Parker Fly broken truss-rod

[Len Biglin]

Hi all , does anyone know how the parker fly truss rod works? It has a Torx nut offset to one side of headstock , it's not stripped but doesn't work at all.Thanks Len

[Mark A. Kane]

I've had 2 Warmoth necks in the last 4-5 months, both stainless in need of moderate dressing (one flat-spotted through #15 from heavy bending, the other general wear #1-7) and neither of which was more than 3 years old. It was a bit of a shock to my preconceived notions about stainless wire. At some point they'll need to be refretted.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Same player?

[Mark A. Kane]

Different customers. And I've now seen a THIRD! This was a Strat that had been refretted several years ago. It had multiple problems including frets popping up in the middle but included wear mainly down low (1-5). I pressed and glued the frets back down (I don't think they were glued to begin with but I didn't investigate) then did a general leveling and recrowning, followed by a setup. The wear wasn't great but it was still there.

[Len Biglin]

X rays below

[Russell Vance]

Hi Len, apart from this, how you traveling?    I'll have a crack at the xrays - the truss rod adjusting nut seems to be floating away from  the washer which it buts up against to gain tension - if this is how it looks and you haven't backed off the nut then it appears the thread is stripped from the adjusting nut/machine screw where it enters into the truss rod end -

Alternatively, the thread may be stripped out of the bore of the truss rod end.  If you can pull the screw out and check it this will localize the problem but if the bore is done for I don't have enough experience or knowledge of this system to offer a way ahead.  Anybody, anywhere ?

Sorry mate, best I can guess, Rusty.

[Tim Mace]

Amazing reveal ya'll..Dr.Vance is probably right on AU! What was used in capturing

the xrays ,,An xray machine? Duh...Jus' curious...

[Len Biglin]

Hi Rusty , I am goin good mate , I think I had the adj. screw loose during the X rays , which explains the gap at the washer.The whole rod seems to be moveable lengthwise as I can hear the anchor moving when I push/pull the screw , I was too busy to get another look at it today, if so perhaps I can inject some epoxy down the butt end .Will get another look tomoro and get back to you.Tim I have a customer who is a radiographer and was happy to help me out (thanks Ian ) I held the film up to a white wall and took a few photos then posted them.JAM industries who now own Parker Guitars have not replied.I think its gona be a fix either end approach , rather than go with an ebony board.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Weird... I was quite sure the Parker Fly trussrod was a double acting one. It seems not. Hu...

[Russell Vance]

Hi PA,

As we are furiously reading ourselves into this problem we get to know the beast:  the original Parker Flys had a single piano wire (70 thousands inch) truss rod arrangement which I guess acted as a tensioned rod would. Later versions came with a conventional (two way?) rod for whatever reason the manufacturer had.  Lens' monster appears to be the skinny rod type.

My further thinking on this is: - if the original neck was basswood encased with fibre then its possible the very soft basswood has been compromised or crushed with the rod anchor end which would account for the rod moving about as Len has observed,  so it may well be loose anchors etc.  Epoxy into the rod anchor area may well do the trick (X RAYS are very good for finding and locating rod ends/anchors).   Drill into the anchor area with a 1/6" drill and inject epoxy with a syringe/16 gauge needle - this may give the anchor sufficient purchase to allow some truss rod tension - nothing to lose here - Rusty.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

That's a good idea Rusty.

[Rob Mercure]

"Stainless" steel simply refers to a series of alloys containing nickel and chromium with other metals/elements that resist corrosion - some are actually quite soft so to simple state "stainless steel" is like simply stating "iron" - without the manufacturer series (doesn't imply the actual manufacturer just who successfully designed the metal) doesn't really tell you that much.  For example the "440" series SS in my Victorinox SAK won't take nor keep as good an edge as the high-carbon steel in my Schrade "Old Timer" pocket knife.  But if I don't oil, and keep oiled, the OT it will turn in to brass bounded rust while the SAK will become ridiculously stiff to open but still be shiny with an edge.  No scalpel is made of "stainless" steel nor are good wood chisels so while stainless is harder than many common fret alloys - especially the "brass" ones (really bronze) it will definitely wear - it just won't "rust" nor leave any metal smell on your fingertips if you've got that type of body chemistry. And there is no more need to glue in SS than any other fret metal nor to use any other sort of glue - so while glue use is the commonest technique you won't have to purchase anything special for the SS.  The only thing you won't be able to do really is use any trick that allows you to temporarily solder to the fret to help pull it.  Overheating won't change the hardness of the SS much but it will cause some migration of constituent metal causing permanent discoloration.  (every now and then the 9 month machinist trainee program I took when I was 22 helps but this was before computer controlled mills and such and SAE not metric so almost immediately obsolete for job hunting but still worth while for amateur metal working). Rob

[David Lee]

Hi, did the repair work at all? I'm in the same position myself. But now there is no factory to send it back to! I really need some help!