Nut is Stuck!

If it were me, I would take this as a sign that I was fated to learn about fingerboard removal.

 

Please tell me that isn't Gorilla Glue . . .

 

It's hard to tell what style of headstock that is (for me at least). If it's a tilt-back headstock, you may be able to slide the truss rod all the way out and replace it after enlarging the truss rod's access slot a little. If it's a flat fender-style headstock you may not be able to do that and yeah, time to remove the fingerboard.

 

I was gonna say, something tells me your *other* nut is quite securely stuck as well...

 

You have managed to move that truss rod nearly 2 inches. That is a pretty good indication the other end of the rod isn't anchored like it should be. So you have a Squier neck with a trashed truss rod. What to do; easy and quick - replace the neck; educational - buy a new truss rod and try fixing it your self. To keep playing - maybe a combination of the two.

 

I think the neck is junked, personally. It would be handy for a learning experience though. Figure out how to do fretwork, steam off a fretboard, widen holes in hard maple, plug holes in hard maple...

Honestly, it is a Squier neck, and it looks to be in poor cosmetic condition. The nut appears to be held in with Gorilla Glue! The surface of the peghead is scratched and striated. This neck isn't worth the time or effort required to repair it.

In theory you would need to remove the fretboard to access the anchor holding the other end of the rod into the heel of the neck. You would have to remove the rod and replace it with another (unless the original can be re-tapped?). Then replace the fretboard and probably refret either the whole neck or just those around the heel area.

This isn't my area of expertise; I've only seen a few Youtube videos and forum posts detailing the process. Worth it for a bent-banana 1972 Fender neck, but less justifiable on a Squier neck.

Buy a replacement neck from Ebay and call it a day. Trussrod repair and replacement work goes into the realms of real luthiery and is expensive and fiddly. If it was a vintage Fender then it might be more worthwhile.

 

The fretboard should come off pretty cleanly with enough heat and steam in the right places. You might need to sacrifice a few frets along the way though, and ensure that the underside of the board, and the neck itself, are still properly flat when it comes time to re-seat it.

Go for it! Sounds like a cool project.

 

Here’s one method that can be done with pretty accessible tools. If I remember correctly, he was able to reuse the board on this one.

 

To the OP
As someone that is far more brave than he is experienced... PLEASE do follow up... even if I never have to do a fret board removal, this kind of stuff is my favorite to read and so many people learn from it.

If you don't go any further with this bass, I just want to say thanks for posting... such a great forum to learn from.

 

Ahhh! The old, "Beer Belly Vise" method! There's nothing like using body parts to clamp things to the bench. If it wiggles a bit who cares? The side to side, back and forth motion helps move the tool through the glue. Besides, touch up work is fun!

This gentleman has really taken the technique to the next level by forcing a sharp object toward the belly vise. His left hand hold on the back of the spine of the blade maximizes grip. The price of the job should cover the copay on his hospitalization insurance.

Of course, propping up the fingerboard that is already loose with a big dowel rod is smart move. Most guys would use a Sharpie. Wood is so much more organic. Although, there are a number of folks who advocate for iron pipe. The extra curve in the fingerboard is easy to get rid of as long as you use enough clamps.

 

To the OP: ^^Nudge nudge, wink wink...

Actually, he had the blunt end of the saw facing his body, so it wasn't quite as disturbing as it might have been. But anytime I'm moving saws or knives toward my body, I start looking for alternatives.

 

Sometimes we do things that don't make "financial" sense. That's OK. I applaud you for wanting to learn.

Replacing a truss rod isn't inherently hard work. If you're careful when you remove the fretboard, you may not have to replace it, or even refret. Although you will certainly have to level and dress the frets afterwards. The key is to not damage the seam between the fretboard and the neck, and to not introduce a warp to the fretboard as you heat it.

I prefer to just use a lot of heat and old putty knives to work the fretboard off. The glue will get plenty soft enough with enough heat (just make sure you're not burning the wood). Some people use steam, I've never needed to. The process really just involves applying heat and working the putty knives down the board to separate it. It just takes a lot of consistent pressure on the knives as you heat the board. If things go well it might be a half hour job to get it off. Once it's off, it'll be easy to swap the rod out, then you just need to carefully clean the surfaces and glue the fretboard back on. You can use more heat and the same putty knives to remove glue from the surfaces. Or sand with a known-flat and true sanding block. Be careful though, you don't want to remove any material from the neck or fretboard or else you won't have true matching surfaces to glue back together. Or if you have a way to joint the surfaces you can just skip the careful glue removal and do that. I like to use a router planing jig to true the surfaces and it works well and is much quicker than trying to manually remove the glue residue.

Gluing it back on can be just as tricky if you're not used to the job, because things will want to squirm around with all the glue acting as a lubricant. Most people will use pins to locate the fretboard while gluing. You can get some fine drill bits on Amazon or elsewhere, and drill a tiny shallow hole right through the fretboard into the neck in two spots. You can put one under the nut; then it'll be hidden in the finished bass. I like to put the second hole in a fret slot so it'll be hidden too, but you won't have that option if you're not going to refret. You can just drill through the fingerboard itself if you're confident that you can hide the hole afterwards (matching sawdust and a drop of CA glue can work well on darker wood).

Clamping evenly can be tricky too since it's not a regular, flat surface and you probably don't have matching cauls laying around. I like to use an improvised "strap clamp" made from an old bicycle inner tube. I put a regular cam clamp at the headstock end of the fretboard, and clamp the end of the tube in it. Then tightly wrap the tube right down the fretboard, the tension of the rubber will provide plenty of clamping pressure. Then, holding the other end of the tube tight down at the body end of the neck, clamp it with another normal clamp. Problem solved.

Then all you need to do is wait for the glue to dry and decide how much effort you want to put into hiding the seam, since the finish between the neck and the edge of the fretboard would have been broken to get the fretboard off. You may be able to just sand/polish the existing finish well enough to blend the seam, if you were careful with the putty knives. If not, you can sand down and touch up with matching finish then blend it.