Unusual truss rod in cheap guitar

m_c

Looks like it's cracked at the top, but has had a slot in it.

I'd try a screwdriver, failing that, I'd personally be trying to see if there was a suitable sized torx bit that was just a bit bigger, and tapping it in with a hammer in the hope it would grip. Problem is you'd want one that wasn't going to stretch the hold that much, as you do risk splitting it even worse.

notanon

Drop box is mis-behaving on my mobile. Shows the image then redirects forcing to use Android app {sigh}

Electro_Ham

I can't see any image of the broken nut. It's not displaying in my browser. I decided to google images 'Vintage busted nut'......I wish I hadn't.

Emp_Fab

Here you go....

notanon

OMG that is as painful as looking at a bullet lodged in a sphincter. Hope OP gets that sorted soon.

Nyj

Thanks very much to all the contributors - this is an excellent forum, wish I'd found it years ago    A newbie question though: @ICBM ... when you say "get it out so you can replace the nut", this is the first I've ever heard of this.    If I understand you correctly, I would turn the nut anti-clockwise until it comes right out, leaving the rod in place and allowing me to screw in a new nut.     But then I don't understand how one could ever do anything but 'tighten' the rod.   If you tried to slacken it off, surely the nut would just unscrew and leave the rod wherever it happened to be?

(edit) Ok - silly me - I see it now, ignore me and thanks again

ICBM

Nyj said:

Thanks very much to all the contributors - this is an excellent forum, wish I'd found it years ago    A newbie question though: @ICBM ... when you say "get it out so you can replace the nut", this is the first I've ever heard of this.    If I understand you correctly, I would turn the nut anti-clockwise until it comes right out, leaving the rod in place and allowing me to screw in a new nut.     But then I don't understand how one could ever do anything but 'tighten' the rod.   If you tried to slacken it off, surely the nut would just unscrew and leave the rod wherever it happened to be?

Yes, that's how a conventional single-acting rod works. Given that the string tension is always pulling the neck into a forward bow and the truss rod is designed to counteract that, it's very rare to ever need to apply a 'loosening' force. You can get dual-acting truss rods, but I honestly don't really see the point - I think I've come across no more than two or three guitars that needed moving in that direction in the several thousand I've worked on - but of course none of those had dual-acting rods! I don't actually remember ever having adjusted a dual-acting rod that way.

(There are other ways of fixing a neck which does need a forward bow and only has a single-acting rod too.)

For what it's worth, I think the damage to your rod is one of the reasons the trend has been to 4mm rather than 5mm Allen sockets in recent years - it leaves a much thicker sidewall so the nut is stronger, the key is weaker so there's less risk of overtightening, and there isn't a 'near fit' wrong size which will go in and then damage the nut, as there is here - a 3/16" Allen key is 4.8mm, which will go in easily but has a high risk of rounding the nut.

Even worse is the 1/8" rod used on some USA Fenders, which *are* dual-action, and the nut is behind a walnut plug which has to be removed, replaced and refinished over if the nut is damaged - which it very easily can be by using a 3mm Allen key...

Nyj

Thanks again - very interesting.    Coincidentally, I do have a guitar that wants a bit more forward bow ... a Variax 900 Acoustic that I bought from @impmann ;a few years ago.   The action is borderline too low, but acceptable.    When you say 'other ways' of dealing with this, what do you have in mind?

ICBM

Nyj said:

Thanks again - very interesting.    Coincidentally, I do have a guitar that wants a bit more forward bow ... a Variax 900 Acoustic that I bought from @impmann ;a few years ago.   The action is borderline too low, but acceptable.    When you say 'other ways' of dealing with this, what do you have in mind?

Artificially dressing a small amount of relief into the frets - you do that by deliberately over-tightening the rod, dressing the frets, then releasing it again. It doesn't need much to be effective, not usually enough to notice that the frets in the middle of the neck are lower.

I would start by raising the bridge slightly though - unless the neck is actually back-bowed, it's surprising how little relief you do really need.

Some people advocate heat treatment, but unless you go far enough to soften the glue holding the fingerboard on so it will move relative to the neck, it doesn't work in the long term - the wood still wants to go back where it was eventually.

Nyj

Ok, thanks ... very, very interesting

p90fool

m_c said:

Looks like it's cracked at the top, but has had a slot in it.

I'd try a screwdriver, failing that, I'd personally be trying to see if there was a suitable sized torx bit that was just a bit bigger, and tapping it in with a hammer in the hope it would grip. Problem is you'd want one that wasn't going to stretch the hold that much, as you do risk splitting it even worse.

This is my default for rounded out Allen screw heads on motorcycles. 

stephen.wood125

@ICBM Wiz'd like so many other posts. always so informative.