Truss rod adjustment: how to adjust the truss rod - frudua.com 

I've been playing guitar for some 48 years and currently have 12 guitars. I was always worried about tweaking the truss rod, and somewhat embarrassed to say that I never properly understood what it did. When I came across this video a little over two years ago it was literally a revelation that made everything crystal clear and simple, and I've been setting up all my own guitar necks ever since. Thank you my friend, you've changed my (guitar set-up) life for ever!

You are very informative and not only say what to do, but explain the science behind it and the consequences of doing it incorrectly. Thank you so much sir. My Strat has never played better and the fact that I did the work myself makes me wildly happy!

Best video on RU-vid regarding truss rod adjustment.... great work!

The step by step procedure is (better if frets are dressed): 1) neck (truss rod) relief 2) string's height at bridge 3) srtings height at nut (VERY IMPORTANT for both comfort and INTONATION) 4) intonation For the Gretsch just buy a bridge with roller saddles and lube the nut slots :)

Hey Galeazzo. Your videos about truss rod adjustment, set-up and intonation are so helpful. I know you uploaded them years ago, but please never take them down! Every now and then I come back to remind myself what to do, so I'm glad they're always here. Cheers!

man,you became a legend for me.When I need a trust rod adjustment, I watch this video over and over again.Thanx for everything and a clear,valuable briefing..!

think this was the simplest straight forward explanation on truss rod adjustment I've come across. for me & in my opinion anyhow helped me out alot thanks.

It's amazing how much more confident I am setting up my guitar after following your videos. I might be a decade or so late but sending all the thanks your way!

Over the last couple of days I've been going through all your videos, using your tips to tweak the settings on my guitars. They sound and feel better than ever. Thanks a lot!

Just found this site. You made this like 9+ years ago. Very informative. Getting back into playing again and just bought a used strat and your videos helped make it sing. Thanks.

Found your channel a few years ago Frudua, and it's my go-to to remember all sorts of things. I've been back to this video four or five times now, 'cos I can never remember which way to turn the truss rod, and you're the only person I've found who is clear about from which side you're looking when you're talking about clockwise and anti-clockwise. So, thank you!

10 years after watching youtube, this is the most promising lesson i have learned. Thank you for such a great tutorial, good luck and have a good day.

Hi Galeazzo, I wanted to add a floating Tremolo bar with high and low range to my daughter's new (or new to her) electric guitar as well as give it a good tune-up. So, I reviewed all of your videos several times, ordered the needed parts to do the upgrade, and preformed all the mods and tricks including notching the 6 screws. In all, it took about 3 hours, beginning to end, including fixing a grounding problem causing hum and noise. Before the mod, there were issues with it staying in tune and several strings arbitrarily buzzed. Afterward, It tuned up very nice, has held tune for 4 days straight without even a tweak, and it returns to in-tune after repeated use of the Tremolo. :))) Thanks, Galeazzo, for making these videos. Between your knowledge of guitars and my mechanical and electrical skills, we have played a significant role in my 15 yr old daughter's musical talent. Seeing her play with a happy smile says it all! JP

good tip, first time someone really explained what exactly to do besides look down the guitar and look for relief. Eyes get tricky with various light sources especially after playing all night

Whether it's instruction on playing certain tunes, singing harmony to Beatles' songs, or throwing Valve amplifiers out of 2nd story windows, your videos are very informative and entertaining. The real plus is that I always come away having learned something. Thanks much!

Adjusting the truss rod - and I was pleased to find I had just clicked on a Galleazzo Frudua video. I've watched many of his Beatles vocalization tutorials and love the excellent explanation and demonstrations.

Thanks for the info. I like the way you emphasis the most important points. Nice job, it helped a lot.

Vi muchos videos acerca del ajuste de alma. Finalmente me quedé con éste debido a su sencillez y utilidad. Dejé de lujo mi Epiphone es335. Gracias!

I think you are one of the most helpfull guys when it comes to guitar videos on youtube. Thanks a lot for the effort you put in!

Thank you, Frudua, for your videos on strat setup. Your explanations of relief and truss rod adjustments are very clear. You took the fear out of this ever-important part of guitar setup and maintenance.

