Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 The 4mm allen key that comes with a lot of non-US basses including Epiphones & Squiers is OK, but easily lost. I've found an alternative which works much better and costs less than £2 from various ebay sellers in China. Seach for 'T handle allen hex key wrench spanner 4mm' 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) I have a complete set of those - invaluable. G. Edited November 21, 2019 by geoffbyrne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I always buy a spare. Amazon have 1000's of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 As with all these things, quality is the (Allen) key. Cheap Allen keys lose there shape after relatively little use, and are often not quite the right dimensions. Considering a lot of truss rod nuts are also not very well made, can be made of quite soft material and access can be restricted experience has taught me that the best tools for the job are the best tools you can afford. Unbrako are great Allen keys (I've been using them for 30 years) and are reasonably cheap. The other issue with ball ended Allen keys is that while they are great for access, the contact area with the fastener is vastly reduced plus they have an inherent weakness due to the undercut to achieve the ball-end. They can round out a stiff fastener quite easily, or snap off. They are really only any good for low-torque applications: as long as the nut is not stuck they're fine, but......... I had to have the access hole in the headstock opened out on my G&L L2000 as there was no straight access to the nut and it was stuck. I could feel the ball end getting "uncomfortable" even with a top quality tool. Once I had a straight line access an Unbrako Allen key worked like a charm. Broken truss rods and rounded out truss rod nuts in L2000's often means a new neck. Best avoided. YMMV. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 If i had to use a truss rod tool a lot I'd be questioning why i brought a crappy bass, not the tool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) 7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said: If i had to use a truss rod tool a lot I'd be questioning why i brought a crappy bass, not the tool. The fact that truss rods don't get adjusted very often is usually why the nut is stuck......so if you need to free it off, by getting it to just start moving and working it back and forth little by little while it's quite stiff, your cheap tool might not work out to be such a bargain. 😜 Plus, if you are on a voyage of discovery regarding string choice, you might be adjusting it quite often! Edited November 21, 2019 by phil.c60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Just now, phil.c60 said: The fact that truss rods don't get adjusted very often is usually why the nut is stuck......so if you need to free it off, by getting it to just start moving and working it back and forth little by little while it's quite stiff, your cheap tool might not work out to be such a bargain. 😜 Never had a stuck truss rod, and i don't believe you need to adjust them just to keep them working. I do accept some get stuck for whatever reason though, but its not that IME. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I don't believe you need to keep adjusting them either, but when you do need to, you do. And you want it to go smoothly (no pun intended). As I said, YMMV. I have spent my entire working life using tools like this, and the old adage "buy cheap, buy twice" is usually true, plus an awful lot of aggravation along with it. There's nothing like irretrievably rounding off an awkward fastener with a cheap tool to teach you a valuable lesson. I learnt mine a long long time ago. And funnily enough when things get tricky, it's usually my tools that people want to borrow. LOl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 In my experience some basses need more adjustments than others. My Jazz bass always needed regular adjustment and I have adjusted my Thunderbird vintage pros this week (which have a slim neck that feels much like a Jazz). My chunky '81 precision and JMJ mustang have not needed any adjustment this year so far. The orange-handled allen tool described and shown in the photo of the first post is made of Chrome Vanadium steel which I believe is a step up from the manufacturer-supplied allen keys. Also the truss rod tool Fender supply with USA-made instruments has a ball end like this one and I never had any problems with that for adjusting with my Jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 The neck on my Sei Original needs adjusting on a fairly regular basis as it seems quite sensitive to temperature changes. It's headless though, so access is dead easy and it takes me under a minute to do it (including digging out a capo and allen key set from the gigbag). Just another of the ways in which headless instruments are superior to headed ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 On 21/11/2019 at 11:18, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: The 4mm allen key that comes with a lot of non-US basses including Epiphones & Squiers is OK, but easily lost. I've found an alternative which works much better and costs less than £2 from various ebay sellers in China. Seach for 'T handle allen hex key wrench spanner 4mm' I had one of those but I lost it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 I had a Chinese one like this and I threw it away.....lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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