Fixing Broken USA 1989 STRAT Neck Truss Rod

Maybe a little loktite (red???) on the heel end of the rod that screws into the anchor. I've got no experience with installing a truss but imagine that end should be locked somehow. Cheers
 
Ivan, that is precisely what my intended securing method will be. If it is good enough for engine building, it should hold for truss rod.
 
Repair or auction? Robert

Actually neither. Parts not here yet from Stewmac, and Auction has 3 days and some dummy already has price up near $160
 
I bought a 6 pack last week while in KC. It took me 5 days to drink 5 of the 6. I had to commit sacriligious behavior of pitching the last full bottle before heading to the airport to return home. It was good tasting beer though. Called Fat Tire
 
Numb skulls drive the price up.Never bid on nothing till the last 30 seconds. Otherwise all your doing is drivin the price up and not acomplishing a darn thing.Stupidity is all it is.
 
JohnnyGoo said:
Numb skulls drive the price up.Never bid on nothing till the last 30 seconds. Otherwise all your doing is drivin the price up and not acomplishing a darn thing.Stupidity is all it is.
Click to expand...

Exactly, I only put in a low price to get on the list so I could not accidentally forget I had an item I was serious about.
 
ivan H said:
Maybe a little loktite (red???) on the heel end of the rod that screws into the anchor. I've got no experience with installing a truss but imagine that end should be locked somehow. Cheers
Click to expand...

OK, I replied to Ivan saying my intended method of securing my truss rod to the anchor would be to apply red loctite to the anchor and threaded end of the rod.
After adorning my lighted magnifying glass visor, I spent some time examining the anchor and the broken end of the rod still inside the anchor. What I discovered was the factory has a hole drilled through the anchor parallel to the direction the rod travels, and another hole perpendicular to the rod. When looking down the perpendicular hole I saw the rod had a flat spot making square edges on it. My assumption was that this was how they meant to keep the rod from spinning and unscrewing from the anchor.

So, in order to remove the fragment of rod left in the anchor, I got my drill bits, drill, and easy out and proceeded to drill a hole in the rod end to use the easy out to unscrew the rod. I used a slow and gradual amount of twisting and saw a bit of rotation. I wanted to remove the easy out see what was happening. As I did, the rod part rotated to where the point was sticking up. I managed to rotate it back to the flat spot facing up. Once I did this I drilled a hole in the flat spot to remove the corners that held the rod from turning. I re-inserted the easy out and tried unscrewing the rod end, Instead of unscrewing, it spun more freely and moved in and out like the anchor hole was smooth instead of threaded. Deciding this was indeed the case, I removed the easy out and used a punch and the broken end just popped out of the hole.

Now this leaves me with a conundrum. I need another plan of attack other than cutting threads in the anchor and rod because now the factory "smooth" holes in the anchor will be too large once threaded for the 10/32 pitch the rod would need to be. SO, I will need to come up with another solution in order to make the new rod able to attach to the anchor somehow and not have to rout out the skunk stripe or anything.

My thought and my machinist friend's idea is to drill and tap a hole thru the anchor to insert a set screw to tighten against the rod and to make my own flat spot and recess on the rod for a good tight hold. I will be taking pics and posting them so all this is clear to see.
 
OK Smitty, here is the rub on that.

First, I am going to drop the anchor back down in the cup it came out of and then run the rod from the headstock hole through the neck then down into the anchor where the set screw will secure the 2 pieces together. This will eliminate any alteration to the skunk stripe and rear of the neck.

Tig is for Aluminum. Mig for Steel
One would have to be able to weld the rod into the anchor, then insert it into the neck which normally is done with skunk stripe out and the channel exposed. The unit of anchor and rod is then fed through the retainer at the 7th fret, and on up into the head stock hole.


In my case I want to NOT alter the Skunk stripe any more than the 1/4 inch x1/4 inch exploratory hole I chiseled down by the junction of anchor and stripe. So, I will do like I said in the first sentence and once secure, I will only work from the headstock
hole to re-insert the washer, nut, washer, glue in walnut plug and sand it to fit contour of head. A little glue on a couple little rosewood pieces that chipped behind the nut will complete the whole process.
 
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