sounds great. Is great. Thanks again Fender.
Working on a guitar is no big deal. I know folks who take their guitar to the shop to have new strings put on...
hows life going?
This explains a lot about what is happening at Fender R&D.
4:58 Anybody else cringed? Ouch!
I felt it, damnn
I did a double take …. I watched it twice ./
I did!
@@astro-ascensiontarot60 Yes.
I did,,,
Wow, didn't understand why there were so many thumbs-down on this until he adjusted the bass. Good lord.
I wish I didn't try to copy that on my CS.
no more thumbs down now! It's literally the meme g
@@apocakowhat are thumbs down?
@@Ottophil Under the video you can like or dislike the video.
Of course this is how they want us to do it. So we'd have to buy a new Fender.. :D
Or get a gibson....
@@flhoneycomb5426 lol ur funny. Gibson? More like throw away your money for something you could get for a couple grand cheaper.
Or get a replacement neck lol
@@flhoneycomb5426 at that point just get a prs or something high quality
@@flhoneycomb5426 maybe if it was before 2006
Something has to give. As someone who has worked in a wood shop, built guitars, and understands physical limitations of wood, the big thing with that bass adjustment is the two screws that are still partially screwed into the neck. When you kink the neck back like that, something has to give. Either the screws are now bent or the wood is compressing - either way can result in the holes striping out and having to plug and re drill them. Would doing this once ruin the instrument? Most likely not. But over and over again... the little time you saved doing it this way will be lost in more extensive repairs.
I think the neck has a bit of springiness to it, so it's a little forgiving. I could be completely wrong though. I assume he knows what he's doing.
@@RByrne I believe he's including the body also. The screws are loosened to tilt the neck & then there is a pulling pressure on the threading of the wood.
My father recently gave me an old fender musicmaster 3/4 size guitar from the early 60s and it, of course, has the old school truss rod. I’ve taken it apart twice now and loosened that thing a full turn and it’s still not enough!🤬🥵. It’s a real pain to mess with! If it wasn’t such a super cool guitar there no way I’d keep screwing with it. It’s a beauty though! Vintage white, tortoise shell pick guard, the pup did have a white cover on it when I was a kid but it has completely rotted away now exposing the black pickup underneath with magnets. Such a classic looking instrument.
You shouldn't unscrew and take off the neck without loosening the strings, you risk damaging or breaking it. I would go mad if even the most experienced guitar tech did that on my bass.
I agree I would prolly whooop his ass if I seen him do that to my Marr Jag lol What a joke this guy is gonna have all these noobs really jacking up their guitars when they try it like he did . HEY FOLKS !!! this guy has prolly done this a billion times PLEASE LOOSEN YOUR STRINGS FIRST did you see they guy beside him pucker up when he did it like that LMAO stripped out neck screws SUCK and are a pain to fix
Tommy Fargo This guy is really playing with fire, HE risks very little (if anything breaks...well he works at Fender, so I doubt he would get fired for breaking a guitar), but I would never give such advices to others. This is just plain laziness, loosen the strings and put a capo on 1st fret.
My fear would be, as you said, to rip the neck away from the screws. This would normally happen only with a major shock (guitar falling down the stairs, etc.) but I wouldn't take the risk to get a crack or break a screw... Fender guitar are very solid, but still.
LOL
Japhet Anciado this video covers the basics, it should work for you. whether you adjust from the top, or the base of the neck, loosening string tension will make the process easier. i'm adjusting my bass rod because the neck is bowed backward.... in your case, if the neck is straight ( hold your eye close to one end of the neck, look to the other end, and you'll see if it's curved or not, alot or a little ), and you want to change string height or action, you'll probably want to play with string saddle height at the bridge.
Even if you have fun wranglin' it? Lol
I just did this with my tele 52 copy.....it worked! action better....no buzzes Thanks
Looking for an accurate and consistent way of measuring relief, "I think is about...." and "I do it by feeling" is pretty dissapointing for an official manufacturer channel.
Well, since there are no static numbers and relief is a matter of personal taste, he really couldn't do it.
Hold the first fret and the 17th fret of your low e string (you can use a capo on the first if you like) and tap the string around the 11th and 12th fret. Sometimes i'll repeat that on the high e if i suspect there's a twist in the neck. There should be a little bit of space there, maybe enough for a business card to slip into while just barely touching? I usually keep mine VERY close, almost straight, the tiniest bit of space there. But i work on guitars for a living and my frets are level to an almost goofy extent. If they aren't, you miiiiight not get away with it. A good rule to live by is to just keep the neck where it wants to be with minimal buzzing. A little is fine and most guitars have it anyway. But if you can't hear any buzzing through the amp and you have good sustain, anything else is just icing on the cake.
Guillermo Pamanes well that’s sad but true.. i keep watching these videos hoping for absolute value but reality is every guitar is different because of varying built & condition. These videos really serve only as guide, a safe ballpark value. I ended up in trial and error till it worked. I hate it actually lol 😂, because I bought all right tools first, gauge, nut file, steel ruler. There’s one similar video here by John Caruthers, I followed exactly his values, the end result: my bass buzzed, and I have to buy again a new nut 😆.
If you dont do it be feel you are just measuring the gap to someone elses preference.
I'm going to grab the set of feeler gages that I have from the old days when you had to set the points on a distributor. Boy I'll bet that goes over the heads of most of the folks watching this video.
Just loosened the strings on my Nacho Tele and successfully adjusted the truss rod using the technique described by the Fender guy in this video. There was a slight "crack" when the neck separated from the body but guitar necks are incredibly strong and the whole thing was a quick easy job with no damage to the guitar body or neck.
Separating the neck from the body like this idiot in the video well definitely put a crack in the neck pocket.
Quick tip, if your adjusting the truss rod on a new guitar for the first time, there may be some glue from manufacturing around it making it kind of stuck. Take a hair dryer and warm up the cavity to make the glue a bit more malleable and it should turn easily.
bad to wood
@@Luismiguitar Not sure what you are trying to put together with words there, bud.
@@12south31 warm up the cavity with a hair dryer" is bad for de wood of the guitar.
@@Luismiguitar de wood will be fine
@@Luismiguitarwhat would you suggest doing instead?
Thanks a lot. I stripped the top screws on my neck trying to do my first truss rod adjustment.
4:58 "Everyone disliked that."
if this video isn't good enough for you the custom shop version is available for $89.95
Great video it helped me to adjust the truss rod of my 60s fender strat
he dude your daughter gave your guitar away to some soy boy
Thanks for the video. Fixed my problem right up with my new Player Strat.
We're here to help you along your musical journey - glad these tips came in handy!
Also another point to point out about high action for blues players, is that it's really difficult to play slide guitar on a guitar with low action. You just end up with a lot of buzzing.
But it's true that a lower action is so much better for fast playing. The best evidence is to play on a guitar with a high action using a heavy gauge string (by the way this is probably a recipe to destroy a single guitar, so buy another! :P) for a few months and then switch to a guitar with a lower action and lighter gauge strings. You will zip faster than Mozart could with 10 fingers on a harpsichord.
“Do you need to detune the strings at all ?”, John asked diplomatically as he watched in disbelief...
“I don’t...”, Chris answered confidently as he pretended to know what he was doing even though he didn’t.
After all, once the neck bolts have been loosened and the neck to body coupling has been compromised,
there is only about 190 pounds of force pulling the now unstable neck in a concave direction...
What damage could possibly be done to the neck by not detuning the strings ?
Had to chime in. I have a Fender Jazz Special Bass. You can't do what he does by loosening the neck screws and pushing to just expose the truss rod. On this bass, the body isn't counter bored... the screw threads hold onto both the neck and the body... do if you try to do what he does, you could strip or break the neck. I had to fully remove all four screws to release the neck.
I suppose you could counter bore the body yourself so you could do what he does.... but I just wanted to point this out so others don't possibly screw up their necks.
Very helpful video. Thank you...
Thank you! I had some fret buzz going on. A little truss rod adjustment and it’s fine now.
I'm glad I'm not the only person that had a major heart flutter at 4:57!
My Fender Jazz Bass (used) arrived yesterday, it has a vintage truss rod adjustment system and it needs correction, so this video is exactly what I needed. Thank you!
