Official Luthiers Forum!

This is the first time I forgot to put a few dabs of caulking in my trussrod channel before inserting the rod. I don't feel so good about this. Does anyone here not use caulking to prevent rattling? I am using the hotrod double action from stewmac with the red tubing on both top and bottom rods. I did not use a round nose for the route.
I'm thinking that I made need to drill down through the board where some of the fret markers will be and inject something thin enough. Not sure what will be thin enough to encapsulate and cushion as well though. The caulking I usually use is too thick to do that.

_________________
Barron Wesley Guitars

Rusty, this won't solve your problem, but it'll answer your first question. No, I don't use caulking. I use truss rods with rubber tubing sleeves, and I also wrap them in teflon plumber's tape before putting them in. But I will say that your proposed solution sounds reasonable to me.

Rusty if you will go to the "Post some builds" thread and look for my username, scroll down through my pics you will see where I did the same thing and how I went about fixing it. Not as elegant a fix as yours, but it can be done.

Mike

So it looks like you yanked it from the channel. I was thinking of doing that but was concerned that I wont be able to get the cushion where it needs to be. All in all though I think it should be okay. Only when the truss rod is neither tightened or loosened does it rattle. But a little turn either way gets rid of it.

_________________
Barron Wesley Guitars

Nope, if you will look closely, you will find a hole on the bottom side of the neck that is hidden by the neck pocket after assembly, then another hole on the bottom of the neck at about fret 2....I think. I forced silicone caulking in from either end till the rattling stopped. I used a small piece of tubing placed in as far as I could to allow air to escape then used the caulking gun to force the silicone down the slot.

I think the fret markers might be better as long as you have a twin hot rod type without the metal channel over the top rod. Mine had the channel and blocked any access I might have had to the channel below. I had cut this fret rod channel in the neck with my cnc and literally had to force (light force) rod assembly into the channel. I honestly did not think it would rattle. Go ahead....ask me if I make that mistake again!

Mike

I don't use silicone and have not had one rattle yet. Maybe I am lucky. I will say that my route is tight and there is no movement from side to side or top to bottom.

_________________
Joe

Ok, maybe I need to be clear on what I meant by rattle. After glueing the fretboard on, installing, leveling and polishing the frets, I realized I had forgot the silicone. To test the neck, I held it in my right hand and bumped it with my left hand on the head stock. I could hear and feel the rod, and I assure you it was a tight fit. In my shop I had a take off neck that was given to me to see if I could salvage due to some horrible fret re work. I took that neck and proceeded to follow the same procedure and no rattle.

I don't know if the gluing of the fretboard onto the neck opened the slot up or not, but when I installed the rod, it was a very tight press fit to the point I had to tap it down with a light weight plastic hammer. Could it be the fact it was a cheap rod that caused the rattling?

Mike

"edit" I just re read the last post and realized that no, the rod was not tensioned when I noticed the rattle, but I could tension and still get the rattle.

I don't get rattling when the rod is adjusted one way of another, just when it's right in the middle with no tension either way. My only concern is that when it's all put together a certain note may cause some noise/vibration.

_________________
Barron Wesley Guitars

I'd put it together and see. Judging from the other responses here, if once you string it up you put a little tension on the rod, which is more than likely nescessary to get you to the relief you need at setup, you'll probably be ok. If not, you can pull a fret marker and inject whatever you need to in order to fix it. I know if i had the neck all together there's no way i'd pull the 'board off of it on the off chance I'd have a problem(assuming a tight fit to the channel). But that's your call. I would also adopt the assemble it and see attitude because you would also need to consider whether or not whatever you injected would either interfere with the proper function of the rod, or cause premature corrosion to set in.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

This looks like what I'll do. I would really hate to trash the neck, but I would also hate to get it together and then there is rattling. Right now with the neck straight and just a little relief (to simulate a strung guitar) I can bang on the neck fairly firm like and hear the rod slapping just a little. If it comes down to me having to inject something through a fret marker spot I am clueless as to what to inject. I've been thinking about what will come out fluid enough to squeeze in and then expand. I can't think of anything. I suppose I could inject some kind of glue actually since both upper and bottom rods are protected by sleeves. This makes me think the glue won't prevent the rods from turning and doing their job.

_________________
Barron Wesley Guitars