www.PyleUSA.com
7
How to Adjust an Acoustic Guitar Truss Rod
Your truss rod needs adjustment when the neck of your guitar has too much or too little upbow or too much backbow.
Tightening or loosening the adjustment nut adds or lessens pressure on the rod and neck. As a general rule, tightening
the nut moves the neck away from the string pull and removes upbow; loosening the nut allows the neck to relax into
an upbow again (especially when helped by the strings’ pull). Controlled upbow is known as relief.
However, with a one-way truss rod, if the neck warps away from the string pull, no amount of loosening the truss rod
will pull the neck straight, because the truss rod only works against the pull of the strings.
Two primary signs tell you that your truss rod needs adjusting:
1. There’s a noticeable change in the action;
the height of the strings over the frets has
become either too high or too low.
The most common scenario is that the strings
get higher as the nec upbows from the string
pull.
2. Some strings buzz on the frets between the
nut and the fifth fret. This indicates that the
neck is either too straight or it is backbowed
from the truss rod’s slow, constant pressure
over time.
