vintage Fender neck ?

[Born2Blues67]

I have a couple of partscasters with the vintage style truss rods. I
have noticed a lot of articles about the wood screws stripping after
repeated service. Is there a way to prevent this,or at least slow it
down? Just curious. Any opinions welcome.

Thanks.

[Eagle1]

Don't over tighten the screws and be sure to use the same threads each time .

[mattmccloskey]

Hard maple is pretty damn hard. I think it takes quite a bit of overtightening and perhaps not-being-to-careful-with-the -threads to really strip them.

I have heard that you can lightly put in a few coats of super glue into the holes and allow adequate drying time before bolting it back on. This is supposed to harden the threads. I have never done it myself.

The other option is threaded inserts. Phil Jacoby and a few other luthiers can do it.

I just try to be real careful, not over-tighten, and minimize how often I take the neck on or off. I find if I get a good beefy neck that is well adjusted I don't need to remove it very often at all. I try to use temperature and humidity control to keep the neck straight rather than adjusting the rod.

[mc5nrg]

You don't have to take the neck off completely to get at the truss rod adjustment.

[Born2Blues67]

You don't have to take the neck off completely to get at the truss rod adjustment.

Would you care to explain further,please?

Thanks for all the replies.

[Kingbeegtrs]

when you're putting screws in you always turn the screwdrive backwards a half turn and then go forward...to make sure they're going into the same thread

[mc5nrg]

Loosen strings. Back out the inner screws some and the outer screws a bit less, pop the neck back so that you can get at the truss rod adjustment, adjust and retighten screws. Tune up and play. Watch for falling shims during process if you turn guitar sideways. Its actually easier to make an adjustment when the neck is attatched to the body then holding it in one hand. Sometimes you can get at the adjustment with a smaller flathead screwdriver and don't have to bother with the neck screws at all. Carving a little access divot in the pickguard avoids the whole bother but isn't vintage approved for your valuable investments ;) .

Perhaps this is not for the squeamish. I started doing it working retail MI when I realised it seemed rather unlikely that they pulled the neck at the Fender factory each time they had to adjust a truss rod.