Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been doing some searching over the past few days trying to determine what I think to be the best quality double action truss rods available. Right now, LMI and Allied Luthiery are standing out to me. Please absolutely bring another brand to attention that is your favorite or if you think there is a better option out there than either of these.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-not ... welded-nut
https://alliedlutherie.com/collections/ ... 7705611910

The main difference between these two rods is that the Allied Luthiery rods are made from stainless steel while the LMI rods are made from a more conventional non stainless steel.

What do you think about stainless steel vs standard steel for truss rods?

What truss rod do you consider to be the best for your guitars?

Martin is my favorite hands down.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

You can buy truss rods directly from Martin Guitars?

Yep Martin GMC

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Stew Mac sells a 14 fret 2 way truss rod that operates like the Martin rod. It just uses a smaller allen key.

Chuck

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Martin. If they're good enough for thousands of guitars a year, they're good enough for me.

Steve

We use the genuine Martin rod - the StewMac and similar rods sold on eBay are actually not that similar beyond operating principle...we gave away the few rods we had that matched that construction after close examination/comparison with the Martin item. As a bonus, the operating portion of the rod is 0.250" wide by about 0.365" tall, so easy to tuck into even slim neck profiles.

We have never heard of a failed Martin 2-way rod, so over 1 million instruments seems like a really good run.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Sounds good. What is the length of those Martin 14 fret two way rods? They also sell a 12 fret rod which I assume is shorter.

I have been using Martin Rods. They are very good, but they seem a little on the short side to me. Both the 12 & 14 fret models.

I hear Mark Blanchard makes an excellent rod. When my Martins are gone I plan to give his a try.
http://www.blanchardguitars.com/guitarp ... _rods.html

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I have been using Martin Rods. They are very good, but they seem a little on the short side to me. Both the 12 & 14 fret models.

I hear Mark Blanchard makes an excellent rod. When my Martins are gone I plan to give his a try.
http://www.blanchardguitars.com/guitarp ... _rods.html

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

For double action, I like the Allied rods. But I prefer making my own single action rods. Much cheaper and lighter weight, and since I'm really picky about neck/fingerboard wood quality, it shouldn't ever be necessary to bend it backward.

The Martin 14 fret-to-neck rod is about 14" in length overall, the 12 fret is about 13-1/4", and the Size 5 rod is about 12-1/2"...perfect for a guitar-shaped octave mandolin or similar. Truss rods are $13 each. Call the Guitarmaker's Connection to speak to the extremely nice people there to order either the Size 5 2-way action or the Gotoh-style single action rod for an acoustic base guitar (the 14 and 12 fret rods are available online without human intervention).

While proper wood selection and the use of a rigid strong-back when gluing the fretboard onto the neck can help with the most frequent instigators of misbehavior, repair people see a steady stream of customers that challenge the notion that only the rational buy and repair guitars. There is the nice old gentleman that insisted that we restring his newly acquired wide waist jumbo with the lightest gauge silk and steel strings we could find, despite the relief on this lovely instrument with the rod slacked being just barely enough with stout lights installed, or the otherwise quite pleasant singer/songwriter that just had to take her late 1980's vintage D-28 to our local 'Budget Guitar Repair-R-Us' franchise for a refret with what appears to be the only wire these masters of repair carry - Jescar's oversized tang FW37080-245.

As builders, we view a 2-way rod as unnecessary when things are done well and good materials are employed; as repair people, we recognize that guitars can have a long and interesting life and associate with some very unsavory people, so a 2-way rod can be an inexpensive insurance policy against the common ham-handed, inept 'guitar mechanic' or the owner with decidedly odd preferences in string gauge, materials, or insistence on using the same set of strings for all tunings.

In any case, for those using single-action tension rods, please, please, PLEASE ensure a stout anchor is in place...I've totaled four repairs thus far on poorly done rod anchors, and it is far from my favorite task. While the Gotoh-style single action rod or the two way bending rods exert a pure bending force in the neck, a single-action tension rod applies a very high local compression load at both ends to generate a bending load, and a poorly done anchor can have a hard time of it after the first 20 years or so of unrelenting loading.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

The single action Gotoh rods made for Martin were my long time favorite, but as far as I know KMG purchased the last of the Martin inventory over a year ago - perhaps they found more laying around. I never liked the ultra simple Gibson style rod which in my opinion requires the more complex concave rod slot and matching filler strip. I do find the two-way rods helpful when tweaking in a tiny bit of relief especially in our laminated necks which are very stiff, some stay perfectly flat even under concert pitch string tension.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

The acoustic bass guitar-sized one-way Gotoh-style U-channels rods are still available from Guitarmaker's Connection as confirmed by the ever helpful and extraordinarily patient Gail this morning. All of GC's other available truss rods are the two-way rods mentioned above.

