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  #1  
Old 01-22-2022, 04:31 PM
jklotz jklotz is offline
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Default Should a guitar with a 2 way truss rod be able to back bow?

I've got a guitar that has a 2 way truss rod. It's maxed at the moment. The neck is dead flat, I can't get the thinnest feeler gauge under a straight edge. It is not back bowing, ie the straight edge is not rocking. Does this indicate a problem? Should a 2 way truss rod be able to go past flat? Will this potentially result in problems down the road?
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Old 01-22-2022, 07:53 PM
redir redir is offline
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Yes it should but you have nothing to worry about since you do not want back bow anyway. If you have maxed the rod out and it is dead flat then this is all you need.

When you say it is maxed out do you mean what? Like it stops turning and is stuck? Or it gets to a point where you are afraid to push it further? Or the truss rod nut comes loose?
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Old 01-22-2022, 09:15 PM
mirwa mirwa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jklotz View Post
I've got a guitar that has a 2 way truss rod. It's maxed at the moment. The neck is dead flat, I can't get the thinnest feeler gauge under a straight edge. It is not back bowing, ie the straight edge is not rocking. Does this indicate a problem? Should a 2 way truss rod be able to go past flat? Will this potentially result in problems down the road?
A two way truss rod simply allows adjustment in two directions, one direction adds relief the other direction adds backbow. If you can adjust the neck so you have a flat fretboard then the trussrod is doing what it is meant to do.

In an ideal world the neutral part of the two way truss rod sits a board dead flat with no strings fitted, but nothing is ever perfect.

Will this result in problems long term, that is an unknown without knowing, what the grain orientation of the neck is, what material is the neck and fretboard made from, what type of frets are fitted, what gauge strings you use etc etc etc, a good luthier looking and handling your guitar can give you a guesstimate in regards to longjevity, we here on a forum are spitting in the wind

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Old 01-22-2022, 10:00 PM
jklotz jklotz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redir View Post
Yes it should but you have nothing to worry about since you do not want back bow anyway. If you have maxed the rod out and it is dead flat then this is all you need.

When you say it is maxed out do you mean what? Like it stops turning and is stuck? Or it gets to a point where you are afraid to push it further? Or the truss rod nut comes loose?
Thanks guys. When I say maxed out, I mean it seems to have reached the end of it's travel, to the point where I'm not willing to push it any further. It operates smoothly up until that point.
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