Truss Rod Advice

Maak

I recently purchased an Ibanez Az 2nd hand via Reverb.  When I went to give it a setup today I noticed that there was no resistance turning the truss rod counter clockwise.  In fact, all turning it did was remove the silver part that the allen key inserts into.

I'm a bit worried because I need more relief (concave) in the neck and I fear the truss rod only can adjust the opposite way I need.  Is the neck/truss rod an issue or am I being stupid?

Any help is appreciated.  I've had the guitar for about three weeks now so I'm guessing it's going to be hard to return if the neck/truss rod is the issue. 

How it looks normally;


and if I turn the truss rod counter clockwise, there's no resistance at all and the silver part comes off with a washer;


The truss rod without the silver part and washer attached:

WezV

It's not a 2 way truss rod so can't be used to add relief through  normal use.

You have a few options 

The easiest is to put heavy strings on in the hopes it pulls the neck into relief, might take some time, but often works.

The more complex way is to tighten the rod so you have a bit if back bow then level the frets like this.  Now when you loosen the rod you should get a bit of relief.   Its hard to know if this will work without seeing it though.

victorludorum

Is it still possible to return the guitar? If their policy is anything like ebay's you should be ok. I can't believe the previous owner didn't know about this.

Maak

Thank you for the replies,  I was hoping it was something I was doing wrong.  I'm going to message the seller about it and try and get a refund.  Reverbs refund policy is 7 days and I'm at about 15 so I'm hoping I'm not stuck with the guitar.

ICBM

Yes, that’s definitely an issue - the neck is too straight. If there is even the tiniest amount of relief it’s probably not too bad though. If it’s like that I would have full confidence that dressing in a little artificial relief will work, but I would wait at the moment - the neck will very likely move forward over time under string tension anyway.

I would try giving it a little ‘help’ - with the truss rod nut off, deliberately bend the neck forward by hand and see if that moves it at all. Leave the strings at full tension. You could also try tuning it up higher than normal, probably to about G or even A if you think the strings will take it (safer with 10s than 9s!) and leave it overnight, also with the rod completely loose or the nut off.

I’ve just had to do this to a friend’s guitar - the neck was completely straight or even very slightly back-bowed with 9s and the rod loose, so I tuned it up to G, forced the neck forward by hand, and then put 10s on it. After a week it’s got enough natural relief that it plays fine tuned normally, and I think it will probably move a bit more. If it does I’ll go back to 9s.

Maak

ICBM said:

Yes, that’s definitely an issue - the neck is too straight. If there is even the tiniest amount of relief it’s probably not too bad though. If it’s like that I would have full confidence that dressing in a little artificial relief will work, but I would wait at the moment - the neck will very likely move forward over time under string tension anyway.

I would try giving it a little ‘help’ - with the truss rod nut off, deliberately bend the neck forward by hand and see if that moves it at all. Leave the strings at full tension. You could also try tuning it up higher than normal, probably to about G or even A if you think the strings will take it (safer with 10s than 9s!) and leave it overnight, also with the rod completely loose or the nut off.

I’ve just had to do this to a friend’s guitar - the neck was completely straight or even very slightly back-bowed with 9s and the rod loose, so I tuned it up to G, forced the neck forward by hand, and then put 10s on it. After a week it’s got enough natural relief that it plays fine tuned normally, and I think it will probably move a bit more. If it does I’ll go back to 9s.

Thank you,  I'll give that a go depending on what the seller says. 

I'm actually surprised the ibanez doesn't have a double action truss rod.  I wonder if that's something they consciously did for the AZ line? 

Although now if you go to their page for the same model the truss rod area looks different;

Does that mean they've changed the model to a dual action truss rod?  

another example of the truss rod difference on a six string model;

richardhomer

I had a ‘71 Tele with the same issue. If you can return it, that’s the best cure.