vintage vs. double expanding truss rod - does it affect the neck's "liveliness"?

[appar111]

After perusing the warmoth website the past week or two, I got to wondering, how much does the truss rod affect the neck's tone or "liveliness"?

I've heard a number of people describe necks with the double expanding truss rod as being "dead" sounding. I have two necks w/ this type of truss rod and they sound fine to me. But I can't help but wonder if a vintage truss rod would give the guitar more of a lively tone when unplugged (i.e. the wood of the neck resonates better when the strings are plucked).

Anyone tried both styles of truss rods and can offer their opinions? I'm thinking that the wood type, thickness, etc. would also obviously play a factor, as well as the variance between the wood itself (i.e. some maple necks might resonate quite well, others might be noticeably denser/more "dead" sounding).

[appar111]

bump! would really like to hear other's opinions on this..

[mellecaster]

I can't really address your truss rod question....but in my expierence, neck mass (size) really does play a part in the overall vibe of Acoustic and Electric instruments...but that just might be my preference for larger style necks on most stuff .

[lidesnowi]

Originally Posted by appar111

After perusing the warmoth website the past week or two, I got to wondering, how much does the truss rod affect the neck's tone or "liveliness"?

I've heard a number of people describe necks with the double expanding truss rod as being "dead" sounding. I have two necks w/ this type of truss rod and they sound fine to me. But I can't help but wonder if a vintage truss rod would give the guitar more of a lively tone when unplugged (i.e. the wood of the neck resonates better when the strings are plucked).

Anyone tried both styles of truss rods and can offer their opinions? I'm thinking that the wood type, thickness, etc. would also obviously play a factor, as well as the variance between the wood itself (i.e. some maple necks might resonate quite well, others might be noticeably denser/more "dead" sounding).

The warmoth double expanding truss rod with the steel stiffening rods kill the resonance in the neck
and still have dead notes on the G string with the steel stiffening rods and all!
Vintage truss rods are still the best sounding, the only thing that sounds better is having a Vintage truss rod made in Titanium!

[doublebound]

Having had several of both, i really hate the double. The ones i had were extremely bright and thin sounding. the vintage rod warmoths were much like a fender neck tonally, tho i since stopped using warmoth because i came to feel fender necks seem to have the sound i'm after more often than any other. I think wood varies from regieo to region, and i've heard that may account for it. But who knows. In any case, i'd stay away from those double rods.

[Bepster]

Originally Posted by doublebound

Having had several of both, i really hate the double. The ones i had were extremely bright and thin sounding. the vintage rod warmoths were much like a fender neck tonally, tho i since stopped using warmoth because i came to feel fender necks seem to have the sound i'm after more often than any other. I think wood varies from regieo to region, and i've heard that may account for it. But who knows. In any case, i'd stay away from those double rods.

Could this be because the double rods are larger and require more wood removed or are the double rods themselves dampening the resonance?

[KokoTele]

We really don't have the terminology to talk about this sort of thing very well, nor do we really have the ability to measure the results of this sort of comparison accurately. The terms "liveliness" and "resonance" are used in so many different ways by so many different people that it's hard to know what anyone's talking about.

This much I know: while the vintage guitar designs have their technical limitations, any design changes make to overcome those limitations make the guitars sound different than the vintage ones did.

It doesn't surprise me when folks are unhappy with guitars made with things like double-action truss rods. Most of us on the TDPRI are after one of two tones: the early 50s tone, or the mid/late 60s tone. When we spec out guitars with different designs, we're never happy because those design changes prevent us from getting those tones.

[Strongpersuader]

Originally Posted by KokoTele

We really don't have the terminology to talk about this sort of thing very well, nor do we really have the ability to measure the results of this sort of comparison accurately. The terms "liveliness" and "resonance" are used in so many different ways by so many different people that it's hard to know what anyone's talking about.

This much I know: while the vintage guitar designs have their technical limitations, any design changes make to overcome those limitations make the guitars sound different than the vintage ones did.

It doesn't surprise me when folks are unhappy with guitars made with things like double-action truss rods. Most of us on the TDPRI are after one of two tones: the early 50s tone, or the mid/late 60s tone. When we spec out guitars with different designs, we're never happy because those design changes prevent us from getting those tones.

This post couldn't have been more accurate. Amen bro!

[Keyser Soze]

I have had multiple necks with the the double expanding truss rods. I would not describe any of them as dead. Different than vintage, yes, but not dead.

As Koko says, anything beyond that gets very, very subjective.

[Vizcaster]

A double truss rod applies it's force on the neck in a very different way than a regular trussrod. Dennis Galuszka, one of the Master Builders from the Fender Custom Shop, likes to have the rod under tension when he dresses the frets so that the neck is being compressed by the rod when the strings are on, resulting in a livelier more resonant neck. This is again something very subjective, but I'm not sure you can get the same effect with a double-acting, double rod. I would guess that the American Standard "Biflex" solution, with a washer above as well as below the adjusting nut, would achieve the best of both worlds (except that it's headstock-adjustable, of course).