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So that seller, Hongyin Music sells some guitar tonewood and stuff at a good price (though I would not break CITES rules, China to Taiwan may be considered "domestic" in their eyes but def. not China to USA). I notice they sell truss rods, similar to the low profile truss rods sold at Stewmac (and it appears to be the same truss rod used in Martins these days), it is sold at around 2.50 each rather than around 10 dollars each Stewmac sells them for.

I have bought 6 Stewmac truss rods, mainly because if they break, they are very hard to fix. But I wonder has anyone tried those Chinese copy? Are they any good, or do they break easily? I like to hear from some people before I take a chance on it.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

The bulk of there products are kind of sub standard. I did buy some bone nuts that have worked out pretty well for $1.50 each.

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https://www.instagram.com/fostinoguitars/
https://www.facebook.com/PuraVidaUkuleles/

May well be worth $10 to buy 4 and test them to destruction.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Even doing that, my worry would be consistency batch to batch. I think the biggest benefit from buying from stewmac or other trusted source is the increased confidence that you should always know what you are getting. I appreciate paying less when possible but for something like a truss rod, I would want a little bit more assurance I am getting a quality product. With some things it can be readily observable if the discount/knock off is substandard. With truss rods you might not know how the metal and welds stack up.

I know in Tai's case, shipping would be a factor that puts an even bigger disparity between the two costs though.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Yea like I said I still spend the money on Stewmac truss rods because I know they stand behind it. Maybe until the day that I can competently TIG weld (and can afford a TIG rig) then I may consider making my own. It's harder to mess up on stuff like wood because it only takes time if it were not properly dried (if at all). But broken truss rod is a major headache.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

There's other people that offer well made truss rods besides Stewmac. LMII I know has a double action rod that seems to be good quality.

Regarding the Aliexpress ones, several times I've removed truss rods from cheap imports just for the heck of it. The quality of them vs. the ones you can buy from good suppliers is pretty apparent. The cheap ones came from guitars like Eastmans, Blueridge and they were pretty low quality. The welds were goopy and 2 of them had a fair amount of wane to them. If the aliexpress ones are the same as they're putting in those guitars I'd be cautious.

On what basis do you feel able to make that sweeping statement? I have used both Chinese and "non sub standard" rods and, by appearance alone, the Chinese rods were better made.

So what is your experience with Chinese truss rods? Are they properly welded? I'm looking at this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3291101 ... 3c00iuCjk3

It looks similar to Stewmac's low profile hot rod truss rod, only that it's 1/5th the price, and no tariff, low shipping, no hassle with CITES (does not apply to truss rods unless steel becomes endangered, but they also sell tone woods as well)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

+1

The company appears to be legit, and not some drop shipper that doesn't have to worry about negative feed back, so they might be worth looking at. Where does Stew Mac have their rods made? Didn't people have some problems with their Hot Rod truss rods?
Being a production item I doubt they would be the same quality as Blanchard's rods, but they may be as good as the run of the mill offerings.

these are surprising decent
The construction is not welded on the threaded rod . I have tested them and found that they work well

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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

That's incredibly cheap. If they do actually pass the muster. In looking for cheaper alternatives I found the Bitter Root truss rods to be good. I think they still came in about $10 bucks per rod but they had much more varieties and sizes to choose from. My guess is that they are made in China too.

As was mentioned that is so cheap it can't hurt to just buy a few and check them over real good.

I'm buying 2 way rods from reputable luthier suppliers in UK costing around $6.50, and much prefer then to the hot rods.
I'm sure they're not made here but imported from china, many sizes in small increments.
The welds are a little untidy, and need a light dress to fit in the channels, but I've tested and used about 10.
So far, so good.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Boy, the price of the LMI double action truss rod has gone up quite a lot. I've bought them before for $23.65. The current price is $32.27. The Martin double action truss rod is still just $13.00 from Martin.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

If I remember correctly, the height of the original Hot Rod truss rods was seen as the potential cause of blow outs on the back of thin necks. That wouldn't apply to the low profile Hot Rods.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Yep, that happened on one of my acoustics using the original Hot Rod. Lesson learned!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've never shopped for truss rods from Ali Express.

A very good friend of mine works for a large music retailer whose prime focus is on guitars, enough said.

He spends a lot of time in China and tells me that "they can make great quality stuff, but nobody wants that, everyone wants cheap."

I have no doubt that great quality anything can come out of China but ensuring the quality seems pretty fuzzy. There are always bean counters getting involved, trying to maximize profit. Who cares if 5 or 10% of the product is defective, they're still delivering 90-95% which seems awesome...

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Don't know about the rods you refer to. These are the ones I have been using. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3287305 ... 34eeda5330
They are well made and I use them with confidence.

Awhile back I had an LMI two way break in a brand new guitar. I thought I had tested it but obviously not adequately. It was one of those with the gobby welds that had to be filed to fit.

Subsequent more aggressive testing of my remaining batch of seven or eight resulted in failure in 2/3.

I switched to the more expensive Blanchard rod and never looked back although I took apart a Martin rod and it looked fine. I would use it with confidence.

Truss rods are not a place to take chances on quality.

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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 rods. They are highly proven and work. "Martin style" is a highly subjective term. This post seemed to cover the details well.

https://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=51333&p=675958&hilit=truss+rod+martin#p675880

The StewMac low profile trussrods are very definitely NOT Martin or Martin-style rods.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

I got some thinking they were and didn't look closely at the pictures. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I just ordered and received some truss rods from the Aliexpress seller.

It looks, feels, and operates almost EXACTLY the same as Stewmac low profile truss rod!







Apart from the different color of heat shrink tape used, they are exactly the same, same fit and finish, same weld, same (appears to me) weld quality. Red is Stewmac, black came from Aliexpress

I ordered them because I needed some electric guitar length truss rods, since I bought an electric guitar (bolt on neck, Strat style) with a severely twisted neck. So I will go ahead and make a new neck with some rock maple I have lying around.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com