Do you have to put in an incredible amount of effort to play a grasshopper? Or, on the contrary, do the strings touch every fret in their path and buzz disgustingly? One of the reasons for this is a misaligned anchor.
What is an anchor?
This is a metal rod inside the guitar neck. It is needed in order to keep the load that the iron strings give, for this reason it is not put on classical guitars. By the way, the 6th string gives a load on the neck as much as 10 kilograms! It is the truss tension that determines the neck deflection of the guitar. In turn, the deflection of the neck determines how high the strings are located and how easy it will be to clamp them.
How do I set it up?
To do this, you need a hexagon, straight arms, and a little patience. The truss nut is located in different places on different guitars:
Where to twist?
If you turn the hexagon clockwise, the nut will tighten, and the deflection will decrease. That is, the strings will move closer and closer to the neck. Therefore, if the distance between the strings and the neck is large, you need to twist it clockwise. But due to the overtightened neck, the strings ring.
If the nut is rotated counterclockwise, the neck deflection will increase, as will the distance to the strings. Therefore, if the distance between the strings and the neck is too small and the strings are ringing, twist counterclockwise.
How much to twist?
Hold fret 14 and fret 1 at the same time. The free play of the strings should be about 0.5 mm. If the string travel is longer, twist the truss rod clockwise. If less - counterclockwise.
Important!
You should make one fourth of a turn in the right direction and wait 5-10 minutes. This may be enough. Then again check the stroke of the strings, with the 1st and 14th frets held down. If that wasn't enough, do another quarter turn and check the bar after 5 minutes. Do this until the free play of the strings with the frets clamped is 0.5 mm.
