How To | Truss Rod Adjustment | Fender

Fender R&D guitar development director Chris Fleming offers up tips on adjusting your instrument's truss rod to straighten out a bowed or back-bowed neck. Adjusting the truss rod will help increase the playability of your instrument.

Modern Style 0:49
Purpose For Trust Rod 1:09
Trust Rod Adjustment 2:03
Measure Relief 3:00
Vintage Style 3:48
Loosen Neck 4:09
Trust Rod Adjustment 5:10
Reinstall Neck 5:59

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Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is the world’s foremost manufacturer of guitars, basses, amplifiers and related equipment. With an illustrious history dating back to 1946, Fender has touched and transformed music worldwide and in nearly every genre: rock ‘n’ roll, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and many others.

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How To | Truss Rod Adjustment | Fender

[fender]

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[Kilo-szch]

“You should never go more than two twists with a truss today”

Me: *looks up after twisting my truss rod 7 times*

[charliefoxtrottherd]

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!

[TheOtherJackBlack]

I just gasped when he moved the neck after loosening the screws, that just sounded terrifying

[ravok]

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!

[Tomganow]

when he pushed down on the neck of the bass i screamed a bit and died a little inside

[papawbk]

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.

[helixworld]

This explains a lot about what is happening at Fender R&D.

[brewer]

Wow, didn't understand why there were so many thumbs-down on this until he adjusted the bass. Good lord.

[TheWarriorSongProject]

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.

[BaldingRocker]

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.

[iandeterlingchannel]

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.

[kevinvandenpanhuyzen]

Of course this is how they want us to do it. So we'd have to buy a new Fender.. :D

[fadeskywards]

4:58 "Everyone disliked that."

[afishcalledminnewawa]

if this video isn't good enough for you the custom shop version is available for $89.95

[tcg]

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.

[MattDaddyFatStacks]

The Strat is my exact guitar, down to the paint job and fretboard. She's a beauty!

[south]

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.

[ChurchillCigar]

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.

[robbyclark]

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.