Truss Rod On R9; Thread poking through

[Standard Magic]

I had a little too much relief on the neck, with 9's, tightened the truss rod and as expected there's more thread showing through the nut. Relief is decent, paper thin at the 8th fret, would still like to tighten it more, prefer a flat relief. On top of this, I will want to play higher gauge strings in the future which means I would like to tighten the truss rod even more. I'm a little worried at the amount of thread showing through the nut, I've got two main uestions with this:
1. How much more thread is left in order to keep tightening the relief? Should I? Can I set and forget?
2. Is there a way to reverse this?

 

[J T]

What's wrong with it? Does the nut not move anymore? It's OK to have threads showing. How much more do you plan to tighten? Always loosen before you tighten. You can put some graphite guitar grease on it to make sure it doesn't lock up in the future.

I always check the neck relief at playing position in tune with one of these. Of course you can just use feeler gauges but this is easy to use. I do neck relief at the 7th fret of 0.004. I believe factory is 0.012. I never touch the truss rod nut with out this gauge.

 

[Standard Magic]

What's wrong with it? Does the nut not move anymore? It's OK to have threads showing. How much more do you plan to tighten? Always loosen before you tighten. You can put some graphite guitar grease on it to make sure it doesn't lock up in the future.

The nut moves but tightening is harder than usual truss rods/guitars, wish I knew about tightening before loosening (edit: meant to say loosening before tightening) before, thanks that's good advice. I pressed down on the neck (with guitar upside down) before adjusting however.

I want to use higher gauge strings on it and want to tighten it more. Summers coming around and will need tightening even more.

I don't have any tools like the ones you mentioned, I just eye it.

 

[J T]

The nut moves but tightening is harder than usual truss rods/guitars, wish I knew about tightening before loosening before, thanks that's good advice. I pressed down on the neck (with guitar upside down) before adjusting however.

As per OP, yes I want to use higher gauge strings on it and want to tighten it more. Summers coming around and will need tightening even more.

I don't have any tools like the ones you mentioned, I just eye it.

no need to crank it down. go easy. (BTW, It's loosen b4 tighten.)

 

[El Gringo]

This will sound dumb , but if you are having issues with the truss rod maybe take it to a authorized Gibson shop for service God forbid something happens to the truss rod .

 

[J.D.]

That's normal to see male rod threads above the nut and there's plenty more thread on the rod underneath.

 

[Wilko]

Loosen the strings first when tightening. That helps.

If you're afraid of running out of thread (you won't) put a washer under the nut.

 

[Toecutter]

g before loosening (edit: meant to say loosening before tightening) before, thanks that's good advice. I pressed down on the neck (with guitar upside down)

 

[Standard Magic]

Thanks for the replies, is there a way of actually moving the truss rob back the other way like a two-way truss rod?

 

[poor man's burst]

Thanks for the replies, is there a way of actually moving the truss rob back the other way like a two-way truss rod?

No

 

[Arnold M.]

well if you have "paper thin" relief at the 8th fret a sheet of paper is .002"-.004" thick so there is no way I would worry about adjusting the neck "straight" for such a tiny, tiny amount of curvature.

 

[renderit]

Washer.

 

[pqs]

I don’t understand the problem with a little thread over the nut. Is this some info shared by that YouTube scalper? Just a reminder, he‘s a trader, not a guitar tech. The first couple of times he had a RI in his hand, he said something along the lines that he was worried to see thread poking over the truss rod nut, which were pretty face palm moment. That’s just ludicrous that he makes stuff up like that. He spends a lifetime hyping ‘70s era and the first few times he sees a RI replicating stuff from the ‘50s he freaks out over nothing, over something he made up in his head.

Now, regarding being hard to tighten the truss rod, thats the guitar telling you to stop. You can looses the truss rod before tightening it and/or loosen the string before tightening the truss rod. I’m not too crazy about the latter on an electric guitar, but that’s just me going by gut feeling/intuition. General popular wisdom says it’s a valid approach. However, if you try these methods and it’s still hard to tighten the truss rod, thats the neck telling you to stop, not the little bit of truss rod peeking over the nut.

It seems like you are already under the factory recommended margin for relief. Honestly, forgive my bluntness, you need to stop obsessing over vetting the neck even straighter.

 

[Stringbender83]

My 21 R7 has more thread than that poking out from the factory. Compared to my other 11 Gibson's I currently own, You can see the washer is more recessed into the headstock. The rod works perfectly fine. I loosen it usually in the summer about a 1/4 turn and then usually have to tighten it this time of year. I run around .005 relief. There is around 2 inches or more of thread on the rod. As long as the wrench fits on the nut well and the rod works, I don't worry about it. If it needs a washer, I add a washer.