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Properly configured welds by a skilled welder would be more than adequate for a truss rod. I think the problem is that truss rods tend to be manufactured by less than highly skilled labor.

I silver solder mine with high strength silver solder. I learned all about this when I was making rock climbing gear, soldering stainless wire rope to other stainless steel and brass parts. Strength and reliability are crucial with climbing gear. When done properly, it completely fills the joint between the two parts and is as strong as the metal itself .

Just to clarify again, the Allied rods are NOT 100% stainless steel. Only the threaded end blocks are. The round rod and the backbone are plain carbon steel and they will rust. I pushed to get those rods made all stainless but I couldn't get Allied or the manufacturer over the materials cost hurdle.

Mark

Just had an Allied rod fail a few weeks ago

I always test as instructed, but the weld just failed on this one

Had to remove fingerboard and replace - Not Fun!

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John Ressler

I have a freind of mine weld these up.



He was one of the few people in the area that was certified to do the vacuum welds for the Moffet field wind tunnel years ago. Plays a pretty decent saxaphone also. In testing done by Santa Cruz Guitar, with deliberate attempts to break these somewhere, the rod consistently failed before the weld



My experience is that a good weld will be stronger than a silver solder joint. One fuses the other attaches. The hardest part in silver soldering for me when I joined components for the electronics industry years ago was bringing pieces of different mass and thermal conductivity to flow temp at the same time and keeping the solder contained to the area without overflow. Either method is probably good enough for truss rods. One of the biggest problems I see is expecting something cheap to perform as well as something made by somebody who knows what they are doing. At some point if something is well made you have to be willing to pay for it.

Tim

Off topic. Deleted.

What were you doing when it failed?

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

Fillippo,

That's because you are only seeing one end of the rod. It works like any other double action rod only the anchors are embedded directly into the neck, rather than on a base. The only weld is on the hex nut.

Tim

"JRessler wrote:
Just had an Allied rod fail a few weeks ago

I always test as instructed, but the weld just failed on this one

Had to remove fingerboard and replace - Not Fun!


"What were you doing when it failed?"


I started tightening the truss rod to adjust it and suddenly it turned real hard and realized I was driving the "nut" into the square part on the end.

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John Ressler

Fillippo,

This type of truss rod is not new and has been used by several builders, at least in the Santa Cruz area, in the past and currently. There are also pictures of a similar rod on Frets.com. The best I can do right now to answer your question is this photo which shows the channel and rod next to a beam type. Hope that gives you an idea of what's going on. Once you back fill over the rod the anchors can't go anywhere and with properly cut slots they will press into place, no glue. Rod is the same size as on the beam type but without the shrink tubing which is not needed. Really kind of a minimalist double acting rod.



Tim