How to Realign a Guitar Neck

Written By: Mahbub Hasan

Comments: 1

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

25 - 35 minutes

Introduction

This guide will show you how to realign a guitar neck by adjusting the truss rod. The guitar used in this guide is a Dean acoustic guitar, but this procedure may be applied to different models.

The neck can become misaligned due to thermal expansion and can happen when the guitar is not stored properly. Playing a guitar with a misaligned neck may result in buzzing sounds and can be difficult to play comfortably.

Tools

Step 1

Place the guitar on a flat surface.

Step 2

Use the tuning pegs to loosen the strings.

Step 3

Place the alignment key on the truss rod.
The alignment key should fit perfectly on the truss rod in order to align properly.

Step 4

Gently turn the tuning key clockwise to increase the distance between the bridge and strings, or counter-clockwise to reduce the distance between the bridge and strings.
Twisting the key too hard might break the bridge. The twist should be smooth.
After one twist at the rod, be sure to check the bridge to see if it will need more aligning.

Step 5

Tighten the strings up again using the tuning pegs.
Do not over tighten the strings; doing so can cause them to break.

Step 6

Tune the guitar using a tuner.
Some Dean guitars have a built-in tuner.

Author

Mahbub Hasan

Member since: 19/09/21

133 Reputation

One comment

This is all wrong.

What's being done here is tightening the truss rod, which does NOT align the neck. You cannot change the distance between the bridge and the strings.

You do not want to fool with the truss rod unless you understand what it does and how to tell that you're doing it correctly, and this "guide" does not even begin to explain any of that.

Dan Gellert -