Andyjr1515

Yes - a valid solution. But a tricky rout even with experience and an absolute no-no for someone with no experience. It's possible, though (see above) it doesn't actually need those extra steps. We'll see what the other clever folks think

Yes - absolutely. See above

Right. I hope you can see this - pesky Microsoft! 'Modern' trussrod (at the top) Starts off straight and when tensioned bows down at either end and up in the middle. Because the heel end is rigid, the force is transmitted to the nut end trying to bend it down (which counteracts the string tension which is trying to bend it up. So the main forces are suffered upwards at the centre of the fretboard and downwards at the nut. There is a critical thickness needed of wood under the nut end of the rod so that the end doesn't burst through the bottom. Here, a volute is your friend Traditional Trussrod (at the bottom) Starts off bent - pressed down by the shaped packer shown hatched in the drawing. Because the heel end is held rigidly, as you tighten the nut, the rod tries to straighten. This produces an upward force on the packer in the middle of the fretboard and a downward force at the nut end of the rod. There is a critical thickness of wood needed under the nut end just like with the modern rod. However, in most cases - because the circular rod goes through a drilled hole, you have a greater wood thickness So - and this was the bit that confused me because many makers curve the bottom of the slot - actually, other than at the nut end, the strip underneath the rod takes none of the forces ( see @Maude 's comment above reaching the same conclusion). So my view is that, as long as the nut end has enough thickness, your cracking - even if it is in the wood itself - is not structurally important So, @stewblack - a couple of questions. 1. In this shot: ...the rod appears to be sitting is a slot rather than a hole drilled through. Was this how it was, or has any material underneath the rod end immediately behind where the nut and washer used to be been removed? 2. See where the broken end of the rod is in this pic. Are you able to work out relatively accurately how thick the wood is here, including any thickening due to meeting the headstock? My suggestions, to be thrown to my knowledgeable peers are: a) If this area was never thicker, then the original rod was placing as much force on this spot as a modern trussrod would, providing the main body of the rod reaches at least this point. b) Other than in this specific area, any cracking of the back strip is structurally insignificant What do folks think?

Microsoft Office update has screwed up Powerpoint, email, etc,etc so I'll have to draw it by hand. Give me 1/2hr

Actually, just sussed it how a single action can work OK with these dimensions and why, even if the centre strip has split, why that might not be a problem. I'll draw it up in the morning and see if the wise sages around here agree

Yes - good point. Let me sleep on it - there's something that doesn't quite add up at the moment in the way I'm interpreting the measurements. I may need to sketch out how I am seeing the various thicknesses in the various positions and check if I'm right. At the moment, I can't see how the truss rod was working properly in the first place (which, of course, it might not have been )

Goodness! Wasn't expecting that! In fact, like @Maude can't think what could have caused that at all!? Does it look like it's the wood or could it be just the lacquer? If it's the lacquer, you have a bit of extra finishing work to do, but the options on the neck remain as they were. Assuming I'm right - those measurements tell me you need to be sticking with a single action. There might be just 2mm under there - and that's not enough, really

A traditional single acting trussrod sits in a curved slot: So - assuming that the top face of the neck is flat then, as @songofthewind says, the slot should vary in depth, with the deepest in the middle. If it doesn't - or if it does but only by a tiny amount - then this might be why the rod broke in the first place. If it does, then you could fit a single action rod in the slot, and then you will need to carve a curved packer (to replace the one you had to remove to get the rod out) shaped like in the photo above. A single acting trussrod is fitted curved in a curved chamber like in the photo. They will only work if the channel and packer are curved the right amount But if the slot is at least 9mm deep at either end, then that is deep enough to fit a double acting trussrod. These are fitted straight and they will bend whether or not they are in a channel: Untensioned: Tensioned: So, if the channel is deep enough at both ends, one of these would fit. And it's a lot easier than worrying about the amount of curve in the channel and creating that curve. So then the remaining question is the one that @Jabba_the_gut raises. That is: Because we know your fretboard is very thick, it implies that the neck itself is quite thin. So how thick is the neck at around the first fret (or closer to the nut if it is clear of any volute)? If it is at or more than 13-14mm, then you have a channel at 9.5mm and that would leave you 3.5 -4.5 mm wood below the slot - which would be plenty. If, say, the neck at the 1st fret is 12mm, then that only leaves 2.5mm of wood under the slot and, when a 2-way truss rod end starts applying the pressure, it is possible that it might crack the bottom of the neck under the nut. So if it is thick enough, a 2-way rod would be much easier to fit. If it's worryingly thin, then a single action replacement would be safer, albeit a little trickier to fit properly.

Ooooohhhhhhhh! How embarrassing is that...clean forgot about GC!! I shall go down to the pond and stand on my head in the middle of it for an hour in penance! I'll post the pics and link this afternoon...

