Ibanez bass with broken truss rod, repair tips needed - created 07-25-2009

Jones, Nathanael David - 07/25/2009.10:17:37

A while back I convinced some one to give me their cheapish Ibanez 5 string bass. It has a broken truss rod, probably because at some point someone was being a moron.

Okay, so here is the question: Do I have to remove the fret board or can I just remove the sunk stripe on the back. It is a fender style neck with a rosewood fretboard, and I just think it would be easier to remove the skunk stripe because I don't have allot of specailty tools. Am I wrong?

Nathanael, I'm not sure why you think removing the skunk-stripe would be easier than the fretboard, could you try explaining why you think so?

The only way I can think to remove the skunk-stripe, would be with a router, jig and patience. Whereas you can remove a fretboard with a house-hold iron and a thin, dull blade. With practice, this only takes about 5 minutes, including the time it takes for the iron to warm up.

The skunk-stripe is likely just for decorative purposes anyway, and probably won't provide access to the truss-rod.

I thought it would be easier- well my idea was I could take a router or a chisle or something and remove te walnut, replace the rod, and then insert a new walnut strip, so that I would not have to worry about the fretboard not perfectly lining up when reglueing it. But I am certaintly new to this type of work, which is why I ask questions here before doing something that could be stupid.

I would definately advocate removing the fretboard rather than messing with the skunk-stripe.

As I mentioned earlier, it is likely to be a decorative feature.

I'd probably also rout out the skunk stripe, assuming it has access to the rod, which I think it would. I don't think they would go through the cost of putting that there if it was purely cosmetic.

I had a Hondo II P bass copy, and they didn't bother with a stripe. They put the rod in from the fingerboard side.

Taking the stripe out would be a lot less work than the fingerboard.

another option someone suggested on another forum was to rout out the wood from the heel to the anchor, slide out the rod, repair/replace it, slide it back in, and then replace the wood q with a bit of maple.

Thoughts on this?

I don't have the neck in front of me so I have no idea of what you are facing.

On a Fender biflex with a broken trussrod, this is what I do:

(pick and choose which parts may apply to your neck)

1. Carefully carve out the hollow access plug at the headstock -- there's a process for this but you do have such a thing so I won't go into it.

2. Pull the rod from the neck if the break is down by the heel.

3. If the break is at the adjustment nut, remove the anchor in the heel.

3a. You may need to find the anchor first if its not visable on your Ibanez but once you find it, use a drill press and any processes you need to apply to to drill a 3/16" hole that will separate the truss rod or any remnant of it still within the channel from the anchor. The anchor needs to be removed out of the back of the heel whether its a round slug or something else. On a Fender this is easy because you can see it.

4. You may or you may not need to do this: Drill a hole from the heel end of the neck to be in alignment with the trussrod channel. Using a length of 3/16" steel rod from you favorite hardware store, insert it into the headstock access hole and use it to drive out any remaining portion of the old broken trussrod.

5. At this point, all you need to do is install a new anchor with a properly aligned threaded hole. I use 1/2" plain steel round stock. I drill and tap a hole to 10-32 and then cut the stock to the length I need with the hole at the right position. Prior to installing the new anchor, Run a length of 3/16" rod down the trussrod channel and mark it so you know the required length and position of the threads for both ends. Measure this at least twice. The threads on the anchor end need to bottom out to the threaded area where the die has left the thread cut shallow. Think about what you'll need to fabricate a threaded driver -- you'll be threading the trussrod into the anchor from the headstock and you'll put superglue on the threaded anchor end of the trussrod and grease on the other so you can remove the threaded driver.

This process requires a fair bit of attention to detail but its still fairly straight forward. I've successfully repaired six Fender biflex necks which have the added compliction of the biflex hollow plug at the headstock. The main benifit is that the cosmetic issues are minimal and you don't disturb the fretwork. It works. For your neck, it all depends on the type of anchor used by Ibanez. You could excavate just about anything from the back of the heel and still be able to execute an invisable repair.

Understand that this is kind of a shortened version of events and there are a few little tips and tricks that increase the likelihood of a straightforward success. For me much of this is just common sense and general practice so "think your way though it".

You could also just pull the frets and use a joiner to plane off the entire fretboard and install a new one. You get a lot of options that way with the choice of fretboard, inlays and frets. I've reinstalled a pulled fretboard on a Rick and would not like to do that again.

Thank you Mark. Yes, I can see a wooden plug at the end of the skunk stripe and I am guessing this is a cover for the anchor. My best guess is that the break is at the head stock end.

I'll give it a shot.