I use Gibson style one-way trussrods, made from HD stainless 3/16 rod & the stewmac nut & barrel anchor. The slot is flat bottomed and 1/4" wide (...several jigs key off the slot). I push the rod into place through 4 pieces of craft shop felt, which allows it to operate freely & prevents any rattles. (I think some cushioning around the rod is important.) I've never had any problems (and my necks are also graphite reinforced).

one-way rods are way cheaper.

Not really... at least if you value your time. More work to make one, and more work to install.

Something to be said for tradition as well.

What would that be? I'm serious. I'd enjoy the philosophy backing up that comment.

I use two way rods because the way I build, I generally end up in a neutral position after string tension is applied. It's encouraging to see the instruments all come out the same in this respect but since they do...I can't be sure which way I'm going to have to apply tension. So...I have no choice to use two way rods.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. FWIW I think the design that Gibson has traditionally used, the one you are copying, is a major reason that Gibson headstocks break off more than any other brand.

I once heard of this guy here in Atlanta that had a Gibson endorsement. Every time Gibson sent him a guitar, the first thing he would do is break the headstock and immediately have it repaired. He claimed it sounded better that way.

I have owned a few Gibsons and never broke a headstock. Closest thing was an SG that I bought with a broken headstock for $60 (with an amp! ). Cost $300 to repair. Sold it to a friend and he still has it and loves it.


The reason they break is due to the 13-17deg angled headstock. The ones without volutes break much easier. I'm not worried as mine will have a thicker neck and a nice volute directly behind the access point.

The one thing I am concerned about is your anchor. I don't think it is big enough. I bend a 90 degree hook on the end of mine about 2 inches long and insert that into a hole drilled into the heel. This provides great support.

I use a 3/16" SS rod in a 1/4" slot and I place heat shrink tubing over the rod to provide a snug, vibration resistant fit.

By the way, before leveling the frets I place a bit of tension on the truss rod so that I have some backward adjustment capability in case the neck ever back bows.

By the way, I thought about setting the anchor in some epoxy like I've seen done on some Fenders. Anyone have experience with this? Is that a decent idea?

I use Gibson style one-way trussrods, made from HD stainless 3/16 rod & the stewmac nut & barrel anchor. The slot is flat bottomed and 1/4" wide (...several jigs key off the slot). I push the rod into place through 4 pieces of craft shop felt, which allows it to operate freely & prevents any rattles. (I think some cushioning around the rod is important.) I've never had any problems (and my necks are also graphite reinforced).

You definitely don't want wax to come in contact with any of your gluing surfaces - it could compromise the glue bond. On the necks I've made, I used plastic tubing to eliminate rattle.

I've heard of luthiers that don't use any kind of tubing. In fact I just worked on a Les Paul that had been customized by Dave Johnson, and the customer said that Dave had removed the fingerboard and binding, and replaced figerboard (with Brazilian) and the rod, and eliminated the plastic tubing. It doesn't rattle, but I'm not sure how you would avoid freezing the rod in place with glue - unless you to use wax or something like you said, but again, glue and wax don't get along too well. Personally, I'm scared of the idea of installing the rod without tubing - It sure would suck to do all that work and then wind up with a neck that rattles, or worse - it may not work at all if the glue grabs hold of the rod.

Whatever you do, make sure that no glue gets on the threads - it would REALLY suck to do all that work and wind up with a neck with a rod that doesn't function. Believe me - I learned that one the hard way. This is where wax might come in handy.

Just an afterthought - One way to use wax effectively (assuming you just can't stand the idea of using tubing of some sort) would be to simply coat the entire rod with wax - like, get a cake of beeswax or paraffin, and melt the surface with a lighter or heat gun, and rub it all over the rod. You could maybe even put a light coat of wax on the bottom of your wood fillet for good measure - again being sure to not get wax on your gluing surfaces (maybe use tape to protect the sides of the fillet from the wax). Bear in mind that I've not tried this - I'm merely thinking out loud, but it all seems to make sense. I'm just not sure how practical it is, or if you could do all this without inadvertently getting wax on your gluing surfaces.

My thought was to pack the lower channel (3/16") with wax and then scoop out the excess once the rod is in place. The upper channel (1/4") would be free of wax and that's where the fillet strip would go. And BECAUSE wax and glue don't do well together, I figured this would work to my benefit. Make any sense?

How would you avoid getting wax all over the walls of the channel (including the upper 1/4")? It seems to me that you'll make a mess with the wax, and the fillet will never stick - unless I'm missing something...