This man rocks!
holy shit! was not expecting him to crank open with neck pocket with full tension on the vintage style one!
also, probably a terrible idea to show most people. i get he's very experience, but for teaching other's this should show what will work for others. i can tell you right now this doesn't work at all on at least some new fenders not to mention potential disasters when trying
In 28 years of playing and being around guitarists, bassists, technicians, and luthiers, I've NEVER seen anyone do what Chris did at 5:00. I'm sorry, we all pour hard earned money into our instruments, and the least that can be extended to an owner is a modicum of effort commiserate with our connection to these instruments. I would not be inclined to let anyone do that to my guitar or bass.
If I'm paying your shop rate, then take the neck off, adjust, reset and repeat if necessary. Bill me for your time, don't cut corners, and treat my instrument like the investment it is - with all due respect to Chris.
Bro... you mad? Would you like some cake?
Taco Jiminez
Dude. Read the comments. Everybody here is appalled by what that guy did, luthiers included. Nobody should ever treat an instrument that way. The sound it makes alone is a clear indication of wrong doing. Get a life.
Worst truss rod video I've seen!! WORTHLESS Way to go Fender!
Helped me a lot , guys!
Pure knowledge.
Hmmm.....practice his method on the bass which might help, but I normally loosen the strings first as it's easier to tighten the rod if that's what is needed. And, if there's a problem doing this, it's sometimes necessary to clamp the neck down against a flat surface, which then makes turning the rod even easier. It takes very little time to retune the bass and while a bit more tedious, you'll need to retune after any adjustment.
Chris builds some of the very best guitars. I love my CF Fenders.
Wow, I never knew that you had to loosen the back plate and lift the neck up to adjust the bass neck. I've always just used a straight screw driver and turned what I could of the neck rod screw without loosening the neck plate or separating the neck from the body. I'd be awfully scared to loosen the back plate and then bring the neck up out of the body!! I'll try it on one of my less expensive basses and not my 73 Fender P bass. :)
Only loosen neck if u can’t safely reach adjusting screw safely
I agree that this isn't the ideal way to adjust the truss rod on your neck, but people need to stop acting like it's even possible to break a Fender this way. Jimi Hendrix smashed a guitar holding onto his neck, and the neck was still fine and installed on another guitar. I see people doing neck bends on the guitar all the flipping time, where people purposefully bend their neck out of shape with their two hands, and I've never heard of a Fender breaking that way. The only hard part about detaching a neck without loosening the strings is putting it back together without any relief in the neck pocket. You're not going to break anything by doing it. If anything, you're most likely to break things when you're turning the truss rod. If you manage to actually break a maple bolt-on neck doing this, you deserve an award for doing the impossible.
A) you can strip out the screw holes.
B) you can get a crack in your neck pocket.
It happens.
That is the most beautiful bass I've seen in my life.
Thanks, I needed that.
Don't do the pushing the heel out of the pocket technique please. just loosen everything and take the neck off
excuse me for over thinking the CW - CCW. Depending on what angle your looking at the guitar, Clock wise or counter clock wise could be in either direction.
I screamed at 5:00, but Chris is Fenders masterbuild and he probably made that bass, so he knows what is he doing. I hope so
I rather would call this guy Fender Masterdestroyer ! This is not what a serious luthier should do, and he does this just because it costs time. Didn't you hear the screws cracking the wood. This is unbelievable !
I screamed at 6:22.......if my local repair guy work like this then I will punch him in the face..............
There WILL be cases where the neck pocket is very tight with the neck assembled. It does happen when loosening the neck bolts and removing a tight fitting neck cracks the paint on the body at that very thin section. For this reason, I would strongly recommend inspecting the neck pocket around the body before popping it off like this. Seen enough examples of cracked paint in that small area which has me pause and check first. Can never be sure what people have done in the past with a guitar. I've seen necks that have bonded to the pocket and won't separate when disassembled.
I've just damaged the neck of my Strat, thanks man!
One time, I had a really cheap guitar, and I was adjusting the truss rod and it was too tight, but the neck still had way too much relief, so I bit my lip and kept tightening it, and I heard a loud *POP* and I was like 😱
The truss still worked, but after that moment I realized the difference between a good life and a bad life was the health of your truss rod.
I find it interesting all the comments saying "I would NEVER let someone adjust my guitar like that!". In reality if your guitar has the heel adjustment, this is how they dialled it in at the factory. At a big plant like Fender pumping out hundreds of guitars every day, absolutely no one is going to loosen the strings first. That's just how it is with large manufacturers, of anything really.