Thanks, that really helped me. I built a strat for my son but know nothing about music myself. We did some fine tuning and it seems ok but I will be following what you did here!

I really like your videos and you explain the process in extent. I have learned alot from you thank you!!

I watched all of your videos and tried your techniques. My guitars have never played better! You have made a great contribution to all guitar players. Thank You.

REWARD MY TIME SPENT CREATING THIS CONTENT! ➡ FEEL FREE TO DONATE ANY AMOUNT AT THIS LINK ➡ bit.ly/34rmt23

Good video. Once you adjust your truss rod, be sure to intonate again as the last step. Have a great day! #trussrod

I do this by ´eyesight´ I can´t explain but I can somehow just look at the strings then adjust and it´s perfect... Year after year it´s just something I have a feel of. As usual your ´tips ´/ advice is simply great . Im pretty shure you help out a lot of guitar players with your videos. Keep up the nice work .

I can't get enough of your videos It's mind blowing how much advice you have. You've single handedly stopped me from hurting my guitar and saved me tons of money. Keep up the great work if you lived nearby I'd give you a beer :)

Thank you for being so thorough, for not skipping details when you are showing how to do it. Great help. Thanks again.

I like this guy. He knows his stuff and is very talented.

Thanks, great video!

I’m watching this video ten years after you made it, it’s still a great video! Nicely done!

Mr. Frudua is an Absolute Master. I Appreciate all-you-do, to Educate the Music community.

Awesome job .. simply put .. accurate, yet easy to understand .. Thanks for your contribution

fantastic, very detailed and specific. Thank you!

The illustrations you do on the white board in your videos really make it easy to visualize what your talking about. Well done and very informative.

So glad I watched this before fiddling - turns out my truss rod is set up perfectly so I need to look at the bridge. Cheers Galeazzo!

Thanks so much for this video. I can now adjust the truss rod on my guitars with confidence. :)

This helps a lot. Thanks :D

I love the thick binding on your guitar. It's also a beautiful design! I never understood why certain luthiers install such a thin binding that is hardly noticeable, but yours is great!

Excellent tips. My guitar have been fuzzing for a while, im sure this is gonna help.

Dude, I love your candor and how you just say it like it is. My guitar was never set up right and the action was so high that the pitch would change when I used the higher frets! You emboldened me to mess with my truss rod. I've got my old guitar back! It plays better, sounds better, and is easier on the fingers too. Thanks man. Subscribed for sure!

Means the neck is warped BUT if the BASS has a bigger space it's in some way ok because lower strings has a wider vibration pattern. Eventually you have a comfortabe feel on the higher strings (low action) and less buzzing on the lower ones The opposite would be a BIG problem instead.

Looked through a few different truss tutorials, yours was easily the best. Thank you.

Very useful information, especially the part about putting the capo on the first fret, fretting at the 21st, then checking at the 10th.

Correct, consider I put the neck a bit straighter than the Daddarios package on my guitars but this is my own taste.

As a foreigner I understand some of the analogies he does while trying to translate to english since Spanish is a bit like Italian. I thought it was very funny when he advises to take the guitar to a guitar doctor.

Thank you Mr.Frudua for the tutorial on truss rods.I have always been reluctant to touch the truss rod on my Strat for fear of damaging the guitar,but after watching your video I did the adjustment using the business card method, on the tenth fret, and now my guitar sounds great.Best Wishes,Barrie.

One tiny adjustment and it already feels MUCH better... again, MANY thanks, man \,,/

This theory is completely correct. But the problem is that lots guitars come from the factory (even expensive guitars) with a snake neck. This means " There is too much space between strings and neck around 6th-7th-8th frets, and buzzing strings from 12th to higher frets.After adjusting the truss rod , the first problem is gone, and the second is worser. Fret leveling will help, but not solving the problem completely. Great videos , thanks SIR.

Which fret should I check for a 21 fret guitar and a 24 fret guitar?

You are the great wise one my friend! I just put together a Strat for my daughter from spare parts and I have followed your instructionals and it actually sounds as good if not better than my $3000 PRS's and $4,000 custom that I have. Thank you sooo much!

