If Gibson does not come through, resize again to a larger rod and then drill and tap the jaw and knob to match - should work fine and be stronger. If you don't have the tools, any local machine shop should be able to do this for cheap (really should just need the tap drill and tap along with something to cut the threaded rod to length). The only difficult part is the minimal hole depth in the jaw hole for a regular tap (need a short one to get a decent amount of threads).
This part and the string holder kind of suck. I had to get a five string holder and then use the BEAD string parts on my four string to get regular gauge normal strings to fit (the Synapse basses uses different double ball end strings than other Steinbergers that are impossible to find). The other annoyance with the instrument is the fact that the graphite rod is under the truss rod (as opposed to along the truss rod like other manufactures that use two) - I was going to re-profile the neck to a thinner shape and this killed that idea (the graphite rod only has around 3/32" of wood under it). I mainly use mine as a travel bass.
I keep thinking of getting an original L-2 or XL-2 - then I see the prices and reality intrudes...
Good luck!
