Truss rod in Fender Classic '50 / Road Worn / Vintera Precision basses

Hello T;

The Fender truss rod is a very simple design, made to be manufactured cheaply by the millions. The rod itself is just a piece of 3/16" mild steel rod, threaded 10-32 on one end. The other end has an anchor bar attached permanently. They use several different styles of anchors; some are threaded on, some are crimped or welded.

As far as I know, Fender doesn't sell their truss rods as replacement parts. They consider it a non-replaceable part. It's too much labor cost to replace one. If a Fender truss rod gets broken, the whole neck is usually thrown away.

Now, many of us Luthiers will replace broken truss rods in Fender necks, even though the cost can be almost as much as a new replacement neck. If the neck is old and valuable, the customer may be willing to pay.

When we replace replace broken truss rods in Fender necks, most of us make up the truss rods ourselves, to fit. The metal rod isn't complicated. Some of the Luthier supply places sell what they call a Traditional Truss Rod Kit. Here's Stewart-MacDonald's:

Traditional Truss Rod Kit - StewMac

If you also get this Truss Rod Nut:

Bullet Truss Rod Nut for Fender - StewMac

Or this one:

Slotted Truss Rod Nut for Fender - StewMac

That combination of parts is very close to the factory Fender truss rod. The anchor is a bit different, and stronger.

But, that's the easy part. If you want to build a new neck, and exactly replicate the Fender truss rod, it takes some complicated machining of the wood. There's some tricky geometry of a curved slot and some accurately drilled holes. Even if you have a CNC machine available, you'll need special drill fixtures to do it right. A whole lot of work for making one neck. Do you really want to go in that direction?

The modern-style Double-Acting Double-Rod truss rods are available from many sources, and they work very well. They are much simpler and easier to install in a new neck that you are making. That's why they are so popular.

If you just want to build a single Fender-style neck for your own instrument project, it will be a lot of trouble to put a Fender-style truss rod in it. The metal parts are fairly easy to get or make. The machining of the maple is the hard part.

 

Yes, that truss rod is one of the modern double-acting double-rod truss rods that I was referring to. Your Luthier should be able to install it easily, and it should work well. As long as he builds the neck correctly. However, that is a different type of truss rod than a Fender.

That nut is a Fender replacement part, but it will not go on that truss rod.

 

Okay, I mis-read it. My Italian is not so good! The 1078 Trussrod per basso is a single-acting double-rod design. You can remove the nut on it and replace it with one of the Fender-style nuts that they sell. It's not the same design as an original Fender truss rod, but it should be easy to install and will function the same way.

The 1077 Trussrod is a double-acting double-rod design. Its nut is welded to the rod and cannot be removed.