Truss Rod Nut Issue

[darwinohm]

Okay folks, I am tired of solving problems after dealing with my John Mayer but I am convinced it is fixed. So now I focus on a G&L Legacy that I have been concerned about. Let me back up a bit. I had two identical Vintage White G&L guitars with a build of probably 2007. They were part of the models that were sold with the gig bags and actually my favorites at the time. The first one had a tight truss rod, in other words it felt like it bottomed out. So I swapped the truss rod nuts between the two guitars and the one with the tight truss rod adjusted just fine. The other one came in fine too so I didn't think too much about it. I traded the one with the original tight truss rod and recently I was going to adjust the other one as it had too much relief. This guitar is basically new and was unplayed until I put the Roland pickup on it. Tonight I decided to get to the bottom of this. I could not tighten the nut on the truss rod anymore and it is the one with the 1/8 th allen wrench. The wrench actually stripped out the head. So I go in and look at the truss rod nut on the Classic S that I have. I removed to nut on the Legacy (lucky) only to discover that it did not have a hole drilled through it all the way. It had a very shallow depression for the allen wrench. I removed the nut on the Classic S and it was drilled all the way through. So I put that nut on the Legacy and the baby adjusts up like it should. I believe that the truss rod nut was bottoming out on the rod. Is anyone aware of this change or why the nut isn't drilled all the way through. I just checked the online store and don't see this item as available. Keep in mind that G&L has gone to a new truss rod screw on the newer models. So I am wondering what is going on. I actually thought I had a bad neck. I have never had a bad neck and the experience with the John Mayer neck only got me more interested in this. Yes, I am confused about this change or could it have just been a defective truss rod nut?? -- Darwin.

[louis cyfer]

on my bluesboy the trussrod doesn't move much either way. the neck is straight though. when i took it in with the blown up body, my tech told me to make sure i keep the same neck, he said it is an unusually stiff piece of wood, and the trussrod just doesn't move it much. this is a good thing. the neck is from '07. i am just pointing out that sometimes there are different reasons why the trussrod is tight. not always bad ones. i am curious about what you find out about the trussrod nuts though.

[darwinohm]

Louis, I understand what you are saying but this one became tight all of a sudden like it was bottoming out. The drilled nut has totally solved the issue. All the guitars that I have adjust differently but they adjust.-- Darwin

[louis cyfer]

Louis, I understand what you are saying but this one became tight all of a sudden like it was bottoming out. The drilled nut has totally solved the issue. All the guitars that I have adjust differently but they adjust.-- Darwin

i understand. i'm curious what you'll find out about the different trussrod nuts. i was just illustrating an issue i came across that was an unusual situation. something that would not have occurred to me.

[darwinohm]

All is well and I have not heard from anyone else experiencing this. I wonder how many people have thought their truss rod was bad because of this. I have repaired two guitars with the same issue , both almost new. My Fender John Mayer is doing just fine. it is at .006 relief and stable. This was a new guitar and the truss rod nut was bottomed out. I used washers that I drilled out and installed to fix that one.

The Legacy (2007), that I was convinced had a bad neck is the latest repair. I mentioned that the truss rod nut was not drilled all the way through and after I remove another G&L truss rod (Same Vintage) nut, I noticed that it was drilled all the way through and the 1/8 allen wrench would sink all the way into the nut. I put this nut on the Legacy that I thought had a bad neck and it adjusted perfectly with more to spare. I put the nut (Bad Nut) on the guitar that I removed the good one from and it did not adjust out either and bottomed out inside the nut. I checked the G&L online store and do not find one listed. We have an excellent G&L dealer here and the G&L distributor is very active with this store.

Lets back up a bit. I ordered two 250k pots for a tribute that I sold to a friend 2 months ago. I ordered them through the dealer and they have never come in. The distributor checked on them and a week and a half ago I was told that they were not available for the Tribute. No problem as the salesman will get some from a supplier that he knows. I am not in a hurry. Now, fast forward. I didn't want to wait until who knows when to get a truss rod nut. Thursday afternoon I went on the bay and ordered a truss rod nut , genuine Fender part for an American Fender from a place in Yankton SD. It was quite inexpensive, $2.99 and $2.99 shipping. I was totally surprised when it showed up in the mail today. Anyway, it is built like the "bad" G&L nut that I removed, the hole does not go all the way through it. I measured the depth of the hole in both of them and the Fender was drilled more than 1/8 " deeper. That nut is now on the G&L and it adjusted up sweet as could be. So I am one happy camper as it has been a good run the last four weeks.