Stewart MacDonald sells a single-action U-channel rod which is superficially similar to the Martin Gotoh-style rods, but we still have a stock of the genuine article for those that insist on that design; it looks like we will be ordering from KMG if we find we need more!

The 'Martin Style' truss rod that LMII carried is not the single-action Gotoh design used by Martin, but instead Gotoh's two-way version that has been reported as somewhat less than reliable. The rod does not appear to be in stock anymore, but when these pop up on eBay, the 'Martin Style 2-Way Truss Rod' description can be confusing.

One thing worth mentioning is that - when we do use CF in a neck - the truss rod needs to be quite powerful to move things around. While the Martin rods are certainly not the lightest rods on the market (very beefy construction and multiple, redundant, well done welds on the adjuster barrels and fixed end), they are remarkable effective at moving even the stoutest reinforced necks as neeeded.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Sorry we will not be selling any of our Gotoh inventory Martin or LMI styles. Our neck CNC machining operations use the truss rod slot as the key locating feature. Next generation KMG necks will be based off the Martin two-way rod slot dimensions.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

We have 22 in stock; at average usage of about 1/2 a unit a year...we will 'adapt and improvise' as the boss suggests ! I do have an order to send into Martin for some ABG rods and more two-ways...wish they would make up the ABG rod as a two-way - would simplify our jigs.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

I just got a Mark Blanchard rod, and it is really nice. He uses different threads at each end to get finer adjustment and easier torque when adjusting.

He also silver solders for a much stronger and cleaner joint. Very nice work for the price and he does custom lengths,
Mike

Another vote for Mark's rods. The 'geared' effect from the differential threading makes it a lot easier to adjust them. He's also a real craftsman, as you can see looking at his guitars: he does things right just because it's the right way to do it.

Do the Martin rods fit into a 1/4" routed slot or do you also have to create a slightly larger routed area for the adjustment end?

+1. I used the Allied rods when they were manufacturing to Mark's design and really liked the performance, if not always the quality of fabrication. Buying directly from Mark is not cheap, but the quality can't be beat, custom lengths at no extra charge, and that geared fine-tune effect is awesome. Yes, I could find cheaper rods, but I sleep better knowing an authentic Blanchard is buried in the neck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I really like Cumberland Acoustic truss rods. I've used several of their rods of all different custom lengths (6" to 17") and they always perform perfectly. Great folks to deal with and great prices.

http://cumberlandacoustic.com/product/g ... russ-rods/

There is only one "best" in my book. Soon as you work with a Blanchard, you can see how sensitive they are (good way of course) when properly installed. This allows you to adjust the rod without have to guess how far you ave gone and hoping there is more left. Nothing worse than having to send out a repair or new instrument with the T/R maxed out.
Best quality is they are made from stainless. I can't tell you how many T/R's I've dug out over the years because of rusted T/R's, a couple of my own. Nothing makes you realize the value of a great T/R than having to replace one...

I've been using Mark's rods for about 5 or 6 years. They are great. Do you guys that also use them epoxy the filler strip to the top of the rod as Mark suggests?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Martin is the only one I use I have had too many failures of the ones that have the nut welded to the threaded rod.
I just bought some 14 fret 1 ways from GMC so they may have some yet.
As for design here is what sets them apart
A the action is controlled by a barrel nut captured in a cylinder and this is mechanically superior to any weld on a threaded rod.
they are very sensitive and the cost is affordable and reliable.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

There is a sleeve housing the adjustment nut that is welded (with 16 individual welds) to the fixed rectangular non-operating bar - this needs a 3/8" wide by 7/16" deep x 1-3/4" recess milled. We use a simple router jig that indexes to the truss rod slot.

Re: corrosion - the four schemes we've seen to avoid corrosion are to 1) wrap the operating rod in plastic and use a filler strip between fretboard and rod to attempt to isolate the mechanism from the water-based glue, 2) run the operating rod inside an aluminum U-channel and seal the mechanism with plastic (as much as possible), then glue into channel, 3) treat with a water displacing corrosion preventive lubricant, then shrink-wrap the entire rod, or 4) use corrosion resistant alloys like titanium or stainless steel.

The current Martin two-way rod uses the third scheme - the flat-topped rod rests directly against the bottom of the fretboard, so depth at the end is just the rod depth of about 3/8". Because the entire rod is wrapped in a thin plastic shrink wrap sleeve (which also ensures the rod remains bathed in corrosion-preventative lube throughout it's lifespan), there is no requirement to use a filler strip to isolate the operating parts of the rod from the glue used for the fretboard.

Keep in mind that corrosion resistant alloys may have specific requirements...stainless generally needs to be exposed to air to avoid crevice corrosion, so bathing the rod in glue might actually work against the inherent corrosion-resistant properties of the alloy.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan