truss rod help

[beefcake]

hey i was looking at my new jackson ke1f and i was going to adjust the truss rod because the neck had a overbow or whatever its called but i put the wrench in and started to turn it to the left and its really stiff like i barely moved it a half of a quarter turn and it was making this tinking noise the whole time how hard is it to break a truss rod and what would you guys suggest i do:think:

[DonP]

Keep turning to the left (lefty loosey, righty tighty). Sounds like someone already WAY overtightened it already.

You can try some lube (carefully applied WD40) to the threads and let it work into the nut.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

If that's a 2-way truss rod it might be "loosened" a whole bunch (add relief). Those will have a "loose" spot in the center of the range of adjustment, and will get tight again when you go "left" or "looser".

So, the neck is back-bowed? No relief, or negative relief? Maybe someone just jacked the truss rod up as tight as they could to get the action low (n00b mistake.)

I don't know what to tell you without seeing it myself. If it seems to be get a little easier to turn as you go left, keep going left. If it is all the way left and it is still back-bowed, you're in deep shit anyway.

[dg]

I'm with Jazzy. You need to tell us better what's wrong. Please explain what you mean by "overbow". When I hear that, it make me think of forward bow, or too much relief, in which case loosening is the wrong thing to do. If you've got backbow, loosening would make sense. We can't help unless we know which it is. What are the symptoms? If you fret a string at the first & 17th and look closely from the side, is the string sitting high off the frets in the middle or is it hitting them?

[beefcake]

alright what i meant was that i can get the action low but not like really low so when it was low i had it in e standard but it was buzzing at the first fret on all the strings when i would hold it down but it wouldn't buzz when i strummed a open string or any other strings, i did the hold the last fret and first and look at the the 12th it was really close so i figure there was too much bow, when i say that i mean like a arch or a rainbow where there the truss has been tightened too much so i tried to turn it left but it was tight

[ulijdavid]

Loosen the strings before you adjust the truss rod - otherwise you are fighting the string tension.

[warlok]

alright what i meant was that i can get the action low but not like really low so when it was low i had it in e standard but it was buzzing at the first fret on all the strings when i would hold it down but it wouldn't buzz when i strummed a open string or any other strings, i did the hold the last fret and first and look at the the 12th it was really close so i figure there was too much bow, when i say that i mean like a arch or a rainbow where there the truss has been tightened too much so i tried to turn it left but it was tight

Really close, as in it has some relief? Assuming you mean it's got some "upbow", bowed towards the front of the guitar, and you're buzzing at the first fret, you may need to shim the nut. Fret the 3rd fret and see if there's space between the top of the 1st fret and string.

Don't adjust the trussrod alot for string height. Basic rule of thumb - make sure there's not a ton of relief (upbow), the nut height is good, and adjust the bridge height for height of the strings. Then you can get more precise and technical on the adjustments. Like add/remove some relief, saddle heights, maybe even fret level, etc..

[DonP]

.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

.

Are you on yours?

[dg]

Really close, as in it has some relief? Assuming you mean it's got some "upbow", bowed towards the front of the guitar, and you're buzzing at the first fret, you may need to shim the nut. Fret the 3rd fret and see if there's space between the top of the 1st fret and string.

He says he has no open-string buzz, but has buzz when he frets at the first fret, so that should rule out a low nut. Sounds like he either needs more relief or may have a high fret.

Does anybody know for sure what type of truss rod the newer USA Jacksons have? Like MAJNH said above, a single-acting is going to feel & act completely different than a double-acting rod. A single-acting rod will just get really loose, but with a double-acting rod there will be resistance when adding relief if it gets to the point where string tension isn't creating any upbow. This is one of those that's hard to know without having the guitar in hand.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Mine are all dual-action. 4mm allen head.

It sounds to me like it had been cranked really tight to get the relief low and now he's trying to add some back due to the 1st fret buzz.

[DonP]

Are you on yours?

Yeah you fucker!

[beefcake]

Does anybody know for sure what type of truss rod the newer USA Jacksons have?
i have a 1997 jackson ke1f im confused as to how this is new lol anyway i figured it out it was tightened to much and it just needed to be loosened

[warlok]

He says he has no open-string buzz, but has buzz when he frets at the first fret, so that should rule out a low nut.

Oops, read his post wrong. Thought it said it was buzzing when open... Glad you got it worked out..