Truss rod UNmaxed on 'referb' project

[CrazyJay]

Hello all,

Nice looking forum, I think you guys will find me posting around here in the future.

Anyway, here's the deal

I have a Washburn Bantam XB-100. It's something like 10 years old. It hasn't been played in the last 6 years or so. As I concentrated those 6 years on playing Spanish acoustic guitars. I don't know why i neglected it, but I did. Now I want to start recording music at home. I want to use all my instruments.

I want to referb this badboy. I can't tell if i'm going to have to replace the neck or not. So, there is some fret buzz on the 4th and 2nd strings. the buss is on the 2nd fret on both when I play the first fret.

I was trying to adjust the truss rod but it seems like the only way I can get most of the buzz out is to loosen the truss rod all the way. It's loosened to the point where I can't loosen it any more, it literally is just sort of floating in there now. I know the rod isn't stripped because i can tighten it right up, and make the buzzing worse.

Is this a sign that I should replace the neck? I really don't want to spend the money on that. However, I need to know, because I want to proceed with getting new pick ups, a new jack, and a new bridge for it.

Here's another question, what exactly do I need to do to replace the tone knob on this. It seems like it doesn't work. I can turn it infinitely in any direction hahhha. Man this thing needs some work. How does it get so messed up just sitting there for a few years?

Thoughts?
Thanks

[GlennW]

For the fret buzz, since it's only in two spots, you could sand the 2nd fret a little with 400 or 600 wet or dry sandpaper. Strings with more tension might help too.

For the pot, it sounds like the nut under the knob was loose and someone turned it so much the wire broke. That might need nothing more than having the nut tightened and the wire resoldered. If you remove the pickguard it should be obvious where it goes; it's probably a short wire that goes from the volume pot to the tone pot.