My first Dot - normal to have truss rod nut deeply recessed??

[Usable Thought]

After having not played electric guitars for, oh, 30 years or so, I've decided to start playing again on a casual basis. When I was a kid I had a very nice ES-335, and being on a budget I decided to go for a new Epiphone Dot. SInce there are no Gibson dealers near me, I went ahead and bought a black Dot via Amazon. I am looking it over to make sure it is OK. Setup looks decent, though I will probably tweak it at some point.

 

So here's my question: On removing the cover for the truss rod, I was surprised to see how deeply the nut is recessed. I haven't measured, but suffice to say that the 4mm allen wrench shipped with the guitar would be totally useless for making adjustments: there is so much wood in the way that the short leg of the wrench won't seat fully in the nut; and because the nut is recessed not only inwards, but downwards, the long leg of the wrench would result in the wrench coming in at about a 15-degree angle. So there too the wrench wouldn't seat fully.

 

From having poked around the Internet & also looking at one of Dan Erlewine's books, I am guessing that this isn't really as uncommon a situation as I might have expected. In fact Erlewine has a photo in his book of an long-handled allen wrench where he put a bend in the shaft (it's a pretty long shaft) so as to allow him easier access in these sorts of situations.

 

My own solution, should I decide I want to adjust the truss rod at any point, has been to order an allen wrench from StewMac that has one of those little "ball" ends on it. Supposedly the ball allows the wrench to be used at an angle up to 25 degrees without seating being a problem. If anyone has experience with this kind of wrench, I'd be interested - does it work as advertised? And also, if anyone thinks this situation is abnormal, I'd like to know. The rest of the guitar looks well put-together, and I hear the reputation of the China factory is pretty good. But being as it's a brand-new guitar, I want to make sure it's okay in all respects. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.