Truss Rod Adjust needed?

[TheCraftsman]

Hey Guys,


So I've been spending as much time as possible with the latest guitars, I've put 9s on the SE CU24-08 but maybe that was not a great idea. On the SE Tremonti I've got 10's but they feel "tense".

Having never ran a truss rod adjustment I've done a little research and by line of sight I'm seeing some concave curve between around the 4-11th frets, not huge, but wondering if it's something that if adjusted might help the neck / strings feel a little less stiff / tense, or if I should just throw some 9's on and see how it goes. It's intonated fine and tuning holds great and the strings aren't like steel to bend, but for example, I have the same set on a Gretsch 2622T and they feel and play much different..

Still sounds lovely and is a pleasure to play but a noticeable difference from the feel of the SE CU24-08.

 

[Black Dog]

I use a notched straight edge to check the neck.

Amazon.com

 

[TheCraftsman]

Good idea, new ground for me so appreciate the input but I can tell from eye it’d fail that test

 

[Prina]

I hadn't done any truss rod adjustments till last year. They're actually pretty easy, you just need a truss rod wrench (metric for the SE's) and string guages which can be .009 strings themselves. Here's the PRS video:

 

[TheCraftsman]

Thanks, Tools came with the guitar when I got it so that's fine, I do have an engineering background also which helps with sighting and the ability to use tools, so should be good there, I guess I was concerned about maybe making it worse, but thinking about it, I can always undo the change so less scary than thought, it's not like I'm messing with a WL or PS

 

[Prina]

One of the best things about SEs is the low downside risk.

With the truss rod adjustments, just document how much you've turned so you can reverse it, go slow like 1/4 turns and give it a day or so to stabilize. If it was set up well for 10's you probably won't need to do too much of a change for 9's.

 

[TheCraftsman]

Cheers all, less stressed now although I picked up the CU24 so will have to wait until tomorrow now as it’s jam o clock

 

[alantig]

With the truss rod adjustments, just document how much you've turned so you can reverse it, go slow like 1/4 turns and give it a day or so to stabilize. If it was set up well for 10's you probably won't need to do too much of a change for 9's.

Very important advice.