Les Paul truss rod nut stuck

[jaberwock]

My good friend bought a very nice 1971 black Les Paul custom; I confess I'm not a big LP fan, but this ones sounds great. It looks like its been stored under someones bed for the last twenty odd years, there's a fair bit of corrosion on the the gold hardware, the tuneomatic bridge has sagged in the middle, but the frets are original and in excellent shape, and no headstock repair, overall very, very, good condition

But here's the rub, the neck has a bow, not enough to make it unplayable, but just necessitates a fairly high action to avoid buzzing on the higher frets, and the truss rod adjustor nut seems to be stuck; I've put small amounts of WD40 on it over the last two days , and worked it gently about twice a day, it now moves about 5 degrees in either direction but then comes to a stop, I'm not using much force at all, the resistance is the same in both tightening and loosening directions.

Any advice would be gratefully received, I've read about using a soldering iron to heat the truss rod nut, but it feels as though the nut is turning, could the truss rod be stuck somewhere along the truss rod slot ? The nearest luthier I would trust with this would be in Japan, so I want to exhaust all the obvious options first.

I'll post some pics soon......I think this is the model that has the super desirable pickups, that may explain why it sounds so good.

Many thanks Jaberwock

[murkat]

Well, I have done plenty of LP truss rods, and a few others.

A 71' LPC is nothing to garage logic about and hope to get it right.

And WD40 could do more harm than good, not knowing what is actually hindering the performance of the truss rod.

Your just going to have to buckle up and send it to me

[Ting Ho Dung]

^^^^^ This

[jaberwock]

Well, I have done plenty of LP truss rods, and a few others.

A 71' LPC is nothing to garage logic about and hope to get it right.

And WD40 could do more harm than good, not knowing what is actually hindering the performance of the truss rod.

Your just going to have to buckle up and send it to me

I wouldn't hesitate giving it to you if we weren't on opposite sides of the globe, as I wrote, the nearest good luthier I know is in Japan, which involves a 90 minute plane ride, I was just trying to eliminate the obvious before telling my friend to send it to an expert.

I placed a drop of WD40 with a cocktail stick onto the exposed thread of the truss rod, what damage could this have done ?

Thanks for your input Jaberwock

[murkat]

" But here's the rub, the neck has a bow, not enough to make it unplayable, but just necessitates a fairly high action to avoid buzzing on the higher frets, and the truss rod adjustor nut seems to be stuck"

A. somewhat known fact, most 70's customs have what is known is "Rising Tongue".

The fretboard rises, swells where it is attached to the body. This make the higher frets

(12th on up) rise above the rest. Sometimes it goes up and down being weather dependent.

Not much you can do about it, when keeping it all original.

B. remove the truss rod nut, and the washer behind it...

The washer is going to be an absolute bitch to get out.

I use a steel dental pic and alot of patients.

Sometimes the washer gets hung up on the threads,

A new washer may be in order or reem and debur the original.

while the nut and washer are out, you can test, observe to see

if the truss rod actually works by applying pressure on the neck

positively and negatively with hand pressure.

support and isolate the body with the neck free,

apply pressure enough to observe the truss rod end for travel.

[Bennyboy-UK]

I would suggest the above work is expert level, in order to avoid properly shagging up the guitar.

[RichRS6]

Jay, that the answer to an issue that's puzzled me for years about certain guitars I've owned.

Is it possible to shave the risen tongue ?

[Andrew]

I have seen plenty of guitars and basses with the last few frets stoned down very low to compensate for the 'rising tongue'.

[murkat]

Jay, that the answer to an issue that's puzzled me for years about certain guitars I've owned.

Is it possible to shave the risen tongue ?

Yes it is.

[jaberwock]

Thanks Murkat,

yes this guitar has the "rising tongue" issue too, so it really needs some expert attention, so I told my buddy to either take it back to Canada with him on his next trip home, or take a vacation to Japan; the vintage guitar market is absolutely crazy there and they have some excellent luthiers catering to that trade.

Quick question, as I understand it WD40 is not really a lubricant, so should I put some oil on the truss rod nut threads before putting the cover back on, and returning it to my buddy ?

Thanks for your replies Jaberwock