Jonathan T Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Hi. I need to adjust the truss rod on my Gibson 73 Johnny smith. I have tried an 8mm wrench, but that is too big. My friend said he had an imperial wrench, which we tried and it fitted, but he cant remember the size. Does anyone on here know ? Many thanks for any help and all the best, Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Gibsons are usually 5/16" which is just slightly smaller than 8mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 A thin-walled wrench is recommendable to avoid damage to the guitar. Common tools are designed for higher torques which are not necessary for truss-rod adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan T Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Many thanks fellas I have seen a load of 5/16 truss rods on ebay but most of them say in brackets 8 mm. there are two that say in brackets 7.4 and 7.3 so ill try those. Its a shame as they are outside of the uk where I'm based but I guess at least they are cheap Just have to wait a while to find out if they fit. Thanks for the info though and ill let you know how I get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 ... there are two that say in brackets 7.4 and 7.3 so ill try those. ... Be careful! They write lots of rubbish on the web. I even found an advertisement saying 8.7mm for a Gibson truss-rod wrench. 5/16" is equivalent to exactly 7.9375mm. The 8mm wrench supplied by Ibanez for their Gibraltar bridges works for my Gibsons as well as the Gibson 5/16" truss-rod nut tools do for the Ibanez Gibraltar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Be careful! They write lots of rubbish on the web. I even found an advertisement saying 8.7mm for a Gibson truss-rod wrench. 5/16" is equivalent to exactly 7.9375mm. The 8mm wrench supplied by Ibanez for their Gibraltar bridges works for my Gibsons as well as the Gibson 5/16" truss-rod nut tools do for the Ibanez Gibraltar. It's possible that his truss rod nut has been rounded off a bit over the years from people using an 8mm wrench instead of 5/16". It shouldn't be that hard to find a 5/16" wrench, even in the UK. It wasn't that long ago that the imperial system was the standard. As has been pointed out, a regular mechanic's box end wrench may damage the recess due to its thick walls. They are pretty easy to grind down or file down to prevent this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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