My first Truss Rod adjustment!!

[Kajun26]

Ok, here's the deal, I was SO happy with my new DN4 (first Taylor) that I started looking for another, something a little cheaper in a grand auditorium. Found a GREAT deal on a used 2004 214. The guitar is beautiful, I think the owner bought in and kept it in the case for 3 years, case is mint, guitar is mint. Heck of a deal. Anyway, got it and put new strings on it but what I found was it was SO hard to play, nothing compared to my DN4. So, I was about to give up on it.. maybe even sell it. But I decided to take a chance. Read some very thorough instructions on how to adjust a truss rod, took the chance.. and wow, I have always played guitars how I got them, I never new it made that much of a difference, the little 214 plays amazing now, sounds great, and is much, much easier to play. She is a KEEPER!!

And now I have not one, but two, beautiful Taylor guitars and I am pumped!

If anyone is interested, here is the site with the instructions.

http://www.athensmusician.net/archiv...eneimbody1.php

[CameToMyRescue]

Maybe I'm just ignorant.... (?????) but I've never really been that anxious about doing truss rod adjustments. I've done them on all of my guitars ever since I knew there WAS a truss rod - from my $200 acoustic, electric, and 414. It's great to have that versatility and change the height to match your playing style. Glad to hear yours went well!

[JoeInOttawa]

Originally Posted by CameToMyRescue

It's great to have that versatility and change the height to match your playing style. Glad to hear yours went well!

I'm not sure it's wise to use the truss rod to adjust the instument's string height to your playing style -- although if it works for you, who am I to say no?



[MILD RANT ON]

Especially on an acoustic instrument (on which there is no facility to move the saddles), the truss rod adjustment is critical to making the guitar play in tune all the way up the neck. It is the only adjustment available that impacts the actual scale of the instrument, so having it right makes a world of difference. Having it wrong will, by definition, force your guitar out of tune as you play up the neck.

The shape and size of an acoustic guitar's neck must be carefully planned to work with a specific amount of neck relief, which results in a fairly precise scale length. Because of this, it has long been a bone of contention for me that more acoustic manufacturers don't publish their recommended neck relief dimensions.

[MILD RANT OFF]

Thanks for bearing with me through that -- I needed to relieve a little pressure!



Joe

[youngtaylorguy]

I'm not as comfortable doing truss rod adjustments. I've done them before, but not on a $3,000 Taylor.. and right now my D-string is beginning to buzz irritatingly so I think I have to begin working up the bravado to just go ahead and do it..

[JoeInOttawa]

If you're not comfortable making the adjustment, don't do it, take it to a luthier.

Also, there are a dozen different things that can cause fret buzz, especially when we're only talking about a single string. So before you start making adjustments with which you are uncomfortable, let's make sure that the truss rod is actually the culprit. There are a bunch of ways to do this, and I'll give you a fast-and-dirty version and a more scientific version. Both will give you an idea of whether or not your truss rod is the problem.

Fast and Dirty
This one can only eliminate the truss rod as a possible culprit, but cannot point definitively to your truss as the problem.

1. Set up your tuner
2. Check the tuning of all your strings
3. Recheck your D
4. Check the harmonics at the fifth, seventh, and twelfth fret of D. All should be VERY close to in tune on your tuner
5. Lightly finger the notes at the seventh and 15th frets. Both should be VERY close to in-tune

If all those notes and harmonics are pretty close to in-tune, your truss rod is fine. If not, the problem could be: your truss rod; your top has shifted so your neck is not properly aligned (humidity problem, maybe?); or a miss-cut nut slot or saddle.

The Scientific (?) Way
You'll need a capo and feeler gauges, the type you buy at the auto parts store to measure gaps and such. Get the blade type.

1. Set up your tuner
2. Check the tuning of all your strings
3. Apply the capo to your first fret
4. Finger the low-E string on the last fret on your fingerboard
5. Locate the feeler blade that represents 0.010", and insert it into the gap between the fretwire and the low-E at the 7th fret
6. If it JUST fits, your truss rod is probably fine; if the blade binds, you have too little relief (i.e., the neck is too straight and could be the cause of your buzzing); if it slides through with a ton of space to spare, your neck likely has too much relief, and tuning is probably a bigger problem for you than the buzzing.

Now, the 0.010" is just a guideline that seems to be about right for the regular-scale Taylors (although I seem to remember reading somewhere that 0.011" was closer to what they expect). Either way, this is a reasonably effective way to examine your truss rod adjustment. If the rod is not out, take it to a luthier and have a pro look at it.

Seriously, don't mess with it if you're not sure it's the truss rod. You can cause more harm than good. It's not easy to break a truss rod if you're not ham-fisted (like me, for example), but it is easy to compound an existing problem, making it worse and harder to diagnose.

Meanwhile, I'd love to hear from our group of luthiers here what they believe is their optimal neck relief. Anyone want to throw out a measurement and a method?

Good Luck!

Joe

[ToneSrchin]

Other possibilities of your fret buzz:

Could be a worn down slot in your nut (from normal wear / age, or bad string changing habits, i.e.. letting strings saw through the nut while tightening tuners). The string level could have now dropped low enough that it is buzzing on your highest fret.

Humidity issue: Sound board could be dry and sinking (even slightly / very common), thus lowering your action enough for you highest frets to buzz.

Check out nut and check for signs of dryness, re-humidify with a sound hole humidifier (if needed) before messing with truss rod.

I whole heartedly agree with ""JoeInOttawa". Be certain to rule out the other possible culprits before adjusting truss rod. If humidity is the problem then you will be re adjusting your truss rod every change of the season (like I think some people do!!??!!) The real answer is keeping guitars properly humidified all year long.

Again, these might not be your problems but just thought I'd mention.

[youngtaylorguy]

Originally Posted by ToneSrchin

Other possibilities of your fret buzz:

Could be a worn down slot in your nut (from normal wear / age, or bad string changing habits, i.e.. letting strings saw through the nut while tightening tuners). The string level could have now dropped low enough that it is buzzing on your highest fret.

Humidity issue: Sound board could be dry and sinking (even slightly / very common), thus lowering your action enough for you highest frets to buzz.

Check out nut and check for signs of dryness, re-humidify with a sound hole humidifier (if needed) before messing with truss rod.

I whole heartedly agree with ""JoeInOttawa". Be certain to rule out the other possible culprits before adjusting truss rod. If humidity is the problem then you will be re adjusting your truss rod every change of the season (like I think some people do!!??!!) The real answer is keeping guitars properly humidified all year long.

Again, these might not be your problems but just thought I'd mention.

It's definitely not age, because the guitar is only 3 weeks old. And it's probably not dryness either, because here in Singapore the average humidity is about 85-90%. I put a little dehumidifier packet in my case but the digital hygrometer i leave in there always reads 49-52%. I talked to the guy in the shop today and he said it may take 3 weeks to fix it.. but I use my guitar twice a week in church!

[youngtaylorguy]

Actually, this thought just hit me.. I wonder if the strings are buzzing because they're 3 weeks old now and are probably more 'loose' compared to when they were new..