Official Luthiers Forum!

Is anyone out there building their own truss rods?

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http://www.unit5woodworks.com

yes duel action forward & back

Ex machinist here and for the work required compared to the quality and price of what's out there I would not be bothered. For folks doing it be sure of what you are doing if you are doing any heating for bending. Replacing broken rods not fun.Not trying to rain on anyone's parade but just preaching caution.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

The only reason for making your own truss rod that I can see is if you are making a rod for a non-standard neck length. I recently made a truss rod for an eleven fret body join with a 22.75" scale and one for a 16 fret body join with a 25.4 scale. (There were no standard rods for these sizes.) They are one-way rods so you have to pre-load some back bend before you level the fretboard. That way they work almost like a two-way rod. They come from the Cumpiano book and he has updated some aspects of the design. I made a modification by JB welding a shortened hex bolt into the end of the long adjustment nut. That way I can use a hex key for the adjustment. These types of rods are quite strong and require no welding or silver soldering, but you do need to fret after you install your neck. Since I do that anyway it's not a problem for me. I don't know much about most metals so I was wondering if anyone could tell me if such a rod could be made out of titanium. Is titanium hard to bend and thread? This type of rod in titanium could be a real advantage. I would think the rod could be a smaller diameter too.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I guess you could say I 'make' my single action compression rods; thread one end, make a 90 degree angle bend on the other. They work OK, but I usually use commercial double action rods.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Ken and Arnt bring up two good reasons to build your own rods.Sorry I can't be any help on the titanium,have never dealt with it.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

It probably doesn't save money to build my own rods. However I like the idea of controlling as many elements of the build as possible.

Does anyone have a good design for a two way rod that I could use?

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http://www.unit5woodworks.com

Ken-- I think you're on the right track. I would recommend cleaning with acetone, and substituting red Loctite for J.B. Weld, but pre-load being the same as a double acting rod is exactly right. In some ways, pre-load is better. With a double-acting rod, there is always the neutral point. At that point, things may buzz. If they don't, energy is still being lost. With pre-load, we never get to the neutral point. There's always pressure on the system--no gaps, no lash, no loss.

As for titanium, don't go there. Titanium has some wonderful properties, but it is very
[i]sensitive to, process temperature, and at it's best, it only equals the strength. stiffness of steel. ( Yes. it's lighter, but you don't want to open that box.)[/i]

Yes



Tim

I've always made neck rods like youre talking about. I've never had a problem. I've also never bought a neck rod, so I don't really know what I'm missing. I can definitely see an advantage of having a two way rod if something doesnt come out quite as expected.

Todd, I haven't seen those truss rods anywhere I looked. How long are they? My rod was around 11".

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com