Fender 76 Precision- problem with a cross-hatch Truss Rod

[Old Horse Murph]

Hi all

Over the last few months, my main squeeze has been a gorgeous 1976 Fender P bass. It's wonderfully lived-in and plays beautifully and sounds superb.

A few months back, I changed the strings and gave the truss rod a tweak. Unfortunately one of the 4 portions that forms the cross shape at the body end of the trussrod (where you use the large flat head screwdriver/trussrod tool) snapped off, so the cross is now more of a T-shape (I'll take pics to explain further if necessary).

The trussrod is still in perfect working order but a bit fiddly to adjust.

Is it possible to replace the end of the trussrod if necessary or can it be repaired? I still have the part that come off. I'm not hugely worries for my own benefit but if I deceded to sell the bass I would rather have it repaired first if I could.

Many thanks for your help

[praisegig]

Can't you replace it with one of these? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Truss_ro...s_Rod_Nut.html

[JTE]

Just get one of the Stew-Mac replacements, but measure the threads to ensure the correct one. You can take the nut all the way off (loosen the strings and there's no reason for concern about leaving it without tension for a few hours to a few days), and go to a real hardware store. They'll have thread pitch gauge that'll tell you the correct (10-32 or 8-32) nut to order.

John

[Old Horse Murph]

Thanks very much guys. I'll take your advice and go with the Stew-Mac replacement.

[A440Hz]

This is probably a best-case scenario for the truss rod nut breaking. That is, if Murphy had to show up, he wasn't a complete boor. If you had had a hex (Allen key) nut that stripped or if the threaded portion of the rod itself had broken off, you'd be looking at a much bigger repair.