How to adjust a late 1930's Epiphone Truss Rod

[Steve Bee]

Is there a tool I can use to adjust one of these late '30's Epiphone truss rods with no nut?  Should I weld a hex nut on it?

[brad williams]

One more update, I can't find a 1/4" drive socket that will fit in the area under the fingerboard extension on mine. The top on this one is fairly bulbous and even after a recent re-set, the extension sits pretty low over the body. I looked around for 1/8" drive sockets, but those don't seem to be commonly available (I couldn't find a single one).

Back to the drawing board, I guess. Time to put the old thinking cap on. I might just treat this neck as if it were non-adjustable.

[Ron Frazier]

It looks like the top is destroyed so why not remove the fingerboard and replace the trussrot with a new one.

 

Ron

[Joel Knadler]

I'm working on a 1930's epiphone archtop which I think is an Olympic model.  The truss rod is, for all intents and purposes non functional, even though there is nothing wrong with it.  The finger board is pretty thin and the neck has a forward bow even with the truss rod as tight as I can possibly get it.  My plan is to replace the finger board and the truss rod with one of the double action rods that Allied Lutherie sells. I would appreciate any thoughts on this.  Anyone ever try to remove the original truss rod from one of these?   

I included a couple of photos of this truss rod setup in case you haven't seen this before.

 

Thanks, Joel

[Hugh Hansen]

This is indeed what you would call a "placebo" truss rod.  I found a drum key that fit perfectly and pinned it onto the end of an allen wrench.  I also found it necessary to thin it down with the poor mans metal lathe (chucked in a drill and presented to a disc sander).  It's not a masterpiece of engineering but it gets the job done for the few times here and there that it's needed.  You're really best off just pretending like it's not there and getting the neck bow right with the fret job.

[Joel Knadler]

Hugh, Thanks for posting.  This has been sitting on the bench all week while I think about what to do with it. I'm thinking that it would be better (and less work) not to replace the truss since it isn't broken and 'functions' as it did when it was new.  Also, that is a pretty hefty piece of rod in there and it should keep the neck rigid even if you can't really move the neck with it.  I'll try your drum key idea since I have all of the same technology in my shop :)

 

Thanks again

[brad williams]

Hugh, "treat it as though it were non-adjustable" is exactly what I did with mine about a year ago, and it came out great.

[Steve Bee]

Thanks Brad, I think that is best way to handle these old Epi's... I literally have about 5 of them at my shop that need all types of repairs.  Frank's initial comments about "easily" being in the Epiphone dictionary was spot on.  Thanks again.