Installing a truss rod

Q: Hi i found yur e-mail address on the net and i was wondering if you could help me with a bit of guitar advice regarding glueing in a martin style U chennel truss rod. When gluing in the rod do you glue the sides of the rod to the sides of the channel, or the bottom of the rod to the bottom of the channel, or glue both the bottom and sides of the rod into the channel? Also what is the significace of inserting a small cover of wood or other material over the truss rod once it is installed?

Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Matt Smith

A: The truss rod should press fit into the slot. The only thing that glue will do is to assure that there will be no buzzing between the rod and the slot. Be careful not to get glue into the inside of the u-rod, it could gum up its function. The wood rod cover is to facilitate fitting the fingerboard. The bottom of the fingerboard and the top of the neck must be flattened to make a perfect joint. It is a lot easier to sand wood than metal. Press in the rod. Glue in the wood rod cover. Plenty of glue will trickle down to seal the rod in.

Steve Mason