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Truss rod stripped - G&L L-2500

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#41
the washer trick came from an old fender technical service advisory.

over time, the wood in the route can compress, meaning that the threads no longer are long enough to make the needed adjustment, and the bullet bottoms out on the threads, not wood.

the washers fix this.

tighten carefully and mindfully, and you'll fell the bullet bottom out, if it's going to.
or, you might be able to see inside there enough to tell...
 
#42
My guitar tech is pretty savvy. He already mentioned the possiblity of doing the washer trick if I could get the stripped adjuster out. Once I get a new bullet adjuster, I'm taking it all to him to do the install and setup.
 
#44
It's not G&L OEM but the Fender bullet at Stewmac worked just fine on the L2K I repaired in the past and looks a lot like the nuts on some era G&Ls. Same truss rod thread size, same wrench size as older G&Ls.

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#47
StuartV said:
Thanks for all the input!

I talked to my tech and he confirmed that the problem is the bullet adjuster is what's stripped. And he does have replacements on hand. The problem is that it's so rounded out that he can't get any bite on it to back it out.
Click to expand...

A small hacksaw can be used to saw a notch in the top of the bullet. Then you can use a flathead screwdriver to remove it.
 
#49
Well.... you know... it's the thought that counts... :)

Of course, the way mine was, it was so far down in the neck, there's no way I could have notched it with a hacksaw (or anything else).

And when I put the new one in, I will make sure this doesn't happen again!
 
#50
AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

:bawl::bawl::bawl::bawl:

StewMac replacement truss rod bullet adjuster arrived this morning. I took the bass and the new adjuster to my guitar tech at lunch and dropped it off. I watched him put the new adjuster in up to the point where it was starting to pull on the neck, and then I left.

He just called with the following news:

He got the neck right to almost exactly where he wanted it. He wanted 1/8 more turn on the bullet adjuster. When he tried to get that last 1/8, the truss rod snapped!

:crying::crying::crying::crying:

The only positive thing I can report is that he was emphatic that it was his fault and that he will pay for me a new neck from G&L. I had spoken with Chris, the repair tech at G&L, last week and he said that they can make a new neck for it and I think he said it would run around $400 (for rosewood or maple). He also said they could do a color match job on the headstock to match the cherry burst body for an extra charge. I told my tech that, assuming we go that route, he can pay for the plain neck and I'll pay the extra for the matching headstock.

But, it'll never be an all-original '98 again.

:(:(:(
 
#51
At first, I was thinking that I shouldn't really blame my tech. I mean, if the rod was gonna snap, it was gonna snap. Kind of like if you let somebody drive your car and they're not doing anything unusual, and the motor blows up. Can't really blame them for that. So I was thinking I should maybe split the cost with my tech.

But, thinking about it more, my mind went back to when I was dropping it off. I specifically asked him if he was going to put some lube on the bullet adjuster threads. I told him that some the guys here had specifically recommended some good wheel bearing grease. He said no, he doesn't put any kind of lube on those things, except some times, some cork grease (whatever that is).

Now, I'm no guitar expert, but I do have a fair bit of experience with things mechanical (including my fill of Statics and Dynamics in the Mech E program in college). And as I think about the dynamics of tightening a nut on a threaded rod, I'm thinking that that rod would not have snapped from tension (i.e. a pulling force). It would have snapped from a twisting force (maybe combined with a pulling force). In other words, as I think about it, I think it is VERY unlikely (or a LOT less likely) that the rod would have snapped if he had lubed the threads. Without the lube, there was a lot of friction between the adjuster and the rod that was exerting a twisting force on the rod.

Any of you have an opinion on that?

Also, not that I would ask him to do anything about it - if he pays the cost of a plain neck, I'll be happy - but what do you think this will do to the value of the bass versus if was still all original?
 
#52
Hmmmm... anybody have an opinion on just sending the neck to somebody to repair?

I.e. remove the fretboard, route out underneath it as necessary to access the truss rod, replace it, and put the fretboard back on.

Would that cost as much as replacing the neck (figuring that at $400+)?