2:07-2:10 - this cat is a legend!! :) you deserve a hug Galeazzo!! thanks so much. peace.

This eliminated my fear of "Don´t over adjust your truss rod or your guitar will explode"

Some say relief is checked at 8th fret... some say at 10th... some say hold fret at neck/body joint... some say hold fret at 24th fret.... some say hold it at 16th/17th... One word... Confusion :)

you are the most helpful person in the world! Your videos are really clear, straight-forward and well made. Thank you so much for being a great help to thousands of guitarists out there! keep posting :)

Thanks this is the best tutorial I have seen online. These days the dealers are supposed to setup the guitar before it ships but I have found that they generally have very buzzy setups so the truss adjustment is very necessary. thanks for the great advice and good luck on the website.

This is great but instead of something completely variable like paper or a business card, would a feeler gauge reading not have been better when referring to the distance between the string and the fret when the action is correct?

I really like the look of that semi-hollow body guitar, the color, the shape, the hardware. It look like it is a very comfortable guitar to play. Where do you sell these?

this is the best video of how to adjust the truss rod on the guitar!thank you very much!

Thanks Luthier! Great job on instructing the intonation and adjusting truss rod!

Did you mention that the frets need to be leveled as a prerequisite? Without leveled frets, it is pointless to adjust the trussrod you know!

HI Galeazzo: One very basic question...what order would you do the following: (1) Adjust the truss rod (2) Adjust the action (3) Adjust the intonation

Frudua, Thank You very much for the very valuable information. At times I fell we tend to over think adjustments and which and when to make them. You have simplified this and made it very easy to understand. Again Thank You!

Thankyou for your excellent advice. I have taken your advice and adjusted the truss rod on my Yamaha Pacifica 612V which always felt uncomfortable. Only 1/3 of a turn has made it so much more playable now. With your advice with using a credit card to set the action I now love this guitar. Thankyou for the very pleasantly presented and detailed video.

“Guitar Doctor” LMAO

Every time you put different strings on a guitar it will change the tension on the neck so you will have to change the truss rod tension

What a great video. You answered a bunch of questions for me that have stumped me for a really long time. The semi hollow body you built is absolutely beautiful. Amazing work.

💚Please keep these online. I have came back to it hundreds of time over 5 years.

I’m sorry... what? “Hey there this is futheuwnsi fcnsk furyh .com” 😂

Ma una cavolo di versione in italiano ( di questo e degli altri tuoi video) ,no ? Non si poteva fare in italiano e poi mettere una finestra con scritto " click here for the English version" ? Possibile che noi italiani dobbiamo sempre adeguarci agli altri ? Il video è molto interessante ma non è sfruttabile da noi che, per jella e/o sfiga siamo nati in Italia. Essendo anche tu italiano (tu voi fa l'americano,ma sei nato in Italy...come canta Carosone) ,penso che la totalità della tua clientela sia tutta italiana (non credo che un americano ti spedisca la sua chitarra per farsi fare la "messa a punto" alla sua chitarra),che senso ha questo video (ma anche gli altri tuoi video ) in inglese ? Per far vedere che conosci la lingua inglese ? Ho letto che fai corsi di liuteria,li fai in italiano o bisogna presentarsi con la cerrtificazione IELTS per la lingua inglese?

Grazie, maestro! I've taken all 8 of my guitars back to square one with your various videos and I now have a much more playable group of guitars.

DUDE ,,, WITHOUT A DOUBT .... "BEST" video on the web for instructions on how to adjust truss-rods EXCELLENT ...

this was extremely helpful. I've known how to adjust a truss rod for longer than I can remember, but I've never known how to check if it needs to be adjusted. so the info from 5:09 to the end of the video was so helpful. thank you so much.

hands down one of the best videos on here. very informative and easy to follow. thank you!!

I got a new Telecaster and the high e string was buzzing, without any knowledge I turned some screws and suddenly everything was kinda buzzing in on strange frets and stuff, nothing really worked out until I saw your easy tutorials with everyday materials as a help. Thanks mate, I really appreciate your work here, made my day!

