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Gibson SB-450 Truss Rod

S

shodan

Mar 23, 2005
345
617
Central Midwest
#1
A while back I bought an old Gibson SB-450 bass with a broken truss rod. Rather than remove the entire fret board and risk the neck deciding that it didn't like the way it was shaped and doing some gyrations that would necessitate more work, I'd like to just remove the portion of the board that covers the end. Remove a fret, saw through the board, remove the small end section of board, cut off the anti-rotation device, insert new rod through and fix a new rotation stopper. Then replace the fret board, fret and do a level and dress. Similar to this -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=579yVhMua5Y

My only question is how long is the rod? I'd like to not remove any more of the board than I have to, but at this point it would be a by guess and by gosh on my part. Anyone have any knowledge to share on this?
 
#2
The anchor, as we call it, will be right around the dot at the 19th fret. If you remove the last four frets' worth of the fingerboard, you'll have it exposed.

Getting the old anchor out of there may be tough. It depends on how and where the rod is broken. Sometimes you can drill holes on either side of it, like 1/2" deep, and then get in there with a small chisel and pry bar to pry it out.
 
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#4
The neck is just as likely to deform from cutting a part of the fret board off as it is from removing the entire board. In either case it is unlikely that everything would go back together without needing at a minimum some fret work.
 
#5
Bruce Johnson said:
Getting the old anchor out of there may be tough. It depends on how and where the rod is broken. Sometimes you can drill holes on either side of it, like 1/2" deep, and then get in there with a small chisel and pry bar to pry it out.
Click to expand...

Thankfully the rod was broken at the back of the nut. Once I have the anchor free, I should be able to drive it up far enough to grab it with some pliers.

RSBBass said:
The neck is just as likely to deform from cutting a part of the fret board off as it is from removing the entire board. In either case it is unlikely that everything would go back together without needing at a minimum some fret work.
Click to expand...

Anything is possible, but I'm hoping that having 75% or so of the fretboard in place will keep it from doing the twist. As I mentioned, I plan on a level and dress when I'm done.
 

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