building without a truss rod

[mike-p]

John greven mentioned in his article that he'd like to build without a truss rod and it got me thinking the truss rod on all my guitars that have a good neck angle are almost completely slacked off and on the one I've built I can't get enough relief with light strings on a Short scale.it does have a pretty thick ebony board on it and I guess the laminating effect of that is keeping the neck stiff .

I'm tempted to try it with Gibson short scale, thickish rosewood board and bolt on neck joint. any thoughts or experience anyone?