Daveyob first build diary TLA-1

[daveyob]

This will sound like a silly question, but this is all new to me. If I were to remove the nut entirely to what extent would the neck continue to bow away from the strings? I'm not going to snap it am I? If anything I'm releasing tension but there must be a point at which the neck will stop bending as the truss rid ceases to have any effect.
(I'll loosen the strings before loosening the truss rod I imagine. That might actually be the answer)

[wazkelly]

Too many 'nuts' have been mentioned in this thread to really understand which one you are referring to?

Most typical 'Nut' is the one strings pass through from tuners to bridge and don't see any point in removing to adjust truss rod.

In one of Simon's posts he mentions a 'nut' on the end of the truss rod.....god help you if you can see or access that as on most kits to adjust or remove would require removing the fretboard, another unnecessary job.

If under tension and at proper pitch a straight edge reveals a bow, what type of bow is it? Reading back a few posts it sounds like a back bow which means reasonable clearance at nut to say 5th fret then from 9th to say 15th minimal clearance and gets better towards end of fretboard. Sound familiar? If so, you probably have back bow and truss rod needs to be loosened.

If forward bow, that is where you can drive a truck under the string height at 12th fret (anywhere from 5mm to 15mm gap) which means truss rod needs to be tightened.

General rule of thumb is to do a quarter turn at a time, re-tune back up to pitch, check measurements and reassess whether further adjustment is required. Need to be mindful to get close at this stage and leave things to settle for a few days and come back for a final tweaking once it has reached a state of equilibrium. Fair chance it may have gone out of tune again during settling in period too, so you always need to re-tune before making any further adjustments.

Finally, once fretboard action is as flat as you like need to re-do the intonation as it will most likely be out due to changes in neck settings.

All of this is best done with strings attached and at proper pitch.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Waz

Edit: Just re-read a few posts and still reckon do all of the above to get fretboard as flat as possible but to also let us know string clearance height on 1st fret when 2nd has been fretted. Business card thickness is generally considered normal and any higher indicates nut slots are too high. Easiest way to fix is removing 'Nut' and filling/sanding down the base until right height and then refit into fretboard slot wiith a couple of dots of CA super glue.