Bent truss rods, and other issues...

[JeffreyK]

Hi,
I'm currently working on a 360/12 V64 (from 1993), and suspected a truss rod problem.
I managed to remove them and was stunned that they are bent this much, I thought they'd be straight?

The thread end of one rod is bent and at the neck heel, the nut pocket has crumbled wood, therefore the rod was pulled towards the head more than it should (hence I found an added spacer nut under the normal nut at the head end.



Without strings and rods, the neck is *almost* straight, a little bit of bow is still present. I wonder if it would respond to heat treatment? A local luthier has such a device...
Probably the luthier needs to do some work on the rod pocket at the heel to rebuild the crumbled wood...
I ordered a set of new truss rods and hope I can get the neck set properly, with the straight rods.
Cheers,
Jeffrey

[doctorwho]

Typical damage done by a former owner or tech that didn't know how to adjust Rickenbacker truss rods, but instead did it the "Fender-Gibson" way of just brute force. I'm in the process of replacing the truss rods on my 4080 for the same reason.

[JeffreyK]

Many thanks!
On one of the Facebook groups I'm in an owner of a '96 Rickenbacker said he had those "banana" rods too. He's replaced them with a new set of straight rods. Makes me wonder if during this time period, Rickenbacker used bent rods as standard?
In any case, I'm hopeful I may have a well set up guitar in the end, fingers crossed...
J

[Ratwax]

I picked up an '86 330 a few years ago on the cheap, as one truss rod was busted (stripped thread). The other one had been dimed to try and balance out the tension. Anyway, on replacement both were banana'd with the unbroken one particularly so. Considering the torque the truss rods are under, I'm guessing they will bend over time, which will be obvious when removed. In situ they should still work fine, but release the tension and remove them them from the neck .... 'boingo!'.

Cheers,
Andrew

[JeffreyK]

Thanks for the help!
I was quite surprised to find out how soft the steel of these rods actually is. I thought they'd be hardened, like spring steel or something like that but they can be bent quite easily... So no surprise they look like that after some tension and pressure.
J