stewmac spoke wheel truss rod nut mod?

[tedsalt]

I'd like to change my RW P & J basses truss rods to the stewmac spoke wheel nut. Do most people route the body or the neck? And what size router bit is used for which?

I'm comfortable routing (have routed for P2 soapbars), just need to get the right size bit and route the correct piece of wood

Actually I'd feel more comfortable routing the body, rather than the neck. That would seem to be a little trickier ...

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!!!

 

[hdracer]

I have thought of trying one on my RW neck too.
I am not sure of the length, diameter and thread pitch.
The only way to find out is to order one.

You would have to route the body and pick guard.
I would make a template and use a 3/8 bit

 

[tedsalt]

According to Invalid Link Removed

it looks like the hot rod uses the same spoke wheel nut, and requires an access cavity for the adjustment nut, and a straight 7/32"-wide x 7/16"-deep slot (measured from the bottom of the fretboard) for installation

 

[tedsalt]

I've got two spoke wheel nuts, one for each. I should probably just measure

 

[tedsalt]

well, hopefully the MIMs are standard and not metric. I should try that first before I go routing the body.

 

[tedsalt]

the only truss rods that I've heard are metric are the CIJs ... buy I'll make sure the stewmac spoke wheel nut works with mine first

 

[tedsalt]

It appears that people routing the neck are for 24 fret necks, and standard necks people route the body.

I guess if I take it apart this much, it would be nice to have the correct router bit handy if the spoke wheel nut does work, so I can go ahead and route it out.

So if anyone has a router bit size they use when routing the body for the spoke wheel nut, I would appreciate it!

 

[tedsalt]

Modded my RW P. One more to go (the RW J) ...

standard truss rod nut on a MIM RW P neck

with the spoke wheel nut. fit just fine, no issues whatsoever.

some pics of both

figuring out where I have to route.

routed out (using a dremel with a router base attachment).
wasn't perfect, but it's a RW, and a player at that!

strung up. hardly notice it. will make adjusting the neck a breeze!

 

[joeyl]

very nice, I am inspired to do the same to my MIA P

 

[tedsalt]

Thanks joeyl! I've got to mod my RW J next ...

 

[hdracer]

Thanks for trying it.
I'm going to do it to mine now.

 

[tedsalt]

If you feel comfortable doing this and have the right tools, go for it hdracer! I just started on the RW J ...

 

[tedsalt]

Here's the Dremel with the router base ...

And the RW J. Route the wood first, starting with a thinner layer at the top. Don't try to route out the whole depth at once (just like one would with a full sized router). Then lower the bit some and take another pass until you've routed out as deep as you need. Then route the pickguard, taking it very slow when you get near the finished size/shape, as it's easy to route it out too much. Mine's a player, so meh ...

From now on, easy peasy neck adjustments and setups! No more loosening the neck from the body!

 

[walterw]

as an alternative, you could leave the stock cross-slotted truss rod nut in there, rout a notch in the body, and use something like Invalid Link Removed to adjust.

or you could swap the nut out for the fender american standard version, rout the little notch in the body and use a sawed-off hex key to adjust. i did that with my reissue tele guitar, for exactly the same reason (got the idea from suhr guitars).

or or, with a jazz bass you could do either of the above, pop off the pickguard and just rout the notch in the body; that way you don't have to make it so perfect-looking, the pickguard will cover all. (you just have to remove the pickguard for truss rod tweaks, but that's not a big deal on a J bass.)

 

[tedsalt]

Well, there's always next time. Thanks for letting me know about these other options though! There are surely others interested in something like this. The american standard version sounds pretty nice. I'll have to look into that ...

 

[zortation]

It's great that it worked out for you and I guess it would for any US or MIM vintage Fender in that configuration...good thread.

 

[tedsalt]

I've decided I really like my RWs set up like this, as I only have to have a range of three smaller screwdrivers to change the setup.

 

[zortation]

For the life of me I do not understand why Fender continues the practice of using outdated hardware in new instruments, reisuue or not, who cares?

 

[rojo412]

I'm going to be doing this to a friend's Telecaster. I hate the vintage style truss nut. And so does he... he was about to sell the guitar because of it. I wondered about trying this for him, looks like it's a good mod.

 

[walterw]

for the tele, you can also do the less obtrusive version, put a fender american standard guitar truss rod nut in there, cut a small notch in the pickguard and body, and saw off a 1/8" hex wrench just past the curve to adjust it.