First if all, I dig. Second, thanks for the response. I have usually been able to tweak the truss rod to get optimum action and don't really have to do it often. It's just that this last time the hex nut was behaving just like a stripped nut and the tweakage was limited as a result. I think the package of 13s was different from my last and upon further investigation, I discovered the bass E was a generous 10 mm thicker than my previous brand. So I went back to the Jazz Mediums Fender makes and problem with the neck was solved. But now I have a new qiestion. I have 4 springs on the bridge block and a new problem lately has been the guitar going sharp when it goes out of tune--not by much--but I find it weird. Does anyone who plays heavier gauge strings use additional springs? And no, I gave up on the tremelo 20 years ago, so the bridge is flat to the top.

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I'm the best guitarist in my bedroom.

I suggest either have an honest professional fix it for you, or if you are a do it yourself guy and ( hopefully gentle handed person ), then get the Dan Erlewine book Guitar Player Repair Guide. This book is easy to read with lots of photos and illustrations. Good luck! I have a feeling you're going to cherry out your Strat and have both great tone and the action you need.

Thanks, jacstrat. Always interested in learning more stuff about my axe. Prolly get the book even if I don't do the work myself.

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I'm the best guitarist in my bedroom.

You're quite welcome.

Evidently, your tremolo is not 100% immobile for this is the only thing which would account for your strings going habitually sharp. The pulling tension of your current four springs is more than that of your current string set.

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You dig?

If I am not mistaken, an 1988 American Standard has the bi-flex truss rod just like the Strat Plus of the same era. It looks like this:



The Allen screw on the headstock end, once stripped is not easily fixed. I have worked on these a number of times and never seen someone take if apart in in a few minutes and replace it, as it is part of the rod. It is a complete different type of truss rod than the older styles that adjust as the heel of the neck. What I have done is used a Stew-Mac "Gripper" truss rod tool to adjust these. I have also see where people have managed to file a slot in the screw and then adjust it with a long straight-edged screw driver. Some call a striped nut "the kiss of death." If you DO find some other way to fix your please let us know.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Steve-oh-no: Thanks so much for the stewmac.com connection! Just got my hex tool set and it worked perfectly! Truss rod adjusted and all is well-no need for luthier. Awesome! This forum prolly saved my guitar which I love more than most people I know.

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I'm the best guitarist in my bedroom.

OK, this is everything but professional but I'd like to tell you what I just did to "fix" this kind of problem (please note the warning at the end of this post!!):

I've recently bought a MiM strat. The previous owner hat busted the nut as well (it seems to happen easily with MiM strats, because every strat I've seen so far, which had a stripped nut, was MiM. The nuts on MiM strats seem to be of softer material than the ones MiA?? Just guessing!)

Anyhow, the neck was busted because I couldn't adjust it to 009 gauge strings in standard tuning. It was ok with 009 and tuned half a step down but it still was not perfect regarding string height in the middle of the neck, there was still a slight bow.

Well, I decided to completely modify this strat because I have enough S/S/S strats. What I've been GASing for for a long time was a strat with custom neck, which I just ordered from Warmouth yesterday.

This meant that I wouldn't need the original neck anymore, I wanted to sell it but that would mean to lose some bucks if there was a buyer AT ALL. Having it professionally repaired would have been even more expensive than what I would lose by selling it as is!

Since the neck was pretty worthless anyway, I went for "the bad" way:

The original sized Allen wrench turned loose inside the stripped nut, so I went for the next bigger one, placed it on the nut (it was just a tiny, tiny bit too large), put the neck heel on the floor holding the neck upright and gave the allen wrench 3 hard hits with a hammer. (ouch, this hurts every guitarist's heart)

It worked!!

The nut was soft enough so that the allen wrench could "cut" new edges into the nut.
Now the trussrod is perfectly adjustable again, runs very smooth and you just gotta be a bit careful when adjusting it. As long as you do it without tension on the strings (you should ALWAYS do that anyway!) there's no danger of stripping the nut again and I'm sure it will last.

Of course I honestly discribed that in the auction for this neck!!

This is a very rude and unprofessional way to solve the problem but I honestly didn't care about this cheap neck (even though it feels and plays great) so I just went for it.

WARNING!!! IF YOU DECIDE TO DO IT THE SAME WAY, YOU MIGHT AS WELL DAMAGE THE NECK OR THE TRUSSROD (or your floor tiles, ha ha ha)!! YOU BETTER BE EXPERIENCED IN USING TOOLS!! IF YOU HIT TOO HARD, .......THAT'S IT!!!! R.I.P. dear neck!

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

What you've described is exactly what those tools from stewmac.com are designed to do. The diameter of the tool is gradually increased from tip to shaft allowing it to fit into stripped nuts. Plus, no hammering! My neck has completely straightened out and its all because of the tools.

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I'm the best guitarist in my bedroom.

Yes, I quickly googled them, they look great and it sounds like being very useful!
Haven't heard of those tools before, I'll definitely check'em out.
Hopefully they're available in Germany, I'll go and check.....

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Yeah, one has to wonder how much shipping would cost to Germany...I only needed one of the tools, bit I tend to over do everything, so I bought the set thinking I might need them on future guitars. The set was $58+$10 for shipping and they arrived in two days.

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I'm the best guitarist in my bedroom.

Yes, shipping is one expensive thing, the other one is customs!! We have to pay 19% customs fees /taxes not only on the invoice amount but ON THE SHIPPING COSTS as well!!


That busts most good deals!

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!