Guitarists Like Stiff & Sturdy Rods

[andrewsrea]

Note the title edit to bring some humor to a boring subject.

What guitar brand has the most faulty and the least faulty truss rods?

According to my count, based on 45 years of guitar repair:

#1 = Fender (USA, Japan and Squire) at 10%. I estimate I've easily worked on over 250 Fender guitar and basses. From that, I've encountered about 30 with stripped bulkhead threads (the flat piece of steel at the other end of the rod which braces against the wood to provide counter tension), internal wood compression to the point the truss has no more travel (the bulkhead crushes the internal wood and there is no more thread left), wood compression on the adjustment end, rods cracked in the middle.

#2 = Epiphone. at 7%. I've probably worked on >75 Epiphones and have encountered around 5, all stripped threads and one broken in the middle. Curiously, only 1 with the wood compression problems on the Fender-like Wilshire Pro.

#3 = Heritage Guitars at 5%. I've only worked on about 25 Heritage and my neighbor bought a factory relic H150 brand-new in 2021. Its truss broke internally, in shipping. Heritage sent him 4 pics of equivalents and told him to choose one or they would custom make him a replacement. He ended up with a really nice guitar.

I am sure that there were really cheap off brands that I encountered, which my memory did not store - because it is more expected that a new $100 guitar is more likely to have problems. That said, the Agile, Sx and Douglass guitars I repaired never had truss issues. I encountered a couple of Gibsons out of >150 repaired with easy to correct issues, like the nut being painted over or some slight wood compression, fixed with small washers. But Gibson truss rods are robust and their threads are strong, IMHO. Paul Reed Smith double-action truss rods are the pinnacle IMHO. Always smooth, never an issue.

Take away: Reduce the string tension when increasing the tension on your truss (and your bridge components). Support the area under and around the neck with adequate packing material, when shipping. Also, detune to remove string tension. I am certain the in-transit conveyor belt drops kill the truss threads and break the rods.