If done, would the bass be good as new at that point? Or would it somehow be inferior to how it was before?
 
#53
StuartV said:
Hmmmm... anybody have an opinion on just sending the neck to somebody to repair?

I.e. remove the fretboard, route out underneath it as necessary to access the truss rod, replace it, and put the fretboard back on.

Would that cost as much as replacing the neck (figuring that at $400+)?

If done, would the bass be good as new at that point? Or would it somehow be inferior to how it was before?
Click to expand...

the surgery involved in putting in a new truss rod is not worth it. i know of $5500 basses that have had a truss rod go bad (one made by the builder) and the builder chose to make an all new neck rather than attempt a repair (and this is no one-piece maple neck either, he was using much more difficult to work with woods..)
 
#54
I just talked to Mas (the luthier at Guitar Man in NYC). He said that because of the construction of this particular neck, it would cost in the vicinity of $1000 to replace the truss rod.

I reckon that answers my question! New neck it is!

Maple fretboard, color-matched headstock, and I guess I may as well have them upgrade the electronics to add the Single Coil option while they have it.

I guess it won't be worth nearly as much, but, fortunately, I really liked it before, even with less-than-ideal action, so I'm hopeful that I will LOVE it after all this is done and resale value won't matter to me at all.
 
#55
whenever i know that truss rod is going to be adjusted to its max torque, i usually use some 'ice wax' or 'teflon wax' in the bullet and let it dry before i try to reinstall and adjust it. these waxes are for 'dry lubing' mountain bike chains, and remain slipperly without being oily and permeating/destroying the wood.

though, IMO, since the bullet was so hard to remove in the first place, its better than a 50/50 chance that the neck had a bowing problem to begin with.
 
#56
I don't have the impression that my tech was having to adjust it to nearly max torque. The original was a good 1/4" or more down inside the truss rod hole. When I watched him put the new one in, there was still a good portion of the bullet adjuster sticking out of the truss rod hole when he said that it was starting to "bite" (as he put it). I don't know. And I haven't seen it yet to know how much more he tightened up before the rod broke.

I do know that, when I took the original out, it squeaked and broke free just like many other seized up bolts I have removed over the years from motorcycles. But once it started turning, it turned smoothly, though still pretty stiff.

Meh, it's all speculation at this point.

I will definitely be curious if G&L has anything to say about the neck when they get it back.
 
#57
IMO, an experienced tech should know when he's putting too much tension on a truss rod and its about to snap, so rather than breaking it, i would have have stopped at the point where it was as straight as it could be and then a decision to replace the neck could be made. unfortunately, that's all moot now.
 
#59
Well, I have to speak up and say that I no longer think my tech had any fault in this. I picked up the bass tonight. I asked my tech if he had put any lube on the bullet adjuster. He said he had taken it out after I left this morning and put cork grease on the threads on the inside. He showed me the tube of cork grease. He put the bullet adjuster back in and it was still sticking out of the truss rod hole just a little bit when it broke. I.e. it was still more than a 1/4" inch further out than the original was when I got it (and I did compare the old and new and they are the same length). And he said it was still turning very easily, just like a new, greased bullet adjuster should.

The truss rod broke right at the end of the bullet adjuster. The part that broke off is still in the adjuster and it's broken flush with the end of the adjuster.

When he first told me about it, he was emphatic that he would pay for the new neck. I started to argue with him, thinking we should at least split it. When I picked up the bass, he was emphatic again that I should not argue with him and that he will pay for the new neck.

So, all in all, I think he didn't do anything wrong. It just his bad luck that it broke when he was tweaking it instead of, say, the first time I messed with it after getting it back.
 
#60
Hey Stu, my worthless two cents.....

You brought the guy a bass with truss rod issues, extent unknown. He did what he could, and everything you asked. I don't think it is on him to cover the replacement on something that was gc's mess that you decided to get fixed. With the way you got it, there's no way of knowing how hard someone might have torqued on it, weakening the rod. Let the lesson be learned by all, but from what it sounds I don't think that much dough should come off that guys dinner table. Call GC, or eat it would be my thoughts.
 
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