'62 Tele neck adjustment

[tuberattler]

I have an American Vintage '62 Tele I tried to adjust the truss rod on. It has a bit too much relief and was trying to get it a bit straighter but it seems like I have to turn the truss rod too hard to make it adjust.

It's been years since I've done one of these and I don't recall them being this hard to adjust.

Any thoughts?

[Plugger]

Are you helping the rod do its work by bending the neck straighter over your knee as you go? Gently as you go, of course...

-Mark

[chuckocaster]

you might be getting close to "bottoming out" the nut on the truss rod. you also might need to lube it a little too. it all just depends. if you're bottoming out, you can always put in a washer or two. i know guitar player had an article by dan erlewine on this process.

[tuberattler]

I should be able to take the rod out and see what it's doing and be able to put it back in correct?

[chuckocaster]

unless you plan on pulling the fretboard off.

[LZ_69]

You might want to take the nut right off and lube it up with a little paste wax, I can't think of anything I hate more then a scary feelig truss rod.

[JAM]

I should be able to take the rod out and see what it's doing and be able to put it back in correct?

Not the rod, but the adjusting nut. On my Gibsons and my Squire Tele I took the truss rod nuts off and put a VERY tiny amount of Teflube on the threads and the bottom of the nut. Dan Erlewines book has some good info on this. The Teles adjusting nut was very rough cast so I polished it on some 2000 grit paper - it wouldnt hardly turn. The Tele's adjusting was harder to get to, a little scary putting it back on but it works fine.