tight truss rod adjusting barrel nut

[robbie]

hello chaps,
I have a 1997 style 0 national and need to adjust the truss rod to reduce the bend of the neck.........using a 1/8" hex allen key, unfortunatly its rock solid tight and not wanting to damage anything, I have not forced it . Just wondering if there is any advice out there to help free it up . any suggestions would be appreciated

cheers

[Michael Messer]

Hi Robbie,

The correct and most advisable thing to do, is contact an official National repairer (Dave King Acoustics) and ask them to look at it. However, probably the most practical thing to do, is gently 'persuade' it to turn. You might want to squirt a touch of WD40 into it, but it should move. Just be careful!

If you are in any way worried about damaging something, then contact an official National repairer.

Let me know how you get on

Shine On
Michael

[washboardchris]

Beware, the truss rods on some NRP's turn the other way.

[robbie]

thanks both michael and chris. I will put a " wee drop of wd40 onto the nut and gi it a day or to to work ( hopefully ) so thanks for the suggestion. With regards the the direction of the turn I did look up the national web page and found that all truss rods after I believe 1993 do work in the conventional manner , again gentlemen as ever many thanks

robbie

[robbie]

this is the info from the national web page ....so sorry about the 1993 year shown above ( a senior moment I guess lol )

Whenever you adjust a truss rod, whether you are a certified repair person or not, always use caution. For many years, our truss rods have adjusted the opposite of what is considered “normal” (counterclockwise to straighten the neck, clockwise to add relief). When we introduced the ResoRocket in 2004, we also introduced our newly designed truss rod that adjusts clockwise to straighten the neck, and counterclockwise to add relief. In January, 2005, we started using the new truss rods for all of our instruments.

****ALWAYS USE CAUTION****
1st Sight the neck and determine which direction your neck adjustment needs to be made.
2nd Detune the strings slightly.
3rd Insert a 1/8 Allen wrench all the way into the broached barrel nut, and make a very small adjustment. Sight the neck again. Has the neck moved in the direction you want it to? If so, continue adjusting as needed. Retune the guitar and check your progress.

****DO NOT OVER CRANK THE BARREL NUT****
Even trained professionals have stripped out truss rods by being over-zealous, going the wrong direction, and not checking their progress. We encourage you to call the factory at 805-546-8442 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday–Friday if you have any questions.