I’m sure after as many years he’s been workin on guitar he developed his own technique of doing it. All of us are here because we’re learning. And that’s not a way to teach a noob haha
Thanks a lot sir, it was so much helpful for me😊🙏
We're here to help you along your musical journey - hope these tips come in handy!
2:02 is what you're looking for
Thank you for the excellent video, I used your rule of thumb as regards checking the rod wasn’t too tight it was. So I adjusted it very slightly anti clockwise, and my strat sounds perfect no fret buzz on my low e string and the tone is much improved,was allways too nervous to do it but glad I have the confidence to do it thanks. 👍😊
I noticed he didn’t say what size the Allen wrench is. Internet people call out different sizes, indicating Fender makes their own size.
I also noticed he didn’t define what “vintage style” means.
New info: i lost my allen wrench for my 2005 American Deluxe SSH Strat. I tried all the sizes that were called out on the internet: 1/8, 7/32. Someone even said the Fender provided wrench is 3.2mm. On my guitar, I finally found the closest standard (or metric) size that even had a possibility was a 7/64. The short side doesn’t go all the way in so I have to use the long end and use something on the short end to increase my leverage. Why doesn’t Fender or Sweetwater or Guitar center or any other online store sell these? Why does nobody specify the exact size?
the fender hand book tells you to use a capo at 1st fret, tuned to pitch, fret the last fret on 6th string and use a .010 feeler gauge at the 8th fret(not 9th) to measure the relief
Thank you, just adjusted a vintage style truss rod on my 1984 ESP Mirage and now it plays like a fuckin dream
thanks for explaining fender how a screw works
Very helpful thx now i know how to adjust my strat
Great thanks, iv just adjusted my first trussrod 😊👍🏻
great, better than I thought
"Here's how to adjust your truss rod"
*makes no adjustments for demonstration*
Because it doesn't need it, a hole
@@fendertremolo9793 that's my point fucktard, he should have used guitars that NEEDED adjustments for the purposes of this demonstration.
@@knownothing3999 afvckingreed brother
thankyou, this really helped!
Thank you, this is really helpful. Does the guitar come with this tool or do I have to buy it? deems normal Allen key style is not working
this worked on my G&L Fallout. My Top Low E string kept buzzing because it was making contact with the fret and I was getting so annoyed lol. Loosened it up with a little less than one twist, buzzing gone!
Thank you. Exactly what I was after... for both my tele and my sg... 😀
Thanks for the tutorial Jordan Peterson
My left handed Ibanez electric guitar is buzzing at the first five frets. I need to adjust my neck so that it bends a little bit forward. It's a great guitar, but I can't currently play it without the E B and the G strings touching the frets near the nut on the top of the neck. That's for this useful video.
Fender makes quality guitars, don't worry so much about anything breaking, especially the truss rod. I have a been a guitar tech for over 20 years and out of the tons and tons of truss rod adjustments, I have only ever broken 1 single truss rod by turning it. You will strip the threads most likely before you break it unless it is frozen completely. I have NEVER seen a guitar break or crack from doing neck bends. If you strip out the screws at the neck plate, they were already stripped before you did any neck bends.
#broken #not
There is very little chance of a broken truss rod. You have a better chance of damaging your fret wire with a capo than breaking a truss rod. Don't be afraid of the guitar. Take your time and use common sense and take it slow. Things get messed up when people get in a hurry. You don't need to be a guitar tech to turn a truss rod. You need to be patient.
Instructions unclear: my grandmother's back is now broken
at least it is not your guitar
awesome tips you guys, we are not all experts lol
We strive to make this page a resource for all musicians.. 🎶 Glad we could help!
Is relief reliant on the string gauge?
HEY FOLKS !!! this guy has prolly done this a billion times PLEASE LOOSEN YOUR STRINGS FIRST did you see they guy beside him pucker up when he did it like that LMAO stripped out neck screws SUCK and are a pain to fix
I own a couple of vintage style basses much like what he showed, and I had the same reaction when i saw him do that. Obviously it works in the literal sense, but under tension that could go so wrong so fast. I take the extra minute or two to loosen the strings, and take the neck off entirely(keeping the strings in place with a capo).
