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It's always a seat of the pants job doing the access hole as its SO close to the back of the neck, its about 3mm on a vintage Gibson, hence why it's a weak spot.
The main issue I could foresee with pushing the rod up is that if the rod isn't good and tight (i.e. pulling the neck out of relief) and is loose, it's going to rattle in the slot.
It needs to be nice and tight on the bottom of the channel. Also, you only need a 2mm difference in a straight channel, that might give you a little extra at the headstock end
(formerly miserneil)
It's a very snug fit within the walls of the channel so I don't see the rattle as too much of an issue, but I will admit it was on my mind. It's probably only raised by about 1mm at best - it looks more but there was some clearance to start with so it's only minor.
I have a 4mm depth difference across the length of the slot. My plans called for the slot to be deeper at the head and shallower at the tenon end, whereas a series of films I'm watching by Freddy's Frets shows him doing it the other way round. Interestingly he also does a straight, angled channel but glues his truss rod in very tight.
I will go in tomorrow and tighten the truss rod and see what happens.
Do you think that I've wrecked it anyway but having the washer right at where the nut goes? (be honest!)
Thanks so much again for help!!
There is a trick to get over it though which can be used on older guitars that develop a rattle in the rod to avoid major surgery and that's to take the nut and washer off and thread a guitar string (thickness depending on the severity of the rattle) underneath the rod to take up the slack.
I'd take those plans...and file them in the bin...they are giving you more trouble than they are worth!
You definitely want the shallow end of the channel at the headstock end otherwise it'll make a weak point even weaker.
If the rod is ok in the channel, then i'd just look at taking a little more material out from under the nut so you can get a truss rod wrench on there, i'd measure the depth of the access against the total depth of the headstock first though to see how much room you have to play with
(formerly miserneil)
I think the plans definitely need to be binned. They've been wrong a couple of times now!
If the truss rod definitely needs to be deeper at the tenon end then I'll most likely need to remake it all as I've done it the other way round.
(formerly miserneil)
(formerly miserneil)
What will make you laugh, is that I cut the truss rod down according to the plans.... which had the truss rod end not in the main heel, but in the thinner part. It was another thing that felt kinda wrong, but I went with it. So maybe I'll bin the lot.
If I end up actually binning it I'll test the scarf joint to destruction to really test that resin glue joint.
Will be posting again soon once I've come back from going back to square one again
Basically all you need to do and how I do it is mark a centerline on the neck blank, cut/route a straight channel 13mm deep at the headstock to 15mm deep at the truss rod anchor, cut for your access, insert your rod (you only need a couple of threads showing above the nut here) then glue your filler strip in and clamp down nice and snug. That's pretty much all there is to it
(formerly miserneil)
When I do my nut recess I do it so the washer is sitting just below flush with the headstock if you have a veneer, it leaves more wood underneath which is stronger, a junior is slightly different but still just deep enough, I just use a spot facer and truss rod as a pilot then shim the rod up a tad, obviously I've had a fair bit of practice so find your own way that suits you
(formerly customkits)
(formerly customkits)
The old neck is bin fodder.
Had a look on my timber rack and found a decent size piece of quarter sawn sapele so have made a new one-piece neck.
Onwards and upwards. But maybe with more patience this time
EDIT; YES THIS IS WRONG