Truss Rod Problem

RobertW,  IF the truss rod is truly stuck in the all-the-way-right maxed out position (convex adjust) and the neck is not dead straight or back bowed, and it truly is a double-action truss rod......if this is truly the case and the guitar is nicely playable right now, I wouldn't touch it just because you think it's stuck.

The neck, ideally, should be pretty much dead straight in the neutral position.  Maxing it out in either direction should put noticeable back or forward bow on the neck.  I keep my truss rods just above neutral just to keep a bit of tension, but none of my truss rods are even adjusted beyond that yet (hopefully and ideally, if I take care of them, they'll never have to be).

If the truss rod is still "active" (meaning not broken) then I might just leave it alone.  If your guess about where it's stuck is correct.  If it's been like that for most of its life and you mess with it now, well, ....you could really mess with it to the point where it's unfixable.

Don't envy being at that point with a guitar.  That's just rotten luck.

Also, this just occurred to me, the best way or time to try adjusting the truss rod if you believe it's stuck might be winter time when it's dried out a bit.  If it's fully humidified or even a bit over humidified, the swelling of the wood could theoretically clamp down on the rod like a press fit.  Adding oil to the wood could cause further swelling as the wood around it soaks up the oil and clamp down on it even harder.

So, maybe some patience and waiting until winter might be an option if nothing else you try works.

Again, my sympathies man, I wouldn't want to be stuck in that situation with any of my beloved babies.  (no pun intended). 

They came! pic for scale




EDIT: And YES I can turn BOTH WAYS.


RobertW, does the Snoopy happy dance.

PS every one should have a set of Martin-style hex keys.  I have a couple long keys for my bench sander. Especially if you have more than a half-dozen guitars

RobertW,

Just play it , it far more fun.

No Must Persevere, can't rely on guitar techs during lockdown; must learn to deal with it.

so here I am racking my brain what to use as a sanding jig. I thought, OMG the maple mitre box would be perfect! spent an hour looking for it, then remembered it was cannibalized for other wood working jigs. Where else to i have a nice right angle and a smooth surface...ooooo The Mitre Saw!


That emery paper may be too rough. but i tested with the spare saddle.  I have a 1 inch stroke.


I have no flat sandpaper all rolls or hook-backed for power tools.  more problems...

Hear! Hear!

RobertW,TonyKgull,Derick,Garland,CTGull,

Well my eyes are not good enough to see 1 mm graduations anymore.

How 'bout I hold saddle upright on surface, run a pencil along bottom edge and measure that. That just might be about 1mm. Let me try on extra saddle.

mmmmm picture using Android Magnifier camera ->



That looks close enough to .5mm to be viable. So just sand `til pencil mark gone and repeat pencil & sand.

Yes i know I am overthinking everything. Sorry.. 

Now i must prepare the Costco Chicken Pot pie that my wife stood inline outside for an hour to buy.
corvid-world issues

.20mm is only 0.008".  Is that right?

That doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of (or enough) relief to me.  For my playing, that would probably start buzzing like crazy.  I don't know what my relief is, haven't found the need to measure any of my 3 Alvarez guitars, but I'd bet it's more than 8 thou.  That's not a lot of room for the strings to move.

That said, I'm a pretty aggressive strummer so even though I like nice action, I don't like it super low cuz I can buzz a guitar out pretty good when set up like that.