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Stuck truss rod?


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I recently picked up a Japanese P bass (PB 70US) and find that there is a bit too much rattle from all the strings from around the 5th to twelfth fret.

 

I assumed this meant I needed a bit more relief. It's a body-end adjustment so I loosened the neck for access but couldn't get the rod to turn at all - in either direction. 

 

It's a cross head rather than the hex/Allen key ones I've been used to so I'm not sure if I'm being too cautious but it really does feel like it's stuck fast.

 

Any pointers or simple checks I can do before I take it to a luthier?

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I would try to introduce a little back bow in the neck by the use of a straight edge and clamps (there are videos on Youtube). You might find that you can then loosen the screw more easily.

If that doesn't work, then applying heat via a soldering iron held against the screw, often does the trick.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

By coincidence I got this sorted just yesterday. I had intended taking it to a local repairer but a vicious bout of covid took me down so I tried again myself.

 

I don't know if it was changes in humidity or the pressure I'd been intermittently been putting on the neck in the interim but the screw turned relatively easily. A quarter turn anticlockwise seems to have almost completely righted things.

 

Still cursing Fender and their infuriating, but presumably period-correct, body-end, cross-head rod access...

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4 hours ago, Dankology said:

Still cursing Fender and their infuriating, but presumably period-correct, body-end, cross-head rod access...

 

But apparently Leo got it right first time... 😁

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19 hours ago, Dankology said:

Still cursing Fender and their infuriating, but presumably period-correct, body-end, cross-head rod access...

I have an Elite Precision (introduced after the Deluxes and before the new Ultra) which has a wheel, at the body end of the neck, to adjust the truss rod. It's just like the one found on Musicman basses and makes it very easy to adjust when needed. I do wonder why they went back to the old truss rod adjuster?

Edited by gjones
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48 minutes ago, gjones said:

 I do wonder why they went back to the old truss rod adjuster?

 

It's a question I've been asking myself repeatedly, in much less poilte words, over recent days.

 

When I went Googling to see if there was some good reason for it, the best I could find was a lot of TB postings by people apparently irate that anyone had any issue with the system. If that's your market, I guess you give them what they want. Surely the little wheel thing would be an excellent compromise though?

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