I just bought a new guitar and it had pretty bad fret buzz on the first and second fret. I watched your video and could adjust it while being totally relaxed even though it was my brand new guitar. Now it plays perfect -- thank you so much -- you saved my day :)

Thanks for the detailed video, and the trick for reducing neck set time! Also the Frudua guitar you're working on is GORGEOUS! The attention to detail is unreal. Every fret edge looks the same and there's no flaws in the binding. I'm bookmarking your website so I can learn how to set up my (and my friends') guitars better.

Ciao Galeazzo, thx for the Video. Now i understand more how it works inside my Guitar. Happy to find you here. Ciao.

Thanks so much for posting this. I come back to this video anytime my truss rod slips. Very well done!

your videos are the best guitar adjustment tutorial videos on the internet... thank you man :D

Ottimo Galeazzo, come sempre!

Finally! A real good explanation on how to adjust your truss rod. I've seen so many idiots try to explain it. Only problem is, it seems so simple, that people won't want to believe. But, BELIEVE IT. It really is this simple.

Nice video, Galeazzo. In fact, all your videos are very good. Keep up the great work!

Thank heavens for that i've found your videos. I followed your advice years ago now and my guitar sounded awesome but after not touching my guitar for over a year the intonation is out again so it's back to watching your videos. :)

Cheers from Brazil Mr. Frudua👍😃!!! Your videos and your tips help me a lot with my new Tagima Strat T635. Hope you can reach more and more success with your luthier career. Great hugs Elias Figueroa (Viamao City / RS Brazil)

Took a few min to tighten the truss rod and LOWER my action. Plays snd sounds great! Thank you!

Thanks for taking the time to provide this information!!!

thanks Galeazzo all your videos are truly helpful!!

In my opinion this guy explains things clearly and it is very very easy to understand and follow what he's saying (despite his accent). Best part is he uses simple house hold items/tools (mostly) to help setup guitar unlike others I have seen (they use more special guitar based tools which you would specifically need to buy an instrument shop. It seems to me that he also covers everything you need to know in his videos unlike some other I've watched. Very good tutorial.

Frudua, this is the best tutorial ever...honestly my guitar is playing so much better now thanks to your very simple tutorial....

Dude you rock it....damn good tutorials all the way around. Now my guitar went from sounding out of tune and not fun to play to very precise intonation and it feels good to play it again...thank you Mr Frudua! Rock on brother!

Great video FrudaTv!

I am happy you found it useful!

My go to link for guitar setup, many, many thanks for these great videos

MR. FRUDUA! I sincerely hope you are well and ok. I know that you are an Italian Luthier and I can't help but think that you may have been affected by Coronavirus considering the situation that was in Italy in March-June. You should make an updated version of all of your videos. Keep all of the valuable info you have provided in these vids too. For many months I've been dealing with various guitar problems. I have an ESP guitar that had a Floyd Rose 1000 bridge on it and I bought a new Floyd Rose original. Since then, I've had numerous problems with open string buzzing and weird sitar like sounds from the 1st two strings. I watched this video years ago and just recently stumbled on it again. THE MOST VALUABLE INFO in this video is using the card from a D'addario string set and using it on the 1st thinnest string! This tip made all of the headaches I've had over the past several months worth it! Thank you so much! My Truss Rod was actually very very tight. Not so tight that it broke but it was very hard to turn. When all is said and done and I followed your advice in this video exactly, the truss rod had virtually little to no tension on it...I thought it was broke because it was so loose but that was just enough to fix my string buzz and the sitar strings and now my action is very low and I now have a very playable guitar. What really threw me off was how loose the truss rod on this particular guitar needed to be. It's extremely loose but it fixed all of my problems...THANK YOU FROM AMERICA -December 2020!

I love how you put humor in this video! Great video! :D

Mr. Frudua , this is very comprehensive. The word concise is the most fitting.

Thank you very much - Fudua TV. I will try it out right-away.

Your vids are great man! Very easy to understand and follow thanks!

These are the best and most informative guitar Tech vids ive found so far - definite favorite :-) Very cronological and understandable explanations and smart tips! thank you!