Official Luthiers Forum!

Wonder how many folks glue their truss rods into the neck. Not the veneer wooden cover that some use but the actual top square steel part of the rod to the wood of the neck. Same goes for the Gotoh Martin style rod. If you glue I wonder why you do and what glue do you use? If you don't ,why not?
Tom

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

It's pretty tough to glue steel to wood, and if you glue the two parts of the truss rod together (with epoxy dripping in the 'space', for example) I don't think the rod will work properly....perhaps I'm wrong on that...
Why would you want to do glue the rod to the neck?

Cheers
John

With Martin rods, I roughed up the edges and glued in the channel using thickened west systems epoxy. a bit of oil on the threads assured that the threads would not get fouled.

I've since switched to the Allied rod. With this one now I place a dab of silicone in the center, then glue a shim over the top using HHG -the rod itself is not glued. The silicone is there because on one guitar I used a hot rod and had a horrible rattle when there was no tension on the rod.

-jd

I epoxy the anchors

Just a dab, because I don't want them coming loose for any reason.

I use the Allied rod. I put the rod into the slot with no glue and then glue a filler strip in that is glued to the sides of the slot and the back bone of the rod. I glue it to the rod to eliminate the chance of rattles and because once the filler is leveled off it is quite thin at the ends. It just seems more 'solid at the ends if it's glued to the rod.

M

I epoxy the old one way Martin rod, and on the new two way Martin rod, I use a few dabs of silicon.

Chuck

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the tried and tested way to install a truss rod is to sandwich the heel end of the rod between two metal nuts with epoxy. i tend to just slide em in after the neck is finished which can leave you with a rattly rod (good band name), but i find that in my innocence its best to have a removable/reusable rod in the event of a knackered neck. carl thompson would have a fit! checkout his you tube vids for a wealth of really great advice and info. ctbasses.com

I use silicone for all my truss rods. I put a dab on each end and a dab in the center, just to prevent rattles.

I also use silicon adhesive to anchor the rod to the neck (just a little bit). Prevents rattles.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Got only two words here, 'silicone migration'.

I've built many guitars with 'static' rods and epoxy works great to embed the rod into wood. If you want something a little less permanent for adjustables I'd use wood dough or something like that rather that putting anything containing silicone in a neck.

If the rod has some tension on it, and I think it should, won't that by itself take care of any rattle?

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Good quality RTV (silicone) will contaminate every surface it touches, but once cured, it will not continue to migrate and contaminate surfaces.

I use a small dab in the middle of the rod and take care not to contaminate the surface as it is placed in the truss rod slot. As long as I do not get it on the front of the neck, it will not compromise the fretboard bond nor will it interfere with future repairs should the fretboard ever need to be removed.

...as for the one rod that rattled, as Murphy would have it, that is the one guitar neck that wanted no tension on the rod.

-jd

When using the Martin-style one-way or two-way, I epoxy them in. When expoxied in, if the TR needs to be cranked, it spreads the stress on the neck along the sides of the rod, rather than having it push up on the bottom of the fretboard in one spot. Glued in like this, it even works if there's no FB.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I run a bead of pure silicone the total length of the rod. This prevents rattle and allows the rod to move like it should be able to when adjusting.

well. . i'll be using silicone on my next build then. i'm pretty sure the 'proper' way is to epoxy, but thats something for builders with confidence and experience. although, im not convinced that i want that stuff inside my guitar. doesnt silly-cone mess with resonance?

I've only built one neck so far, and this is how I installed my truss rod. I've already strung the guitar up in the white(It's in finishing stages now) and the rod works as it should. No problems and no rattle. This is how I will install rods in all of my future builds. It works for me, so I'll stick with it.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Someone here a few years ago mentioned using the soft wax from a toilet seating ring in the truss rod slot to cushion a two way rod. I switched from a bead of silicone to that and like it. Follow it with a wood plug over the top. An LMI rod will rattle on occasion even under tension if you don't do something.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Glad to see that working for you Terence. I learned that trick back in the seventies and haven't had a rattle since. I got the idea from a repair man i know. He used the wax for filling gaps between bolt-on necks and the body to get a better seal for improved tone transfer.

I want to point out the stuff to use is 100% silicone sealant. There are many 100% silicone caulks that they sell at the home center that aren't really pure silicone. These harden where as the pure stuff stays flexible for years. You want it to remain flexible so the rod can have some movement when adjusted. The stuff I use is available at home depot and other places.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgy/R-202038072/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053