Just my luck...

[Snakeman1066]

penetrating oil is your friend

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

God, I do love the healing powers of glue!

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

penetrating oil is your friend

That's what she said.

 

[KeithAlanK]

Use a flashlight held at ground level--a shadow will often help you find something.
Also, may not have landed on the floor.

A cat can help--mine found a ring I had lost in carpeting.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Some don't, but I always relax the strings when I'm tightening the truss rod.
I'm quite sure in this case it would have saved you some troubles.

It also gives you more turning room if you pull the A & D strings out of the nut & move them over.

It may seem like a pain in the neck but I always loosen all strings, do a quarter turn, then tighten again. It may take an hour to do some fine adjustments, but it's worth it to keep this kind of thing from happening.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I always love a good save, good for you. All of my truss rods get a drop or two (JUST a drop or two) of BreakFree, one of the 'wonder lubes' available for firearms. Harmless to finishes and electronics, it's just a little insurance for those kinds of things, I use it for bridge allen screws, etc. Just run a drop of it (or something similar) on a toothpick, and touch the nut, you're good.

Good information to know! Thanks for the tip! I have a couple truss rod adjustments coming up...

 

[40Hz]

Just that much more mojo for your bass. Glad it all worked out.

 

[Spidey2112]

My girlfriend just found the piece! I glued it back in using some some wood glue. Doesn't look all that bad.
View attachment 3007440

Because you're a fellow Ohioan, I'm saving the joke... for later. Glad she found it and you got it back it in place... looks good!

 

[Spidey2112]

... always relax the strings when I'm tightening the truss rod.

Yep...

 

[madbass6]

So after installing new pickups, new strings, doing a complete setup and genuinely loving this new bass... of course something had to go wrong...

I was doing a slight adjustment on the truss rod when the allen wrench slipped and this happened...
View attachment 3007341 View attachment 3007342
Is this fixable, if so, how? Should I worry about more happening? This is a 1989 squier II and I love the neck. Seems to still play fine but just looks awful.

OMG what a tragedy!! lol.. Relax dude it's no biggie ,
nothing a trusrod cover won't fix !

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

When I was learning (teaching myself) to work on my guitars and basses I was replacing the nut on my Classic 50's Telecaster. Like the dumbass I am, instead of knocking out the nut sideways I tapped it north/south toward the headstock and you can guess what happened next! Not only did the nut come out but it took a huge chunk of the neck with it the entire width of the fretboard! But instead of freaking I was like, huh, this is just another learning experience, and it's my guitar, not someone else, so no biggie. I took it as an opportunity to learn. Luckily the piece matched up perfectly. I glued it back into place, clamped it, went on with fitting the new nut and never have had a problem with the guitar since.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

My girlfriend just found the piece! I glued it back in using some some wood glue. Doesn't look all that bad.
View attachment 3007440

Word.

 

[steveinohio]

Looks new again. With strings over it you would never be able to tell.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

This proves my theory that wives are our personal angels...........