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Building a 14 fret OM so not a lot of space between the upper transverse and the head block (maybe 1" occupied mostly by the graft). I couldn't bear the thought of drilling a hole in the brace but now I just...can't...get...there... I'm sure if i kept poking I would eventually seat the wrench but then turning it would be a whole other issue - not to mention hacking the sound hole edge in the process. There has got to be a better way - Anyone willing to share a hex key modification that will help or any other advice? Thanks.

I don't know, but for future reference I usually drill a hole in the upper transverse brace for access.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Jim

One of these work for you?

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Ty ... hgodD_IDGw


A car guy friend has bent a few for special purposes. Heat them with a torch to take the temper out of them, and then bend them in a vice. They don't need re-tempering for the lighter duty they get on guitars.

Ed

I always drill a hole in the upper transverse brace.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Drill the hole.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

What size wrench do you need?

Tried a ball ended wrench?
Or using the short arm of a small wrench, leaving the longer bit dangling down in front of the headblock.
Or just payng for the cranked one of course.
But please, just drill the darn hole....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Don't know if anyone has said this yet but......................drill the hole.......

IIRC Laravee won't drill a hole in their upper transverse brace either and that requires repair shops like ours to have the various iterations of offset wrenches appropriate for various vintages of Laravee guitars.

It's not a problem having to have more tools for us but whomever owns this in the future it will be a royal pain in the arse if they don't have the right wrench. Adjusting the rod is so very critical to a good set-up why make it hard?

With one build of mine I forgot to drill the hole and even though a right angle adapter would have made this easier I drilled the hole after the box was close simply turning a bit by hand..... and then enlarging with a round file. Took a while but saved the day.

That's what I use. I don't drill a hole through the brace because then you would have to use the long end of the hex key and some sort of pliers or something like that. I can just see a guitar owner making serious dings drying to do that

So I just throw one of those wrenches in the case.

Got it.

I think I might have to drill the hole...

But not before I try the wrench!!

Thanks to all.

Those wrenches eventually will get lost or misplaced and then what is the owner going to use? I am talking about an intrument that may change hands a couple of times, or not. Why not make life easy for everyone and drill the hole? I also do not promote the idea that the owner should be cranking on the neck rod, I suggest that the guitar should be returned to me or taken to a reputable repair shop for any adjustment.
When I need to extend the short end of a hex key I just use a nut driver of the appropriate size to act as a handle.....
My .02
Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

I don't provide wrenches with my instruments. If they are qualified to adjust them then they will have the wrenches.

Guess I should add that I also tell them that if they need any adjustments to bring them back to me.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

+1 for the nut driver. Just did this yesterday on a Collings OM. Works like a champ!

Several manufacturers make a flexible socket extension that will work. I use a Craftsman in 1/4" drive, but my truss rods have a hex nut head. A hex head in a socket are pretty easy to find. One thing that I changed was to make my cavity for the nut with less clearance so I am not stabbing around where I can't see. Once I find the cavity it is a matter of rotating until my adjusting tool drops into place.

It will only take a small hole.Maybe as small as 3/16"

Even if you find a wrench that kind of works, save difficulty down the road ......

Drill the hole

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

If folks don't have the right tool that doesn't seem to stop some of these sorts from going at it anyway with what ever they have..... Rounded out or damaged truss rod adjusters are pretty common in our business and the reason why is that folks either don't have the proper wrench, lost it or what ever.

But again this does not stop them. Some will grab their metric adjustable wrench anyway and go for it.....

With this said the notion that you can prevent some hack from adjusting one of your babies by making access difficult OR not providing the wrench is in my opinion misguided.

If you really want your creations to be treated as well as possible and there are never any guarantees make adjustable things easily adjustable AND if special tooling is required provide it. If your design needs someone to jump through their sphincter to make a common adjustment you are doing a disservice to your guitars, your clients, some repair guy down the road who has a stripped out adjustor to repair/replace and maybe your ratings on Internet reviews too from those encountering your stuff.

Truss rods should be easy to adjust AND not require tooling that can't be easily sourced locally down the road.

I'll add that you guys build guitars like I used to do and the less seasoned the wood the more movement there will be. Newer necks require more frequent seasonal adjustment. As such this is likely to be more of an issue in the early life of an instrument than later on making truss rod accessibility pretty important to the initial satisfaction of a commission or new spec instrument.

Hech, perhaps I should rethink my position

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

"Hech" that sounds like something that someone coughed up and spit out.....

Steve buddy I didn't read the entire thread, busy day here so that was not directed at you or anyone specifically. Hope you are doing well AND your guitars are killer!!!!!

Must a been Freudian?

Seriously, what you said made sense - I hadn't looked at it that way.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I don't drill a hole because I thought it compromises the structural integrity of a major brace in the guitar. I have been told by an engineer not to worry about that but I guess old habits are hard to die.

Listen to the engineer (bias alert - I are one too). As long as the hole is in the center of the brace then it will not hurt the structural integrity. I don't remember what the exact number is but you should be ok as long as the hole diameter is less than 1/2 the width of the brace.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Why do we even need truss rods? It's just one more unnecessary thing that leads to unnecessary expense and unnecessary work!

Tee Hee

Kidding!

Plus the hole is right under that other massive brace on top with frets stuck in it.

If there were a less critical place to worry about drilling a hole, I can't think of one.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I think its funny that myself, and apparently some others as well, have no hesitation about putting all manner of other holes in our instruments, including the one that we are struggling to stick our hand through, but we don't like this one. Maybe its an aesthetic thing - you spend all this time carefully sculpting and smoothing the braces convincing yourself that one last shaving will manifest the ultimate in tonal perfection and then when you are done - chuck up the bit so you can reach the truss rod. Too utilitarian for the artistes among us!! Anyhow, the rod I am using is LMI 9/64 and all of the fancy stewmac bent wrenches are... not.

3/16" you say??

Is the centre part actually true, Steve?

I've always considered that once the brace was glued to the soundboard, and the fretboard was glued on top, the items operated more as a unit than separate entities. So, I've been drilling the hole so the outer edge is only 1/16" of an inch from the soundboard, with considerably more space between the edge of the hole and the unglued side of the brace.

Engineers chime in...