As mentioned above, I have to take a touch more off the neck haunches and I need to get the neck pickup back to Matt to swop the internal wires round, but externally this is done. So forgive the self-indulgence, but here it is:

Great progress so far! Another question @stewblack - in relation to the top face, is the channel the same depth all the way along (ie is it parallel with the top face) or - more likely - does it get deeper the further you go along towards the heel (ie a curved bottom to the slot along the length). Either way, I'm pretty sure that a two-way modern rod would fit - they are generally 9mm deep - and, personally, that's what I would fit. Tonetech do good ones in a variety of lengths. As @3below says, you may need to put some packing strip in the bottom if it is curved and deepens but we can send you some if necessary

^ Wot he said

Forgive the dust on the headstock - I promise to give it a wipe-down before I do the fancy photos - but I put a couple of magnets on the trussrod cover: Which hold it secure and straight: Underneath the tip there is a tiny bevel sanded so that removal is just fingernail stuff: Pickups and electrics are in and the 'first fit' is being done today and tomorrow. Two things I've already picked up that need tweaking: - now I've tried it with strings, the neck needs just a bit more shaving off the haunches - the two pickups are out of phase in the middle position (although they sound great individually). As they are single conductor jobbies, it's an internal swop rather than just swopping the hot and return that you can do with a two-wire setup so I'll get one of them back to Matt to do the surgery. But it's close enough to do a gratuitous photo or two If the light is good in the morning, I'll do the arty-farty photos before I take the neck pickup out again as it won't really change in outward appearance from this point on

@stewblack - how deep is the channel from the top face to the bottom?

That made me laugh out loud. MrsAndyjr1515 muttered something similar

Well, the swifts, swa!lows and house martins think so. They are all here

The bass looks delicious. I'm sure you'd make just as good a job on a guitar. I think you could sneek it in

No - it's varnished to match the headstock I did wonder about adding a swift, but I thought it might be overplaying the theme 😁 And, by the way. They've arrived!!!!! Summer is truly just around the corner

Wow look at that! No one would have thought I made it all up. Wouldn't catch me doing something like that. Goodness, no! P.s. Delighted it worked Well done.

This is looking pretty damned fine to me

Well - a small but important part: It's the ebony truss rod cover I've just made. Important because it is the last made item that needed to be made! And the strings have arrived. And I picked up the pickups from Matt today. So it's now just about assembly and setup. And I have a pretty clear day tomorrow

Sorry back @Reggaebass I've completely lost track of this. Not an unusual situation for me, mind you

The steel rule isn't used to score the lacquer. It's to 'walk' the gap up as you progressively soften the glue up the fretboard and to stop the lifted board re-seating and re-gluing itself behind you. The reason you want something like this is that the rule is less than a mm thick and so will be lifting the fretboard less than a mm at the glue line. Any more and you risk breaking the board. You could bet away with a 6" one but a 12" one would be easier to hold. In my picture: ..the fretboard is 5 or 6 mm away at the nut - but that is because the fretboard is bowing. Look at the front edge of my steel sheet and imagine this is a steel ruler (just behind the 6th fret and you can see that the board is only lifted by the thickness of the steel (about 0.5mm). At the 6th fret, it is still fully glued down. So I am heating the 6th fret area and I will walk the edge, pulling left then right towards the 6th fret line, to get the steel to cut through the softened glue under the 6th fret position. And so on towards the 7th and all the way up.

Good points and yes - it might. As might the side binding, which will definitely be plastic, and also the varnish on the fretboard which may or may not be heat sensitive. There's really no way of knowing. The kitchen roll tempers a few of the hot spots and much of the heat will be transferred through the frets (and yes) but it's still going to get mighty hot. But as @stewblack says, he believes he has run out of options relating to recutting the thread (and I think he is probably right) and therefore the alternative is probably to hang it back on the wall. There is another way some folks do it - they plane off the fretboard and put a new one on...but that definitely WILL damage the inlays It boils down to my disclaimer that this is a risky process and to only do it if the bass has no high monetary value and if it is otherwise unplayable anyway. And we haven't got to all the things you need to do and could go wrong gluing it back on yet!

OK @stewblack Found the pics First the standard disclaimer: this is a risky process and so only do it if the bass has no high monetary value and if it is otherwise unplayable anyway For taking the fretboard off, you need: - A hot iron - household iron is fine. If it's a steam iron then run it dry. Hot setting - Some kitchen roll - A Stanley knife blade or other very thin sharp blade - A thin steel platter of some kind. Worst case a wide but thin steel rule, but a pie spatula or similar (very thin flexible steel) is better This example below is a fretless board, but I've removed a fretted board in exactly the same way 1. Take the nut off and start at the nut end. Get the iron hot and heat up the area of fretboard before the 1st fret. Protect the fretboard with a sheet of kitchen roll or similar. I use an old heat shrink iron but household iron is fine: You need to get the wood very hot - hot enough for the glue underneath to soften 2. Take your Stanley blade (the single edged razors here are even better. Don't use two sided razor blades - you WILL cut yourself badly ) and ease it under as the glue softens. If it doesn't enter the gap at all, then the glue is still hard. Work on this until you are able to insert the blade across the whole width of the board at the nut end. This bit can easily take half an hour. If after half an hour there is still no way the blade is going in at all then either the iron isn't hot enough or the board has been (rare but not unknown) epoxied on. In the former case, turn the iron on even higher if it will. In the latter case, hang the bass back on the wall : 3. Ease your steel platter/ruler into the gap (a couple of mm will do)and carry on heating that area, walking the platter forward a mm at a time. Keep it flat at all times. DO NOT lever it up at any stage - this will almost always snap the fretboard - especially a fretted board. Again, nowadays I use a steel flexi sheet from my acoustic sides bending stuff, but first couple I did I used a metal ruler: 4. Carry on, mm by mm all the way up to the end. When you are an inch or so from the end - and this might be an hour or so later! - don't get over enthusiastic and try and pull the last bit off - you WILL break the board. Just carry on mm by mm until it is off I'll cover getting it back on in a bit. But you will need lots of decent screw clamps and some decent blocks of wood as clamping cauls and a bottle of Titebond.