It might seem obnoxious to do it that way, but it takes very little time.
So to lower the action you turn clockwise as seen from the top of the headstock perspective it pointed at you as you';re stand sit whatever looking down towards the body... that's a clockwise turn from that perspective. Loosen, turn counterclockwise from the same perspective. IF you were standing with the guitar's body closer to you and looking up at the neck's headstock and then bending over to get the allen wrench in good, and from that perspective turned clockwise to attempt to tighten the neck... you'd be in trouble. Perspective is everything, but seldom mentioned, but thankfully shown clearly in tis video.
That's the way the pros do it. I've been doing it that way for the 40 years I've owned my 1976 Precision. It takes time and experience to get a feel for it. If you are a klutz, get a pro to do it for you.
hey @fender I just bought a 23 Mexican Strat player series sea foam green. I love it i really do and i wonder... I bought 7's and i want to put them on instead of the 9s that are on.
Someone told me i cannot do that without adjusting the bridge/sadles/vibearm and trust rod. is this true, because in that case i might have to take my fender to a guitarshop to set the intonation right if i swap strings right?
When you adjust the trus on a guitar do you have to loosen the strings?
Thank you guys fine that s good explanation. Thanks,,,!;),,,
thank you , that took some of the tension off my strings ,AVRI 57 felt stiff hard to bend
Guitar? Fine. Bass? No way I'm barely loosening the screws and then popping the neck out. I can't believe this is an official Fender video. Crazy.
I just watched another video about this and the guy was looking from the body to the neck, so turning lefty loosey is the opposite of where you are looking (from the headstock to the body). So my question is when adjusting the truss rod on the headstock, you must be looking at it from headstock to body?
The biggest mistake most of us make, is to tighten the truss rod under string tention, this is due to laziness.
The correct way is to adjust the neck is, with the strings slackend, that way you eliminates negative string tention which prevents stripping or weakening the thread.
After adjusting the rod, tune the strings and check the action, if the truss needs to be loosened, it is far better to do this as loosening provideds positive pressure on the truss nut and thread.
When you do the ajastment should the strings be tighten
He is the chiropractor of basses! What a crack!!!
3:03 hommie had to check if he was alive
So I don’t understand if I turn the truss rod clockwise will it make the neck go up or down please explain thank you in advance
Watched the video until 05:00. I swear I heard the cracking because he didn't loose the screws enough so they popped out of their holes cracking the wood. It's just stupid thing to do to your instrument.
This is one of the most famous Fender masterbuilders and he's smarter than you.
i've never seen eric clapton and phil anselmo together in one video! :0
Alexander Waidhofer that was so funny
There’s a fender university? All I want to do with my life is something with guitars!
I wouldn't let this guy anywhere near any instrument I owned, much less a real vintage instrument.
The action on my strings is wayyy higher than the frets on my Fender Squire. Will adjusting the truss rod de-tune the guitar?
HelixWorld - I think you are missing the point, which is: these guys know what they're doing!
Simon Painter Absolutely correct! That's the way the pros do it. I have always used this exact method on my 1976 Precision.
Ah no they don't.
Question when you turn the acorn nut or in my case Fender Stratocaster bullet nut counter clockwise what prevents it from unscrewing from the truss rod ? Thanks so much!
awesome video! Thanks for the tips!
What size wrench for "modern" headstock truss rods? Same for Squiers?
They never say. Don’t trust what is on the internet . Apparently what I found is that depends on the model. They don’t say what is modern or vintage. Basses are different and possibly dependent if is American, vs import, standard vs deluxe, tele vs strat vs any other model. The They don’t sell spares as aftermarket. They want you to take it in to them. Thanks Fender for support.
Have a Yamahahahaha SE 300 Strat with the truss rod adjuster on the bottom ... This strat has a plastic cover at the base of the neck on the body being held on by 1 screw .. So I just leave it off .. If needed , I made the slot a bit bigger so I can get my allen key in there without any trouble ..I do prefer the adjust at the head , though ..
What sized Allen wrench does it take?
Does cold weather affect the rod? Thanks
Any climate change can affect the necks of the guitar. Hot, cold, damp, dry. They all will make your life hell.
Can you show how to adjust the truss rod on the Telecaster Elite series?