markdavid Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Hi Bit of a noob question here. Am soon to be starting playing again after a long long break, once thing has occured to me and that is that I have always had shops do my setups and have never adjusted a truss rod myself. I know it is meant to be left to loosen and right to tighten the truss rod and was wondering if it is left/right when looking down the neck with the bass upright and the body resting on the floor or whether it is left/right with the bass neck facing downwards towards the floor Also, am I right in thinking turning right counteracts forward bow and turning left does the opposite Thanks is advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Yep, think you've got it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Yes & Yes & Yes - whichever end the adjuster is - the same applies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 There are a whole load of videos on tube that demonstrate setting up procedures, truss adjustments etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 'Left' and 'right' make no sense when discussing rotation; 'clockwise' and 'anti-clockwise' are more relevant. To tighten (as with most screw threads...), turn clockwise. This will 'shorten' the truss rod, thus pulling the headstock backwards, and reducing the bowing of the neck. To loosen, turn anti-clockwise, unscrewing; this will allow the strings to pull the headstock forwards, thus increasing the bowing of the neck. Small (1/8 or 1/4 turns...) are recommended for ordinary, routine adjustments. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I agree, it's easier to talk in terms of clockwise / anti-clockwise But the old saying "Lefty loosie, righty-tighty" is just to aid the memory As well as youtube videos, there's some rather good advice in the Haynes style Fender Bass manual This is written by Fender & other bass / guitar techs, and it's well illustrated too .... even if you're adjusting basses other than fender.... Anyhow, make adjustments slowly. Some recommend no more than a quarter of a turn an hour and allow plenty of time for the neck to "settle" Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 One thing I've found is that closer you get to the truss rod being "right" the smaller the turns you need to make. A tiny tweak tends to make quite a difference once you're close to the sweet spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scojack Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Just to throw a spanner in ....depends on the trussrod, i have used dual rods that will pull back (tighten) when turned anti-clockwise and vice-versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 And early Rickenbackers work in a completely different way - loosten bolts, bend neck as required and then tighten the bolts again. Good luck if you ever need to do that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Late 80s Warwicks and at least one Sei headless (mine) are left-hand thread, clockwise to loosen and anticlockwise to tighten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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