Emerald X20 Truss Rod Adjustments

[BT55]

I recently purchased a pre-owned Emerald X20. I shaved the saddle but the string height was still high. I saw that Alastair had commented about truss rod adjustments and stated that the neck responds quickly to adjustments. My truss rod nut was loose and after removing the slack and adding about a 3/4 turn the neck adjusted just like a wood guitar. I was impressed as I didn’t think that a CF design would react so well. The X20 never stops impressing me.

[Bghd]

I showed my x20 to a very talented player and his comment was "actions a little high up the neck isn't it?" to which I looked and thought, well maybe up the neck a little. And yes I do play up the neck too, you can't start Dear Prudence anywhere else.
Then I thought about who I would trust to adjust a cf, or about doing it myself, or if I should just use a heavier gauge string. I would prefer not to reduce the saddle itself, isn't it dinosaur bone or something like that ? Not sure that my typical luthier would have any more experience with a cf trussrod than I do. Glad you posted this and I hope there are more responses which might guide me into doing the right thing.

[Matt_Adamas]

The nice thing about adjusting the truss rod on a CF neck is it will respond quickly and consistently, unlike a wood guitar.

[BT55]

Originally Posted by Matt_Adamas

The nice thing about adjusting the truss rod on a CF neck is it will respond quickly and consistently, unlike a wood guitar.

Matt,
The Emeralds neck was easy to adjust but the neck on my Rainsong H-OM was not the same. When I attempted an adjustment the truss rod nut was loose. Once I removed the slack it tightened really fast and I was afraid I’d break the rod with any additional tension.

[Long Jon]

I also bought my X20 used, previous owner had lowered the action to a level that was nearly unplayable for a ham fisted geezer like m’self.

I noticed that in addition to the severely shaved down saddle, there was virtually no relief in the neck.

I have had some previous on tinkering with the action on my wooden guitars, so was not afeared of actually doing any damage.
(I have resisted tinkering with nut slots, that’s too much precision for both my skillset and toolkit.)

So the first thing I did was loosen the truss rod a crank or two, that was a big improvement for starters.

I have since fitted a taller saddle and feel I have got it about right for me now.

With my brand new X7 , I did more or less the opposite, shaved the saddle down a wee bit and tweaked the rod tighter to make the neck a bit more flat.


I did buy a simple , but useful “Technofret” jig for holding saddles while you sand them nice and flat,
this was from forum sponsor Murray McLeod, “murrmac” , who sells a range of set-up tools which he makes himself.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TECHNOFRE...IAAOSwh3JalUzT

(I also bought a pristine Waterloo WL-12 from him, good guy, who really knows how to box up a guitar for shipping.)

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by BT55

.....had commented about truss rod adjustments and stated that the neck responds quickly to adjustments. .....The X20 never stops impressing me.

All guitars respond quickly to truss rod adjustments. Wood necks might settle a little bit more overnight, but every truss rod that I've ever adjusted (my guitars and for others) made an immediate effect on relief. I agree - the X20 continues to impress. For me, it has largely displaced play time on my Rainsong WS-1000 and my Blackbird Lucky 13.

Speaking of truss rods, my X20-12 came from the factory with heavy gauge (54-12) strings and tuned E-e. That is 336 pounds of tension! And it arrived in tune. First I tuned it down to C# (~265 pounds) which is what that string set is intended for. Then I took off half of those and briefly played it as a wide-necked six string (165 pounds) then put on a light gauge twelve-string set (47-10, 250 pounds). I felt no need to adjust the truss rod for any of these iterations. Talk about a stiff neck!