Truss Rods

Does anyone know of any luthiers using truss rods in their Uke Necks? I use a carbon fiber rod insert and was just curious. I started using Mark Blanchards truss rods in my guitars and they are sweet.

dofthesea said:

Does anyone know of any luthiers using truss rods in their Uke Necks? I use a carbon fiber rod insert and was just curious. I started using Mark Blanchards truss rods in my guitars and they are sweet.

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I don't but I think about it alot. From what I gather most established uke luthiers use them simply because it can't hurt and it might help. The conventional wisdom has always been that the stress isn't great enough on ukes to justify the use of truss rods... This is an old topic of discussion and I'm not sure there has ever been a consensus. However there has been consensus that ukes are not little guitars and should be built accordingly.

Just CF in the neck. An adjustable rod adds weight, complexity, and not required for such a low tension instrument. If the neck requires an adjustable truss rod to correct something, then it wasn't built right.

And lets face it, even if you added one just to have bragging rights. Who's going to adjust it?

Most guitar players don't know how or what to do. Even a lot of "Repair" people aren't that great at adjusting them correctly. I shudder to think what the overly curious bloke with an Allen Key would do.

As Sequoia said : no concensus about that.
My ukes necks have mini thickness.
Realy.
And fingerdboard thickness is less than 3 mm.
Sometime, I use cedar wood, light and not so dense.
All that not the key for neck stiffness ...
So I put a stringer.
An ultra strong Ø6 mm carbon tube, epoxy glued.
Not only bending come with years on a uke neck.
Twisting is also possible.
Ckeck your few years old ukes...
See on my blog about stringer neck if you have a little time.
I have noticed a little sustain gain with my stringer neck.
Not trussrod - just stringer.

Allen said:

Who's going to adjust it?
I shudder to think what the overly curious bloke with an Allen Key would do.

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Yes. I say never give a player the opportunity to destroy the instrument.

I made a 21" scale small guitar as a test for trying some ideas. Sadly it lasted more than the month that I wanted it to and has become the one I keep by my side most. I did not do a rosette, binding, or truss rod and come winter the neck moves a bit. Wish I put a rod down the neck. Because of it I have started putting one in all my necks although the smaller instruments are not adjustable.

Same story with a soprano uke, cedar neck. Bend ans twist, like you, when winter was arrived ...

printer2 said:

I made a 21" scale small guitar as a test for trying some ideas. Sadly it lasted more than the month that I wanted it to and has become the one I keep by my side most. I did not do a rosette, binding, or truss rod and come winter the neck moves a bit. Wish I put a rod down the neck. Because of it I have started putting one in all my necks although the smaller instruments are not adjustable.

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