Stew Mac Truss Rod Crank ... and what to do about it.

[fender3x]

I know I have said this before, but I really think there should be a forum that is devoted to tools, jigs and clever devices that can be used in guitar construction. Not that I am calling this ugly thing I made "clever." It's born more of necessity and laziness than intelligence.

I have two guitars that have a truss rod adjustment at the heel end. The kind with a single slot for a standard screwdriver rather than a hex-key hole. On the one I was just working on, I can access the truss rod through a notch I put in the pickguard for exactly this purpose...



I also got a Stew Mac tool Called the "StewMac Truss Rod Crank for Tele"

I think this tool would be just fine for a truss rod end that is double slotted (looks like an X). However, for a single slotted be truss rod like mine, this tool will not turn the end a full 360. Once I got the slot into a left to right downward slope ( \ ) I could not get it to move farther. I needed a tool that had a blade that slanted in the opposite direction to the SM tool, and preferably also one that had a vertical blade.

So, I got out my tin snips, a hammer, a file and a large crescent wrench and made one:




Obviously not very pretty, but effective. I am thinking that I may send an abridged version of this to SM. They really should have both tools available. The flimsy piece of bent metal I got from them cost $10+7 with shipping. I might not have minded so much if it had worked well. Had I known that it would not be sufficient on its own, I might have made two ugly tools rather than just one.