Busted truss rod?

[pstyle]

Truss Rod experts, please advise!

This is about one of my Fender Strats..
Here's the deal in short: The neck has a lot of relief.. it's got a big bow and the action is high. Problem is.. the truss rod won't tighten anymore.. it's very stiff and I don't want to force it.. although I kinda have. It will turn left (loosen) but not right.
what to do? I bought it like this. (I was aware of the problem and got it cheap)

Thanks my fellow bass players!

[pstyle]

no ideas?

[T-Bird]

Hi, pstyle.

If the neck still feels solid and adjusts to more bow, the truss rod is most likely all right.

Sounds to me that the nut is bottoming and adding a spacer or two between the nut and the neck will help. Just make sure that there's at least a diameter lenght of the thread left after the "shimming".

Other, not so pleasant, alternative is straight rod and there's only one alternative if it's not a vintage instrument: a new neck (if not skunk-stripe).

BTW, Bullet or neck heel truss rod nut? Skunk-stripe or solid back?
Makes the world of difference when repairing .

Regards
Sam

[pstyle]

Thanks T-bird.. It's a late 80's strat, with the skunk-stripe. So it's pretty much like the modern necks. It's a Richie Sambora Signature strat, and it has big abalone stars as position markers on the fretboard which is much of the charm of the guitar so I wouldnt want to replace the neck.

[dbcandle]

You can loosen but not tighten? Does this mean:
A) No matter how much you loosen the nut, you can never tighten it at (nut turns only in one direction)? or
B) You can loosen the nut by any amount, and re-tighten by a corresponding amount?

If B, in addition to the "washer trick", per recent reading I've done, for those "stubborn necks", loosening the strings and truss-rod and forcing the neck straight (on the work-bench), then re-tightening the truss-rod may help.

Never tried it, just read it in Erlewine's book. Probably a pain without some sort of neck-jig like the techs would have.

[pstyle]

Originally Posted by dbcandle

You can loosen but not tighten? Does this mean:
A) No matter how much you loosen the nut, you can never tighten it at (nut turns only in one direction)? or
B) You can loosen the nut by any amount, and re-tighten by a corresponding amount?

If B, in addition to the "washer trick", per recent reading I've done, for those "stubborn necks", loosening the strings and truss-rod and forcing the neck straight (on the work-bench), then re-tightening the truss-rod may help.

Never tried it, just read it in Erlewine's book. Probably a pain without some sort of neck-jig like the techs would have.

Yes.. B.
thats interesitng.. i might have to try that... sounds like a 2 man job tho.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by pstyle

Thanks T-bird.. It's a late 80's strat, with the skunk-stripe. So it's pretty much like the modern necks. It's a Richie Sambora Signature strat, and it has big abalone stars as position markers on the fretboard which is much of the charm of the guitar so I wouldnt want to replace the neck.

You're welcome.

If there's a fault in the truss rod channel (no pre-bow hump) there's nothing else to do than route the skunk-stripe off, remove the truss rod and fabricate the hump. Then preferably a new truss rod and a new stripe. Not too difficult and as good as new .

The forced bow method works sometimes, I've usually done it by hand. Looks scary as can be and works only with quality necks as Yours, but is best to left for a luthier to do. Strat neck is as easy to break as any guitar neck.

Hope You get yours fixed.

Regards
Sam

[dbcandle]

Originally Posted by pstyle

Yes.. B.
thats interesitng.. i might have to try that... sounds like a 2 man job tho.

It would be useful to distinguish between a) having run out of threads (in which case you need the "washer trick") or b) the neck is really hard/stiff, and does not want to budge (in which case "man-handling it" might help).

There's sort of a "gray area" between cases (a) and (b) above, though, *if* I understand correctly. With a stubborn neck, sometimes when you tighten the truss-rod neck, the wood compresses next to the nut, but the relief does not change.

Just stuff to think about - the pros here (that do this for a livin') can be be more precise. One thing that people suggest is removing the nut to clean the threads and lubricate, but I'm not sure how that applies here.

[cb56]

Originally Posted by dbcandle

....One thing that people suggest is removing the nut to clean the threads and lubricate, but I'm not sure how that applies here.

Just had a happy experience doing just that. I recently aquired a bass that I thought thetruss rod was maxed out. Couldn't get the neck relief that I wanted but the nut wouldn't turn anymore. After removing the nut and applying some graphite penetrating oil to the threads with a Qtip, Reinstalled the nut,put everything back together and now I have plenty of ajustment room. I'm guessing that the threads on the nut had something obstucting any further adjustment and that the penetrating oil cleaned the threads.