Share:
Notifications
Clear all

Rattly truss rod

1 Posts
1 Users
0 Reactions
7 Views
Jonathan Hodgson
(@jonhodgson)
Noble Member
Luthier
Rep Points: 2066
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 340
Topic starter  

So I finally got to glue the fingerboard on to my neck, and when I took the clamps off I found two problems (well three if you count the amount a glue I need to clean up, unfortunately I had to catch a bus home before it reached the "leather hard" stage)
The first is mostly an irritation, in a couple of places there is a hairline gap between fretboard edge and neck (with glue in it), I think I may know what happened. Since when I was prepping for the glue up I didn't have any cork but did have access to a CNC I thought I'd be clever and CNC a perfect 12 inch radius clamping caul out of 12mm MDF. Well I should probably have made it something like 11.5 inches, because I don't think it had quite enough pressure at the edges at some points.
Anyway, once I've scraped off the glue squeezeout I'll take a closer look, but I don't think there are any issues structurally, and aesthetically I can probably scrape the glue back a smidgin in the gap and fill with some rosewood dust and glue. It really just is a fairline in a couple of places, it may even disappear completely when shaping the neck.

But, more worrying is that the truss rod rattles. I haven't tried tightening it at all, but I thought it was snugly held in by the fillet before putting the fingerboard on. I'm wondering how to know if it will be "alright on the night", and what to do if it's a serious issue.

All in all, I'm rather glad I ended up doing this "affordable" guitar for my first solo project (simple woods, decent made in China hardware). It's amazing how many things can go wrong without Mark looking over my shoulder.


   
Quote
Share: