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I have a fixer upper on my bench, an old Yamaha. The geometry is decent, but the action is way high due to way way way too much relief, and the truss rod is as tight as it can get. Is there a fix for this?

Rod adjusts at soundhole...

partial compression fret job

FIRST - determine if the rod is, in fact, as tight as you think it is. Take the adjusting nut all the way off, use some nice white grease (or heavy oil, or pretty much any lube you have at hand) then replace it and try adjusting again. This simple trick has saved countless hours of anguish around these parts. . .

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Frank Ford

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Installing a washer or two (or three or four) on the end of the truss rod and then retightening the nut wouldn't work because ...????

Maybe depends on the truss rod - 1 way/2 way?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Turn it the other way and see if it tightens as well. It could be a 2 way truss rod that was tightened the wrong way.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Definitely old school. 20 yr old Yamaha. Even greased it just hits a stop point. Cest la vie...

Adding washers might help if the nut is at the end of the threads, and they wouldn't do any harm, so they are often useful.

The reason for lubrication is to rule out seizing of the threads which is very common with older truss rods that were often installed without any at all. The simple act of removing and replacing the nut can do wonders. Grease or oil will make things work nicely, and the washers might be just the thing to add to the process. Coming to the end of the threads is much less common, but always a possibility.

_________________
Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
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How much is "way way way too much"? .030--.040" might be taken out by a refret, and fingerboard planing. Above that, you might also need a heat-set, or compression refret, or both. Everything can be fixed.

I think Tai has linked to a dynamite relief solution. I'm looking forward to trying it.

Well, this was a donation guitar for a fundraiser. I said I'd do what I could for nothing, but a refret/ fingerboard plane and such go beyond what I'll do for free. I'm nice, but not that nice...

Thanks for the help though!

If the rod is either frozen or whatever and nothing will fix it, then it's a pretty major problem. I don't think anyone will do that for free.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I agree - We do lots of free work on guitars donated to the Hero's Voices program of the VA, and you're absolutely right - sometimes it's not appropriate to rebuild and restore.

There's a gigantic supply of old tired instruments that can't "support" major work. It's great to recycle the ones that can be reworked with minimal effort, and absolutely reasonable, right and proper to discard many of those that have died along the way. We're not talking about products of the dedicated luthier, but commodities that are produced in far greater numbers than most are aware of.

_________________
Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

I did that once many years ago. The neck was prety bowed, and by the time I got the neck straight, the fretboard developed a crack at the end above the rod. It was a Strat neck.
I don't do that anymore. If indeed the rod is TRULY maxed ot, I wouldn't do that again, because the neck could be bowed beyond the range of the truss rods ability to function as designed.

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Old growth, shmold growth!