Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hotrods are meant to be covered by the fingerboard. They apply even and consistent pressure to the neck so there is little danger of the fingerboard popping off.

There is no such thing as "too strong" with guitar necks ONLY if the materials used are dimensionally stable with respect to temperature, humidity, and age. All three of these factors will cause wood to change shape. Alembic makes very strong necks but they also use many laminations to reduce the chance of a single piece of wood causing a failure. Strong necks are more difficult to distort but also more difficult to straighten should a warp or twist occur. As long as the neck remains straight, strong is good.

I built five basses with dual truss rods. I used the "Standard welded" rods from Luthier's Mercantile (http://www.lmii.com/).

I used a router to cut the two slots, about 1/2" apart. The rods have a round rod on the bottom, and a square rod on the top. I used a round tipped bit. The top of the rod sat flush with the surface of the neck. I filled the slot with silicone, and placed a piece of clear tape over it. I then glued the fingerboard on. (I also put a graphite rod between the truss rods.)

This worked very well, and the basses are over 10 years old now. Very stable necks, and need very little adjusting... in fact I think I have only adjusted them when changing string gages.

That is another excellent truss rod. Thanks David.