Truss rod adjustment

Subject: Truss rod adjustment
From: 53
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 10:46 AM

Does a truss rod adjustment affect the strings causing loss of tone? I did an adjustment on my Gibson J-40 and it caused the strings to go dead. Is this common, cause I've never had this happen before.

Subject: RE: Truss rod adjustment
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 11:00 AM

Yup. Can do. Sometimes something as simple as re-tuning can do it as well. Not every set of every brand is wound the same. Some are tighter, some looser, and sometimes it's not even consistant from string to string. I recently got a set of John Pearse bronze, and even though they are supposed to be the best on the market, they went dead in a day. The most consistent strings I've found are the Newtone/Masterclass ones from England. I've been using them for about three years now....but even they have a dud set now and then. Worst ones I ever tried were Gretsch. Bought three sets, and all were dead when they went on the guitar. Bit of a crap shoot.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Truss rod adjustment
From: 53
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 08:03 PM

Thanks Rick. Cheers.

Subject: RE: Truss rod adjustment
From: MarkS
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 09:09 PM

Best advice I can give anybody, and I know this from sad, sad, experience. Do not adjust the truss rod yourself! You will save a lot of pain and grief if you take your instrument to a skilled luthier. It sounds soooo simple, but then so does an appendectomy, and believe me, friends and neighbors, you would not want to do that yourself either!
Mark

Subject: RE: Truss rod adjustment
From: michaelr
Date: 25 Mar 02 - 11:24 PM

Rick - I'm surprised to hear that about John Pearse strings. As you say, by reputation they're the best, and I've had nothing but good experiences with them. What about the persistent story, though, that all strings are made by the same company, and are just labelled differently? Do you have any info as to the truth of that rumor?

BTW, I've been playing the same set of D'Addario EXPs for 3 months (i.e. 5 rehearsals and 7 gigs), and they STILL SOUND GREAT!

Cheers,
Michael