Quote:
Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7
I had (rightly or wrongly) understood the use of neck reinforcements (e.g. ebony, T-bar, carbon fiber etc.) to be different than a "truss-rod" in terms of their purpose. Carbon fiber serves to stiffen the neck to resist the load of the strings. A truss rod not only provides stiffness, but also provides a method for establishing adjustment for relief. I have guitars where the neck is both reinforced with CF inserts and has an adjustable TR system to vary the relief as needed. Relief seems to be a fugitive attribute over time and with seasonal changes.
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The Gibson style tension rod can only be shoehorned with difficulty into the definition what a mechanical engineer would call a 'truss,' and then only if it is a straight rod (so it will work as a "two-force" member), which is not the way Gibson makes them. A dual action rod falls outside the engineer's definition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss
As with other terms for guitar parts (e.g., "volute," "kerfing"), it's likely a losing battle to try to make the guitar language consistent with what the rest of the world says; and so the confusion about what is and is not a 'truss rod' will continue. My own preference is to use the terms "neck reinforcement" and "adjustable neck reinforcement." But fighting semantic battles has gotten into the "life's too short" category. If this can be a truss
then I guess so can this
