Now we have established the basic idea of neck relief, James and Chris are going to walk through exactly how you adjust the neck relief on a fender style guitar. Adjusting the truss rod is something people are often worried to do, but it is really very simple when you know how!
To adjust your neck relief, you will need some equipment. These tools are all easy to get hold of and easy to use, so adjusting your own neck relief is still well within the boundaries of something you can do yourself. Here is the gear...
1. Feeler Gauge
The feeler gauge is what you use to measure the distance between the fret and the string, and therefore determine the neck relief. For example, if a 0.014" feeler gauge fits snuggly between the 7th fret and the string (specifically on the 7th fret) then your neck has 0.014" of relief.
2. Allen Key
You will need a set of allen keys for adjusting the truss rod. Some guitars supply you with the correct fitting allen key, but if you don't have that, a standard set of allen keys should give you the size you need.
3. Capo
As James walks you through in the video, you will need a good capo to hold down the strings at the 1st fret, thus allowing you to accurately measure the relief.
Now it's time to give it a try! There are a few steps to follow to get this correct, so we have written a handy checklist for you below:
Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...
We will conclude this series on neck relief by demonstrating how to adjust the relief on a Gibson guitar. It's a great opportunity to go through the process again but with a different style of guitar.