Has anyone out there ever removed the truss rod plug. I'd like to replace the truss nut but it's held captive by the plug. I know these can be removed but what I don't know is if they are press fit and can be extracted of if they must be drilled out... Has anyone ever converted to a bullet truss nut?

Hi Naughtius Maximus: are you talking about the plug above the nut? That is glued in and then that portion of the headstock shape-sanded to create the curve. Then it is lacquered over the top.

Drilling it out would be amazingly difficult to do accurately unless you have a jig built specifically for that purpose. Otherwise your drill bit will skitter around on that angled surface and your chances of getting it to go in straight will be low.

And in fact you don't want it to go in quite straight anyway, because a traditional Fender trussrod as used on this type of '50s spec neck curves along its length. By the time it reaches the headstock it is angling upwards slightly, and therefore so is the wooden plug filling the hole. That would be the angle you'd have to get the drill bit to address it at. Do you know that angle?

On this type of neck you have a perfectly good adjuster at the heel end. I can't for the life of me think of a worthwhile reason to be contemplating reversing the rod and adding a bullet adjuster at the headstock end. And I can think of few people on the planet who could pull off that particular job successfully - and none of them would dream of doing it.

If you like '70s style necks with bullet rods I'd just buy one of those if I were you and swap it in. I'd leave this nice '50s style neck alone...

Just my friendly thoughts.

Cheers - C

I think you misunderstand. It doesn't have the adjuster at the heel. The stock fender nut is poorly machined and prone to rounding out. Other people have had this problem as well. The plug (yes, above the nut) holds the truss adjustment nut captive. The hole in the plug is big enough for an allen whench but smaller than the truss nut. The design is just as asinine as the heel adjustment but I am aware that a luthier will remove the plug in order to replace a stripped truss nut. I just want to replace the nut with a quality one. On any other guitar I've owned you can just back the nut off if it needs to be replaced.
Hopefully the engineer that came up with this didn't design any bridges...

Hmm. OK, that wasn't too clear from the first post. You are talking about the walnut dowel with its hole for accessing the rod nut.

Must admit, I've done an awful lot of trussrod adjustments and I've found the nut only ever gets damaged from using the wrong sized allen key on it. It is understandable that that happens, because manufacturers use both imperial and metric nuts on their rods. Even Fender use both: my US Strats have imperial nuts while my Japanese and Korean Strats and Teles have metric. Potentially very confusing.

Two sets of allen keys is the only answer. Where people go wrong is assuming that the nearest size in the wrong system will be good enough - but it isn't. That's how the damage occurs.

Far as drilling out the walnut dowel is concerned - well try it, why not? Please take photos of your progress and post them here: we'd be fascinated to see.

A couple of words of warning. Pay attention to what I said in my first post about drilling in that situation. Also, take a look into that hole. I suspect you'll find the walnut dowel goes in past the top of the nut. You'll be able to work out the problem that introduces...

A last suggestion. Take a look at Stewart-MacDonald's Trussrod Rescue Kit. I've never used it but Forum user cvilleira has good experience with it and might drop by and tell you whether it is appropriate in this situation.

Myself: I'd just invest in another set of allen keys in the alternative system to those you already have...

Good luck - C

[/quote]
Hmm. OK, that wasn't too clear from the first post. You are talking about the walnut dowel with its hole for accessing the rod nut.

Must admit, I've done an awful lot of trussrod adjustments and I've found the nut only ever gets damaged from using the wrong sized allen key on it. It is understandable that that happens, because manufacturers use both imperial and metric nuts on their rods. Even Fender use both: my US Strats have imperial nuts while my Japanese and Korean Strats and Teles have metric. Potentially very confusing.

Two sets of allen keys is the only answer. Where people go wrong is assuming that the nearest size in the wrong system will be good enough - but it isn't. That's how the damage occurs.

Far as drilling out the walnut dowel is concerned - well try it, why not? Please take photos of your progress and post them here: we'd be fascinated to see.

A couple of words of warning. Pay attention to what I said in my first post about drilling in that situation. Also, take a look into that hole. I suspect you'll find the walnut dowel goes in past the top of the nut. You'll be able to work out the problem that introduces...

A last suggestion. Take a look at Stewart-MacDonald's Trussrod Rescue Kit. I've never used it but Forum user cvilleira has good experience with it and might drop by and tell you whether it is appropriate in this situation.

Myself: I'd just invest in another set of allen keys in the alternative system to those you already have...

Good luck - C[/quote]
Thanks for your advice. The nut isn't rouned out though it's just a low grade p.o.s. I can see that it isn't stripped by looking. I bought a tapered allen head driver from stew mac and that fits well but none the less it would be nice to just have a small hex key in my tool kit instead of a big ol driver for making neck adjustments. Why Fender uses a 1/8'' allen is beyond me but anyway...
I'm not convinced a drill bit is the answer because a drill bit is pointy and will run into the truss nut before it has finished doing its job.
If anyone has done this repair or has had it done please let me know. All I'm really trying to get to is weather the plug can be extracted or if it has to be hogged out. Thanks!