Truss Rod - Application

Application

When the truss rod is loosened (i.e., moved towards the guitar's body), it allows the neck to bend slightly in response to the tension of the strings. Similarly, when tightened (i.e. moved towards the guitar's headstock) the truss rod straightens the neck by resisting the tension of the strings.

It is desirable for a guitar neck to have a slight relief in order that reasonably low action be achieved in the high fretboard positions, while at the same time, the strings ring clearly in the low positions. Improved action in the high fret positions also allows for more accurate intonation to be achieved with less compensation at the bridge.

Relief achieved through the truss rod combines with the height of the bridge to affect the playability of the instrument. The two should be adjusted in tandem. Too much relief contributes to a neck that feels stiff and lifeless, while too little feels floppy, slow and imprecise.

Truss rods are required for instruments with steel (high tension) strings. Without a truss rod, the guitar's wooden neck would gradually warp (i.e. bend) beyond repair due to applied high tension. Such devices are not normally needed on instruments with lower tension strings, such as the classical guitar which uses nylon (previously catgut) strings.

Truss rods also allow the instrument neck to be made from less rigid materials, such as cheaper grade of wood, or man-made composites, without which the neck would not be able to properly handle the string tension. The neck can also be made thinner, which can improve playability. In fact, the possibility of selecting cheaper materials is specifically touted in the 1923 patent as an advantage of the truss rod. Prior to the introduction of truss rods, the neck would have been made of a very rigid wood, and relief was achieved by planing the fingerboard: more expensive material, and more demanding construction technique.

Read more about this topic:  Truss Rod

Famous quotes containing the word application:

    It is known that Whistler when asked how long it took him to paint one of his “nocturnes” answered: “All of my life.” With the same rigor he could have said that all of the centuries that preceded the moment when he painted were necessary. From that correct application of the law of causality it follows that the slightest event presupposes the inconceivable universe and, conversely, that the universe needs even the slightest of events.
    Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)

    The application requisite to the duties of the office I hold [governor of Virginia] is so excessive, and the execution of them after all so imperfect, that I have determined to retire from it at the close of the present campaign.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    We will not be imposed upon by this vast application of forces. We believe that most things will have to be accomplished still by the application called Industry. We are rather pleased, after all, to consider the small private, but both constant and accumulated, force which stands behind every spade in the field. This it is that makes the valleys shine, and the deserts really bloom.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)