Fixing Broken USA 1989 STRAT Neck Truss Rod

Smitty,, If you look at this picture you can see the cylindrical cup inside the neck and then basically only 1/4 inch of wood removed from the edge of the Skunk Stripe and you can just make out the metal of the truss rod end deep under that dark wood stripe. That is the end of the rod I drove in with my hammer and punch and hammer and Allen wrench to make the rod and nut come out the hole in the headstock. Minimal disruption of the stripe.

truss-rod-anchor-out1-jpg.9170
 
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Well, I heard back from Fender today via email. The reply was to tell me my year guitar used the Biflex...
And I could likely get the part at Stewmac and cut it to length, thread the ends and fix it myself. On a side note, I put a piece of masking tape on my old rod just past the depth that puts it through and past the 7th fret retaining bit. I had no problem inserting the rod past the 7th, so a new one should work great.

http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_an...ble_Truss_Rods/Traditional_Truss_Rod_Kit.html
 
Clever pun, nice one!
I like.

Glad to hear a solution is at hand. I was wondering about fishing that rod (!) through the guide again as well.
 
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Thanks, Ivan. I may just be a dumb, poor, low income fella, but I can stretch my brain for solutions to almost any mechanical fix that comes my way.
 
Seem that this problem of the adjustment nut freezing up due to rust or whatever isn't too uncommon with these Fender Bi Flex rods, so I have a question for you Chilli. The Allen (or socket) head adjustment nut at the headstock end, is it hollow, like from the socket part that the Allen key fits into through to the threaded part of the nut? I'm just wondering if a very small amount of lubricant could be run through to maybe prevent it from happening. Cheers
Edit; looking at your earlier posted neck cut away pic it seems the adjustment nut is hollow, so carefully lubricating of the truss/nut thread may be possible for us with these necks. Wouldn't want to get lubricant on the surrounding wood though. Cheers
 
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ivan H said:
Seem that this problem of the adjustment nut freezing up due to rust or whatever isn't too uncommon with these Fender Bi Flex rods, so I have a question for you Chilli. The Allen (or socket) head adjustment nut at the headstock end, is it hollow, like from the socket part that the Allen key fits into through to the threaded part of the nut? I'm just wondering if a very small amount of lubricant could be run through to maybe prevent it from happening. Cheers
Edit; looking at your earlier posted neck cut away pic it seems the adjustment nut is hollow, so carefully lubricating of the truss/nut thread may be possible for us with these necks. Wouldn't want to get lubricant on the surrounding wood though. Cheers
Click to expand...

I have added a drop of light machine oil / gun oil to sticky truss rods with very good results.
I used a penetrating oil to free up a frozen one recently but it took a few days of adding a squirt, then trying to pop it loose with the wrench without breaking anything.

I turn the rod to the neutral / loose positiion and spin it back and forth to work the oil in then adjust as usual.
 
I intend to lubricate mine, maybe gun oil. Ideally, the walnut plug could be removed, the nut removed, threads chased if necessary & something like white grease used to coat the thread. But that's a big job. Fender obviously isn't lubricating them or they wouldn't be freezing up. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
Seem that this problem of the adjustment nut freezing up due to rust or whatever isn't too uncommon with these Fender Bi Flex rods, so I have a question for you Chilli. The Allen (or socket) head adjustment nut at the headstock end, is it hollow, like from the socket part that the Allen key fits into through to the threaded part of the nut? I'm just wondering if a very small amount of lubricant could be run through to maybe prevent it from happening. Cheers
Edit; looking at your earlier posted neck cut away pic it seems the adjustment nut is hollow, so carefully lubricating of the truss/nut thread may be possible for us with these necks. Wouldn't want to get lubricant on the surrounding wood though. Cheers
Click to expand...


Ivan, you have summarized it precisely. The truss rod nut is a hollow threaded cylinder with a hex recess in the head part. Lubrication can't hurt, needs careful application to protect wood. But then again, we do use lemon oil on our Rosewood fretboards don't we?
 
Yes, we do. I've got a diabetic syringe off the chemist to apply some gun oil to mine. I figure it'll work well, it'll fit through the wallnut plug & I can use a "measured" small amount & squirt it straight into the nut. Gun oil should be fine enough to wick through as I work the nut back & forth with the guitar vertical. Cheers

Edit; Damn it, the diabetic syringe wont fit through the wallnut plug in the headstock. Cheers
 
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