Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Check the second post in this thread. I did not to a stellar job of explaining it but you should get the idea from what is there. The truss channel is curved like a broad smile. If you cut the neck down the middle lengthwise you would see the smile. The ends are closer to the fingerboard than is the center. When the rods are tightened the want to straighten out. The middle part of the rod presses up against the center (low point) of the smile forcing the ends of the rod to push backwards away from the strings.

Ooops... should have read the beginning of this thread... thanks Ted, I now understand it. Your descriptions are as always bright and clear and educating.

So if a neck has a slight upward bow and the truss rods are maxxed out, would it be a good idea to pull out the rods, straighten them (assuming they are arched), then insert them back inside while pulling the neck a bit backwards like you would a pre-84 neck (so that the rod channels are straight)?

Well, thank you Ilan.

Yes, that is good place to start. It does not always yield results though.

Todd's picture sure looks like the old style truss rods with the aluminum thrust plate. His description of the body end of the rods sounds like the folded over rod stock and not the nuts found on the newer style. Having a new thrust plate made will help cure the wrench access problem on the bass side.

Some new style rods have the aluminum plate. One of my 5ers does.

Curious......looking at my own photo, it sure looks like the holes in the plate are drilled funky. Look how much lower the bass side hole seems to be.... The little chrome domes I'm seeing in the holes on the body end of the neck could well be acorn nuts.