restrung my LP... some questions

[darren]

Looking at the truss rod from the headstock end, you want to turn it to the right (clockwise) to tighten it, which increases the amount of tension on the rod to counteract the string tension pulling the neck forward.

Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.

[Drew]

You know, honestly, this is shitty advice, but I first learned how to adjust a truss rod by just turning it and waiting to see what happened. Contrary to popular belief, as long as you limit yourself to quarter turns at a time and give it a few minutes to sit between turns (and don't, say, strip the nut), it's actually hard to seriously fuck up a guitar by adjusting its' truss rod, if you're paying attention.

[noodles]

Originally Posted by darren

Looking at the truss rod from the headstock end, you want to turn it to the right (clockwise) to tighten it, which increases the amount of tension on the rod to counteract the string tension pulling the neck forward.

Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.

I should mention that you ALWAYS want to loosen before tightening, to avoid the risk of snapping off the head bolt.

[budda]

really? I've never heard that before (i dont think.. i'll check ss.org pm's ) thanks dave.

i can never remember if right is going to pull the headstock more towards the strings or towards the neck (if that makes sense). i did my first setup on my C7 when i had it, and another on my tokai when i had that.

i havent dared tinker with my LP, but now i have to

[noodles]

That tip is right out of Erelwine book on guitar repair, and is pretty common knowledge among techs.

There is an immense amount of pressure being placed on the neck and the trussrod. Do you know how a lug nut on a car's wheel can get really, really tight, just from the immense forces placed upon it? Same thing applies here. It just sort of locks in place, so it is always best to "break it loose" first, and then tighten it. It is not unusual to hear an unsettling "clank" sound when you break loose a trussrod that has not been touched in some time.

[budda]

oddly enough, i read that then totally didnt apply it... makes me feel smart, i tells ya whut.

that said, my minor adjustment seems to have worked - about 1/8 of a turn

edit: our house is also fucking cold for some reason; our furnace isnt playing ball. someone came to fix it, but lo and behold its 61degF here and we have the thermostat set to 74degF.. nothing's happening.

trying to keep my baby happy(er)!

[s7eve]

I think Boober and Muttley were talking about different things and are both right.

Heavier strings sound more compressed and less dynamic so Bob is right.

Heavier strings have a greater dynamic range in playabilty, that is the range of dynamics from light picking to heavy picking is greater so Muttley is right.

My experience is that when moving to heavier strings some of the dynamics are lost giving a different tone. When I change my pick I can really hear the difference on light strings but much less so on heavy strings however the range of dynamics seems greater on heavy strings, I really get to experience how bad I play as small changes in technique are far more noticeable to me when using heavier strings.

What Bob is right on the mark with is variables. One could do back to back tests but if you didn't take the variables into account and adjust accordingly your results would be tainted. For example, if I just threw a heavier set of strings on my 2027, set the intonation and tuned up, it would not give me an accurate result as there is now more relief in the neck and the action is higher, if my action was low previous to the change I might think that the heavier strings sound better and more dynamic when in fact it has more to do with my action than the gauge of the string.

Personally I can not tell you if I like heavy strings or light strings better as both have their positives and negatives. As a result I string some of my guitars heavy and some light and go with the one that sounds best at the time.