Hi,
I expect that the real guitar techs among us (you know who you are!) will laugh at this, but.... I've always been afraid of adjusting trussrods. I know that a really experienced tech can eyeball down the neck and get it right. But I really needed to go with some benchmark measurements. The problem was that I found it hard to do 3 things at once: hold down string at 1st and 22nd frets, sight between the top of the 7th or 8th fret and the bottom of the string, and, finally, run a feeler gauge in the space to see if I was in the right range (~ .3 to .5mm). In order to get a good reading, I also needed a handheld magnifier, so one hand had to hold that while the other worked the feeler gauges. No problem for a pro, but hey, I'm new at this.
So I made this goofy little tool to act as a "third hand.". Basically, it holds down the string at the 22nd fret so my hands are free to do the rest. It's made out a piece of scrap wood, 2 cuphooks, a bungie cord, and a short piece of dowel rod. I drilled a hole in the dowel to run the bungie through it, stuck some felt on the ends, and well, look at the images, you'll get the idea:
http://home.mcn.net/~harting/images/TrussTools.jpg
http://home.mcn.net/~harting/images/TrussTool_3.jpg
OK, now you guys are gonna make fun of me, right? But maybe this will help out some other aging shredder in his quest for perfect action.
Cheers,
Bert
