Truss rods

[Trevor Davies]

I am getting ready to thin my a PB neck just a bit. TD, if you still have this truss rod would it be possible to measure it's height? I have been doing my calculations with the dimensions of Stew Mac's normal size truss rods that are 11.1 mm... but the the one in your pick looks like a low profile truss rod that should be somewhere between 9-9.5mm. I'll still use the Stew Mac dimensions...but would be nice to know if there is a margin for error if I get a little aggressive ;-)

Hi fender3x,

It is at work. I will measure it tomorrow!

TD

[fender3x]

Thank you, sir!

[Trevor Davies]

The depth of the route looks to be about 9.0 mm. (sorry, but I did not notice the dodgy 0 to the ruler!)

The truss rod itself is a bit less, but it was originally covered in plastic!

I hope this helps.

[fender3x]

The depth of the route looks to be about 9.0 mm. (sorry, but I did not notice the dodgy 0 to the ruler!)

The truss rod itself is a bit less, but it was originally covered in plastic!

I hope this helps.

If nothing else it will help my peace of mind. Using the "Stew Mac Standard" measurements of 11.1 mm for the truss rod my initial thoughts...to have it like my Warmoth Strat neck or Like a Fender Modern C...were pretty much out of reach. So I settled on a Fender Modern V. This would, however, leave me just 4.5mm under the truss rod. Adequate...but not much margin for error.

Meanwhile, I have been looking at double action truss rods on the internet. The Stew Mac "standard" has two equal sized rods...but it seems to be the exception. Almost all the other ones I have seen are like yours...with a 3mm bar welded to a 6mm rod. Sometimes this is called a "low profile" truss rod. Stew Mac calls it a hot rod. Most places just call it a "truss rod"...and it seems to be the standard of the industry. So truss rods that don't trace their lineage back to SM look just like yours...except, as you said, wrapped in shrink-wrap of many different colors.

I built a spreadsheet in Google sheets to help me compare different neck profiles. I found myself doing a lot of conversions because most measurements on the web are in mm, except for neck thicknesses which generally seem to be in inches. This was a bit of a pain until I realized that Sheets has a formula that would do it for me. If anyone would find it useful, I'd be happy to share ;-)