Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all and Happy New Year,

I've been considering trying out the truss rods offered by Allied Lutherie since I've heard such good things about them. In their description they say that this truss rod is meant to have a filler covering strip of wood between it and the fret board. I know this is a common practice but I've never really understood what that filler strip does. Being so thin, I can't see it offering much in the way of structural value. Since I don't understand it, I've been reluctant to use it, preferring to make the truss rod slot the right depth so the top side of the rod ends up flush with the top of the slot. This is to maximize the amount of wood under the rod (the concept of not having the rod come out the back of the neck is something I am able to grasp).

So my questions are: what does this filler strip do; are they really necessary with the Allied Lutherie's truss rod, and, do you use them?

Thanks in advance,

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

I think more than anything it is to keep glue out of the slot when you glue your fretboard on, but I could be wrong. If so you can put some silicon in there to protect it from glue.

Happy new year

I just bought three of these and I'd like to know too. Could call Allied, I guess.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

if its to keep glue out of the slot you could accomplish that with a thing strip of masking tape .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Hi Guys,
The filler strip is not to prevent glue from seeping in --- it is to prevent truss-rod rattle. Without question, using a filler strip is a vastly improved installation method. If you lay the truss-rod on a counter and then press down on the center of the rod -- you will notice that the rod bends. There is "slack" in the rod. This can cause a rattle. Additionally, I don't think this "slack" does anything but possibly detract from the tone. The filler strip is only meant to push the rod down lightly in the center. You should only leave the filler strip as thin as possible and then glue the fretboard over it. Do not turn the truss-rod until the fretboard is installed or you will rip off the filler strip.

With a filler strip - you should be able to rap the back of the neck very hard anywhere and not hear the rod vibrate. The neck should tap exactly as it did before the truss-rod was installed. Try the same thing without a filler strip and you will most likely hear the truss-rod.

This also completely eliminates the need to have the truss-rod under tension to eliminate a rattling noise. A properly installed truss-rod should never rattle regardless of whether it is not under tension.

Happy New Year's

Simon done an excellent job explaining. Robbie O'Brien has a really good video on truss rods. It includes filler strips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLY3iN1Atn4&feature=related

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Simon, that makes sense and it also means the filler strip can be quite thin on the ends. One of my main reasons for getting the Allied trussrods is that they can go in a relatively shallow slot so that I can hopefully never again experience the joy of a trussrod breaking through the neck

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks for the replies. Now that I think of the filler strip as not being uniform in thickness, i.e. thicker in the middle to press down and eliminate the play in the middle of the truss rod, I understand its function better. Still not sure I prefer this to just adding a little tension in the rod if necessary. One other thing I have done on a couple of guitars is to make the slot just slightly over-sized on the width. Then I wrapped the truss rod on three sides with that thin foam mounting tape you can get. With that the rod fits nice and snug in the slot but is not jammed. It seems to work well.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

The only advantadge i've found with the filler strip is it lowers the adjustment screw below the top plate making it easier to adjust through the sound hole.The design of the rod doesn't allow for that unless the filler strip is put there to drop the rod farther below the top plate.If making the adjustment at the headstock, i wouldn't use the filler strip so there can be more wood left in the neck.Just make the channel shallower in the middle and let the fretboard take up the play in the rod as the filler did.

I can't tell you how many times I have seen threads about hearing a rattle. The first thing folks recommend is to make sure the truss-rod is under tension. This is NOT something you should ever want a customer to deal with. Have you ever bought a Taylor or Martin and had to do this to avoid rattle -- our customer's shouldn't either. Granted, they may use a compression rod or a different type of rod than the two-way most of use. But here's the thing -- I will never have to tell one of my customer's to make sure their truss-rod is under tension. Not to mention, some players tap / rap on different parts of the guitar to add percussion to a musical piece.

It is just a small step that completely avoids a potential problem and truly makes the truss-rod part of the neck instead of just "sitting" in a slot. For what its worth, I plane my necks after the filler strip is installed so that only about 1/32" of the strip remains at the ends.


For those of you on the fence - just try it this way once. I promise you will see the benefit of this method after you've done it.

Happy New Year's Everyone!!!