The G&L dealer that I go to would have taken care of it in a heart beat but I am the second owner and it is not on warranty. I am not confident if a luthier would have gone that deep either. I think that we are lucky on this forum to have Craig as I know that he has made a lot of things happen that would have been very time consuming otherwise. Am I the only one out there that has experienced this issue? Maybe, and if that it is true I am happy. . We all know that getting a replacement neck is serious stuff. I am surprised that there was no followup on this post but as of tonight, all is well and I think that I will have a cold one or two.-- Darwin

[louis cyfer]

All is well and I have not heard from anyone else experiencing this. I wonder how many people have thought their truss rod was bad because of this. I have repaired two guitars with the same issue , both almost new. My Fender John Mayer is doing just fine. it is at .006 relief and stable. This was a new guitar and the truss rod nut was bottomed out. I used washers that I drilled out and installed to fix that one.

The Legacy (2007), that I was convinced had a bad neck is the latest repair. I mentioned that the truss rod nut was not drilled all the way through and after I remove another G&L truss rod (Same Vintage) nut, I noticed that it was drilled all the way through and the 1/8 allen wrench would sink all the way into the nut. I put this nut on the Legacy that I thought had a bad neck and it adjusted perfectly with more to spare. I put the nut (Bad Nut) on the guitar that I removed the good one from and it did not adjust out either and bottomed out inside the nut. I checked the G&L online store and do not find one listed. We have an excellent G&L dealer here and the G&L distributor is very active with this store.

Lets back up a bit. I ordered two 250k pots for a tribute that I sold to a friend 2 months ago. I ordered them through the dealer and they have never come in. The distributor checked on them and a week and a half ago I was told that they were not available for the Tribute. No problem as the salesman will get some from a supplier that he knows. I am not in a hurry. Now, fast forward. I didn't want to wait until who knows when to get a truss rod nut. Thursday afternoon I went on the bay and ordered a truss rod nut , genuine Fender part for an American Fender from a place in Yankton SD. It was quite inexpensive, $2.99 and $2.99 shipping. I was totally surprised when it showed up in the mail today. Anyway, it is built like the "bad" G&L nut that I removed, the hole does not go all the way through it. I measured the depth of the hole in both of them and the Fender was drilled more than 1/8 " deeper. That nut is now on the G&L and it adjusted up sweet as could be. So I am one happy camper as it has been a good run the last four weeks.

The G&L dealer that I go to would have taken care of it in a heart beat but I am the second owner and it is not on warranty. I am not confident if a luthier would have gone that deep either. I think that we are lucky on this forum to have Craig as I know that he has made a lot of things happen that would have been very time consuming otherwise. Am I the only one out there that has experienced this issue? Maybe, and if that it is true I am happy. . We all know that getting a replacement neck is serious stuff. I am surprised that there was no followup on this post but as of tonight, all is well and I think that I will have a cold one or two.-- Darwin

on fenders i have had this issue, but not with g&l's. i'll ask my tech if he has run into this with g&l's

[darwinohm]

This is my only experience with a truss rod adjusting problem on a G&L. I wonder how many people have been convinced that they had a bad neck or their truss rod had stretched? Maybe I need to look for pristine guitars with necks that no longer adjust. How can I sell Ginny on this opportunity???? Darwin

[Craig]

I am surprised that there was no followup on this post but as of tonight, all is well and I think that I will have a cold one or two.-- Darwin

Hi Darwin,

It's been a very busy last week for me and my weekends are mostly away from the computer.

I will check with the factory about the truss rod nuts this week.

Stay tuned.

[darwinohm]

Thanks Craig, I appreciate that and if you need any information such as build date or anything else, let me know. Much appreciated and no urgency.-- Darwin

[KenC]

Darwin,

I briefly owned a mid-90s Legacy last year that went back to Guitar Center due to truss rod problems. I thought it was just in need of a setup when I bought it, but two very competent technicians couldn't get the neck straight. Both blamed the truss rod, and thought it would break if they tried any harder. I don't have any details other than that. The manager at GC in Rockville wasn't able to straighten it either, so he took it back with no objection.

That Legacy was a sweet sounding guitar. I hated having to return it. If I run into this problem again, I will definitely check the nut.

Ken

ps - Thinking back, my local used guitar shop had an older L-2000 recently with a very similar problem. I might have to see if they still have it and check that out.

