It Worked for Me: Magnets Hold Truss Rod Cover

by Jon Sevy

Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021



I use truss rods that are adjustable at the peghead, which requires a cover for the exposed truss-rod nut and groove. I usually make the covers out of rosewood, and have for some time been securing them with several small brass screws. One thing users frequently do when they get one of my guitars, especially when they live in a different region of the country with different humidity, is to remove the cover and adjust the truss rod to get the relief and action to their liking. However, to my extreme vexation, they almost never put the truss rod cover back on after adjusting! I’ve seen photos and videos of several of my guitars being played, and almost always there’s a gaping hole (to my vision) at the end of the neck with the truss rod showing. It finally dawned on me that those little screws were just enough of a PITA for the owners that they decided to bag the covers. And in truth, I found them a bit irritating myself.

So I started thinking of ways to affix the covers without using screws. I considered some sort of compression clip or spring that would squeeze into the truss rod slot, but never came up with anything that seemed likely to work, until I saw some little neodymium magnets at the local hobby shop.