I was eyeing the profile of the neck on my 5124 and thought the truss rod could probably do with a bit of a tweak, but on removing the cover, what did I find? A big space where the adjustment nut should be. Just a hole in the top of the truss rod about 3/8" down from the end of the fretboard. I figure someone somewhere has been overzealous in trying to tighten it and sheered the thing off, or the Koreans were using substandard metal for their truss rods to keep the price down. I bought this guitar from new, so this has to have happened either in the factory, at the distributor or the retail shop from where I purchased it in 2009.

Does anybody know if there is any way that this kind of thing can be repaired and has anyone else come across this problem? The guitar is still very playable at present and I love the thing to bits, but should the neck bend any more, I don't appear to have any means of adjustment and that worries me!

Cheers,

Martin

PS. I copied this thread over from the Electromatic forum in the hope I might find more answers here...

I know this might sound stupid - but are you sure its not an allen wrench end? - i can remember taking the cover off my 5122, and thinking the exact same thing, but after getting a flash light and shining it down the cut out it turned out to be a well hidden allen head bolt - to my huge relief!!

I know this might sound stupid - but are you sure its not an allen wrench end? - i can remember taking the cover off my 5122, and thinking the exact same thing, but after getting a flash light and shining it down the cut out it turned out to be a well hidden allen head bolt - to my huge relief!!

+1

99% of the guitars I've worked on have hex nuts that you just stick a wrench in.

Yep they have hex heads where you need an allen wrench

could do - but my point is - it's worth checking. I might be totally wrong but its worth a shot

My 5120 and 5191 both adjust with allen wrenches.

Point the flash light down the neck!
Point the flash light down the neck!
Tell us! Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!
:p

i put this on your other post but this is what to do:)

That's awful expensive for a long arm allen wrench, I think you can buy a long arm for $6.00

yep, I pointed a flashlight down the hole and sitting about 3/8" in is a flat surface with what appears to be a perfectly round hole in it. It looks to me like the back plate that the hex nut would press against to bring the threaded bit up through, thus creating the necessary neck bend. I'm not at home at the moment but I'll take a photo soon and post it here. I still think the durn thing has sheered off....

OK - think problem solved - i too have a 5124 - so took the liberty of removing the trc, and to my suprise - mine looked completley round too!!!!

HOWEVER after some experimenting, there is a 5/32 hex beyond the round - that a 5/32 allen key fits into. I tried a cheap allen key, and it didn't fit - so went to my workshop and got my sykes pickavent set, and the 5/32 fitted perfectly.

phew!

Hope this helps:)

That is fairly common with the Electromatics, they've used two diff types of head.

If it is an allen wrench then I would expect it to be metric.

Fantastic, guys! Mine is exactly like Rockabilly Rebel's and I got a 5/16th Allen wrench in there, and YES! there is an Allen head secreted behind that circular hole. Whoo hoo! It ain't broken after all. Thanks for all your help, I'm not sure what I would have done without you. G-T is the business!! Apologies for leading you all on a wild goose chase, but at least I now know which Allen key to use. Phew. I'm glad that little problem is sorted!!

Cheers, Martin

Rawk!

Rawk!

+1. Cool

good - glad I could help

You guys are awesome!

Love a happy ending!

Thanks for this post... Made me open up 3 of my gretsches' truss rod covers to take a peek.