[darwinohm]

Ken, there are a couple of things to consider with truss rods. If the nut is not drilled all the way through, it may be the nut is bottoming out on the rod. The other issue that can be experienced is that the nut has run out of threads on the rod. this can be easily solved by installing washers on the rod. The main thing is to really analyze the problem and decide what needs to be done. in either case, washers may solve the problem. Some rods do adjust with more tension required due to the strength of the wood. I would never force a truss rod but rather determine what the problem is. One of my reasons for posting this in the first place is that a Luthier will know that the truss rod will mot adjust and they are not going to spend more time determining why. -- Darwin

[darwinohm]

Walked out to the mailbox and there was a letter from BBE Sound Inc. It contained a truss rod nut, washer and 4 mm wrench, compliments of Chris Robosan. I immediately measured the new truss rod nut and found that it was drilled more that 1/4 in deeper that the nut that could no longer be adjusted. There is no need for a washer as an additional 1/4 inch is a long way to go on a truss rod. My hats off to Craig, as he brought this to the attention of the factory, and G&L for paying attention to what we experience. Customer Service extraordinaire. This continues to instill my belief in G&L, actually it has never wavered but the proof is in the pudding as they say. Great job Craig and G&L, and thank you again!! -- Darwin

[baldu]

Ah

You got exactly the same problem truss rod nut as I have
I found out today that I also have a too undeep drilled nut, that doesn't go far enough, so the truss rod cannot be adjusted properly
I have a new G&L legacy, bought it yesterday, with too much relief in the neck
I cannot tighten the nut more, than it already was,

Who can help me to get a new nut and 4 mm allen wrench also
Now this nut needs a 1/8" allen wrench, must be the older one

Hope craig reads this also and contact me

regards
Baldu

[Craig]

Ah

You got exactly the same problem truss rod nut as I have
I found out today that I also have a too undeep drilled nut, that doesn't go far enough, so the truss rod cannot be adjusted properly
I have a new G&L legacy, bought it yesterday, with too much relief in the neck
I cannot tighten the nut more, than it already was,

Who can help me to get a new nut and 4 mm allen wrench also
Now this nut needs a 1/8" allen wrench, must be the older one

Hope craig reads this also and contact me

regards
Baldu

I was about to post on your first post and then saw this one.

You mention it's a "new" guitar but also mention it must be an older one. Did you get it from a G&L dealer as a NOS purchase?
If so, it would be covered under warranty and you should contact the dealer first and work with them to get it resolved.
If was a used purchase then contact a local G&L dealer and ask if they carry replacement truss rod nuts. If you have no local dealer
or can't find one with this part, see G&L's Support Page and contact Chris Robosan
for getting a replacement. Make sure to let him know the serial number of the guitar, so that he can find you the proper part for your guitar.

Hope this helps.

[baldu]

Ah

You got exactly the same problem truss rod nut as I have
I found out today that I also have a too undeep drilled nut, that doesn't go far enough, so the truss rod cannot be adjusted properly
I have a new G&L legacy, bought it yesterday, with too much relief in the neck
I cannot tighten the nut more, than it already was,

Who can help me to get a new nut and 4 mm allen wrench also
Now this nut needs a 1/8" allen wrench, must be the older one

Hope craig reads this also and contact me

regards
Baldu

I was about to post on your first post and then saw this one.

C. You mention it's a "new" guitar but also mention it must be an older one. Did you get it from a G&L dealer as a NOS purchase?

B. It is a guitarshop, with lots of guitars, mostly used, some new ones. But I do not think its a G&L dealer, I have to ask him. I bought it as a new guitar, it is defenitely onplayed and new, the plastic seal on the pickguard and backplate, and a certificate and serial number, the stickers etc came with it including the hardcase. I registrated the guitar here also.
Maybe the guitar was on stock for a while, I told "must be older" since it still has a 1/8" nut in it, while as said the new ones seemes to have a 4mm nut.

C. If so, it would be covered under warranty and you should contact the dealer first and work with them to get it resolved.

B. The shopseller asked me to contact G&L, for information, I sent him the replies I found here, to inform him that this problem occurs once in a while

C. If was a used purchase then contact a local G&L dealer and ask if they carry replacement truss rod nuts. If you have no local dealer or can't find one with this part, see G&L's Support Page and contact Chris Robosan

B. Okay

C. for getting a replacement. Make sure to let him know the serial number of the guitar, so that he can find you the proper part for your guitar.

Hope this helps.

B. Thanks a lot Craig, I'll contact the shop first and then further

regards
Baldu