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Hi, Friends,

A friend brought over an old Alvarez steel string dread yesterday and asked me to help him diagnose some string buzzing. It was a pawn shop purchase several years ago. There is no excessive fret wear and I can't find any loose or popped frets. I believe the problem is a very slight back bow in the neck. It's one of those things that's barely visible, but I can just barely rock a long straight edge from the center of the neck to either end.
I have not yet taken the string tension off, but will do that later today and check the "rock" again. If my hunch is correct, I believe a minor truss rod adjustment will go a long way towards fixing this guitar.

I believe this is a two-way truss rod. It's accessed through the sound hole. If this were a compression rod (as on the instruments I build), I'd adjust quarter-turns at a time--turning counter-clockwise to loosen the rod. Is this also true on a two-way rod? I realize two-way rods work differently. Oh...I would do this with string tension off.

Thanks. Patrick

Never mind. I fixed it.