Something seems off - does the T wrench seem damaged or incorrectly sized? Photos?
I am in France so we can't use metric hex keys without damaging Fender US models, but the one provided by fender is necessary because imperial.
However you don't want to rely only on that T wrench, that's why I bought a set of angled keys declined in metric and imperial some years ago, because I didn't have what was needed for the bridge.
This keys have a ball on the longer branch, but the wrench gives more torque anyway.
I have 3 T wrench, they came with my 3 fender basses, I don't think they are damaged.
It fits right but when angled you can't go deep enough to have a good grip or feel you need too much force and risk having the wrench coming out and scratching body or neck badly.
That's when I decided to remove the neck, which is the first time I did that on a bass, which is scarier than it is.
And then it's here I wasn't sure if the trussrod was maxed out or not because even when parallel with the trussrod, I felt I was providing enough force on that T wrench.
You know something is wrong with the French comes out of the hole.
I am french.
I will take it as an AI joke from my android keyboard.
Forgive me for asking but did you give some "help" to the neck when tightening the truss? When tightening a truss it can feel like it needs too much torque. I usually do it on the floor with a rolled up towel under the neck about mid way. Apply a little careful pressure at the heel and at the headstock and then the truss should tighten with very little torque.
Yes I tried that after investigating a lot on YouTube, and did that on a table.
But it was the same, I was feeling I was using the maximum force I could use on that T Wrench, and prefered not use more, not knowing if the trussrod was maxed out or not.
I got a bit more back now I felt, but restringing it didn't made much difference, there was still way to much relief.
The Fender T-Wrench has a rounded tip which is good when you need to be at an angle to the hex bolt. Most Allen Keys have a flat tip which is best when you hold it straight and inline with the hex bolt. The flat tip on the Allen Key provides a little more grip but it won't work at angle, you have to be straight on.
A good nut and T-wrench should be fine for adjusting with neck on the bass. I remove the pickguard and I've been known to extend the truss rod cutout on the pickguard using a Dremel tool. If the hex head on the truss rod is even slightly stripped or rounded off on the edges it is best to take the neck off to adjust the rod.
I learned all this stuff the hard way by ruining a nice guitar neck by stripping out the truss rod bolt. You remember things better when you learn the hard way.
I didn't think about removing the pick guard, but anyway even with the neck removed and the T wrench parallel to trussrod it wasn't feeling right.
When I decided to try with the angled allen wrench, I though that maybe it would be a bad idea because maybe if the trussrod was really maxed, then then additional torque from angled wrench would push it accidentally too far.
So I applied very reasonable force compared to T Wrench, and the trussrod finally straightened.
This right here. I would suspect the rounded tip is the culprit, not the T-handle. I just had this situation a couple weeks ago. I ditched the ball-end wrench for a standard L- shaped wrench and it worked fine. Could have turned into a disaster. I’ll never use a ball end hex again.
Edit—I can’t remember which bass I was adjusting, so I can’t say it was a Fender. I just remember that the ball-end wrenched slipped, and I had and “Oh, crap!” moment.
I though I damaged the nut and changed it, to realise hat with a new one it wasn't making much difference.
I have 3 T wrench, they all felt the same, that's why I blame the T wrench concept, because it seems that if the bass as a trussrod that's maybe a bit stiffer than usual, then T wrench mislead you into thinking the trussrod was really really broken, but it was just slightly stiffer than usual maybe.
Maybe it was gripped a bit, I don't know, but it felt that even the guy who did the setup in the factory didn't take much risk to try to get the neck straighter.
This wasn't working for me because I replaced the 45 -105 flats with 50 -110, on that fretless jazzbass, and relief was just too much.
It sounds like you got a bum neck on that American Pro 2 bass. I have a bunch of Fender American Standard series Ps and Js and the rarely needed truss rod adjustments with the T-Bar tool are always easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Don't know if it's as far as beeing bum, but trussrod handling is not as optimal as on my 2 other fenders, where I could flatten the neck even with strings slightly detuned.
Maybe it got griped by humidity, really I don't know, and you can't pull the trussrod out without removing the fret(less) board.
I think it might be your bass, not the wench, that's the problem.
Yeah the bass has to have something about it, but maybe it now it's ungripped or something and works better with T wrench now, I didn't tried.
Or maybe fender used a different trussrod model.
I know my other basses not from fender, adjust with a regular angled wrench at the head, and it felt more like this ones.
Honestly the T wrench seems like a bad solution to a not convenient design of having the nut at the bass body side.
I seen videos from Sadowsky with a nut shaped as a wheel with holes in which you insert a small wrench to turn.
That looks less vintage but that seems smarter and convenient.
