J-45 truss rod adjustment issue

[7rs1]

Hi there! I have this annoying problem on my semi-new j-45. Here the other day I was gonna adjust the truss rod because it has gotten dead straight during the early summer moist, and it shows that I can't get the tool to fit in the truss rod "pocket". I have a special truss rod tool that works fine on my lp and sg, but since this is my first Gibson acoustic I don't know if this is normal? And I've checked the size of the nut and its 5/16, so the wrench should fit. I mean, the tool seems to fit perfectly, but there just isnt enough room underneath the nut. To me it seems that the "pocket" is not made big enough.

 

I'm thinking about taking it to my local luthiere so he can make the pocket bigger..

 

Any hints on what to do? I havent tried to push the wrench in with force yet because I'm worried about doing some permanent damage;P

[ajsc]

I use a 5/16th nut driver!! It is very tight on both my Gibson's, but it does work.

[guitarstrummer]

Welcome to the forum. The correct size should be 5/16". I wouldn't try to force anything. If it doesn't work, take it to someone and have it checked out. I've never had one yet that wouldn't take a nut driver, but I suppose there's always a first time for everything. You just have to make sure it's a thin walled nut driver. Stew Mac sells some that work great.

[gearbasher]

When I first tried to adjust the truss rod on my new J-45, it also seemed like the driver wouldn't fit. It turned out to be finish that was over-sprayed on the nut. I chipped it off with a jeweler's screw driver and the wrench fit perfectly.

[7rs1]

Thanks for the replies! I have a good quality 5/16 thin walled nut driver from Gitarist in Norway, pretty similar to that one from Stew Mac, so thats why I was even more suprised that it didn't fit.

 

Anyways, here the other day I gave it another shot. I tried to look for finish residue on the nut but could'nt see any. I tried to gently scrape the nut with a flat headed screwdriver but it was clean.

 

Then I had an idea that maybe the wood had expanded during the spring/summer. We have really moody humidity conditions were I live. Everything from as low as 5% in mid winter to 55%-60% in the summer, and even though I use a soundhole humidifier during the winter it might not give the ideal humidity to the neck/peghead.

 

I'm not 100% positive about this but it just might be that the wood has expanded a bit, causing the misfitting nut driver.

 

The solution for me was to push the nut driver in. Kinda hard, but not turning violent on my poor baby. The whole process took me about an hour, but I ended up getting the nut driver in there, even though it was thight as **** and I was a bit worried, when I loosened the nut a tad the driver just kinda fell out. Now it falls in to place real easy.

 

I didnt hear any cracking noises or anything bad so I recon the piece is just fine.

[guitarstrummer]

"All's well that ends well."

[7rs1]

"All's well that ends well."

 

Yeah. I gave the expanding wood theory another taught.. Funny that the j-45 is the only guitar that has suffered from this, and not my other acoustics and electrics:-k

 

That theory is a longshot.. But whatever it was it's solved now. Anyone experiencing the same thing, with any guitar, be careful to follow my lead and force the nut driver down there.. I dont think its healthy and I guess I was lucky I didnt screw anything up..^_^