overtherainbo Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Hey, Fellow Babies, Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I know you've all missed my curly blond hair and bright blue eyes -- can't help being a little ray of sunshine… Anyway, I come asking advice from the mighty Gibson oracle. Now about my truss rod... Got a Gibson copy with a broken headstock. This was glued back in place sans the truss rod with the predictable result. Even with super slinky strings, the neck bows; so lousy fingering and intonation. I know that the usual procedure is to steam away the finger board to place the rod in the trough. But the rod really, really looks like it could fit down the top of the headstock. It that even possible, or am I looking at a desert mirage? Any input will be appreciated. I'm too old for a hobby to be difficult… thanks,overtherainbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Hey, Fellow Babies, Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I know you've all missed my curly blond hair and bright blue eyes -- can't help being a little ray of sunshine… Anyway, I come asking advice from the mighty Gibson oracle. Now about my truss rod... Got a Gibson copy with a broken headstock. This was glued back in place sans the truss rod with the predictable result. Even with super slinky strings, the neck bows; so lousy fingering and intonation. I know that the usual procedure is to steam away the finger board to place the rod in the trough. But the rod really, really looks like it could fit down the top of the headstock. It that even possible, or am I looking at a desert mirage? Any input will be appreciated. I'm too old for a hobby to be difficult… thanks,overtherainbo lol well I guess we'll never know until you try it! But as you said conventionally the fretboard comes off first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 . AFAIK it would depend on the way the anchor is set in this copy. Does it come through the butt end of the neck? . Or is it anchored inside the heel under the fretboard? KSdaddy needs to chime in here (sent him a PM). . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 If it's a single action trusrod it will have to be anchored at the heel end. If it's a double action trusrod it won't fit in the hole at the head stock end. You'll need to take the fretboard off to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 I've heard of anchors replaced by determining WHERE the anchor is and removing the two adjacent frets, then routing out a section from fret slot to fret slot, replacing the exposed anchor, inserting the truss rod, then inlaying a new (matching) piece of fingerboard wood. A lot of work. Phenomenal amount of work. So I am to assume there is NO truss rod in place but there is a slot? One 'toss of the dice' would involve a strip of the appropriate sized carbon fiber rod and some good old slow setting epoxy. Carbon fiber rods Clamp the neck laser straight in an upright position, mix up some slow setting epoxy (not the foul smelling 5 minute stuff although that would work too), drizzle some down into the channel and then ram the carbon rod down in there. There will be a mess. All that is going to do is add some rigidity to the neck, it won't allow you to adjust anything, but at least you could make it playable. Backing up though, it's a Gibson copy...bolt on neck? Could a replacement neck be found? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtherainbo Posted May 11, 2016 Author Share Posted May 11, 2016 Hello, Fellow Babies I thank you all for your responses. Looking for the easy "fix" rarely works better than the real remedy that may be costly in terms of time and money; but, hey, looking for the easy way is my nature. Ok, a quick background. I'm fairly familiar with the guitar because I restored the body (sanding, filling holes and depressions, refinishing - so long ago -about 1980/1981 - I don't remember the finish I used) selected the electronics, and bought a new neck. It might sound uncharacteristic to you guys, for me to claim ignorance - about anything. But I cannot tell anything from looking the end of an installed truss rod other than whether it adjusts from the nut or body/neck joint. I've never installed one or seen it in the neck prior to gluing the fret board in place. And when I assembled the guitar it never occurred to me that I needed to know anything specific about how the rod was anchored. As related to me by the guy who broke it, and then began to fix it… The neck of course broke right at the nut. The first thing he did was he pulled the rod out of the neck where it had broken - which, I guess, explains why it was easy. Searcy, you must be right; the rod was probably a single action anchored at the heel. Then he glued the neck using some sort of 2 part, acrylic glue. He did a good job there. The only mystery, why in the heck did he pull the rod out?! As an experienced player he surely had to know it's function… Maybe he tried by couldn't get it to lodge in the nut pit down at the heel end? It was the last project I worked with my father, so I had to make a few compromises in the building. The guitar was given as a gift. It changed hands a couple of times, and now that it has been broken it was retuned to me. Well I understand "why me?"; turns out there is no repair shop closer than Pennsylvania that will heat the glue to use the spatula/knife to remove the fretboard. So giving it back to me was judged a reasonable approach, as I am known to my friends for tinkering with and fixing guitars. Ksdaddy, those sound like reasonable suggestions, and they might work. The guitar is playable now, but the fingering and intonation is just unacceptable. For all the pains I took to build a nice guitar, I haven't accepted the the inevitable --- I don't want the mess of glue all over the neck, etc. And I set the neck with glue, so changing neck sounds fraught with peril. Besides it is a sweet neck, inlays… pretty… I can't really explain myself. I'm a perfectionist. Like when last I rebuilt my chopper. As I got to the last step, I discovered that my new exhaust system wouldn't fit past the kickstand. ****! ****! ****! Amen custom frame, lots of new chrome, and 100 hours spent painting my bike with elves, dwarves, and dragons… So I threw out the suggestion made to me by my fellow builders that I simply pound a depression in the muffler allowing room for the kickstand tab. I seriously thought about cutting the tab and rewelding it closer to the rear. But that would probably leave the bike heavy, unbalanced at the front, and easily toppled while sitting on the stand. So there the bike sat for a couple of months while I tried to imagine a good way of fixing my "perfect" chopper. I couldn't mess-up the paint!! Finally, I banged the damn depression on the inside of the muffler. So now the whole world knows "Mister Know-it-all Biker can't rally build a bike without some really stupid problems. So right now, I watching all the videos about truss rods I can find. I may yet buy the heating iron and knife from Stewmac. Thanks for your interest and suggestions. You started me thinking… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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