I picked up this 1992 Norman B-25 on kijiji for a really decent price. Great shape, just needed a truss rod adjustment and setup. Except when I got it home I realized the truss rod was broken. Well, damn! I’d never done a truss rod replacement before. How hard could it possibly be?!?
Truss rod nut placement when I picked up the guitar. Truss rod nut when I tried to adjust it. I don’t think that was supposed to happen. I saw this on YouTube. Heat the fretboard to loosen the glue. Start working a thin scraper between the fretboard and the neck. SLOWLY DAMMIT. Then keep heating it and working the blade down the neck only a few centimetres at a time. Once part way down the neck, the scraper was too short, so I switched to a thin metal ruler and worked it down towards the end. Well, the fretboard came off nicely. Truss rod out and …..… definitely broken. This is what happens when you over tighten a dual action truss rod.
Now …. let’s get a new truss rod …. how hard could that be? So, either I’m the world’s worst shopper, or a major metropolitan centre like Winnipeg does not have a single storefront business that stocks items like this. So … then let’s shop on line …. limited choices still …. the standard go to is usually StewMac luthier supplies, but they didn’t have anything the right size and the price was ridiculous. So then what about Amazon? Well Amazon.com if you’re south of the border was a great option. Amazon.ca, not so much. Finally …. I found a Canadian luthier supply shop in Ontario – Solo Guitars. Lots of options, Canadian dollar prices, reasonable shipping rates, nothing crossing a border, affordable sticker price. Done and ordered! Delivery was unbelievably fast too. 3 days with regular (ie cheapest) parcel post.
All set up and ready to go. The truss rod channel was a fraction too deep for the new truss rod, they need to fit snugly. So I whittled some paper-thin strips of spruce with my trusty Swiss Army Knife and shimmed the truss rod up to be flush with the top of the channel. Ready for glue. Cover the channel with some masking tape to make sure you don’t goop it up. I used Lepage carpenter glue (I use that on anything I want to hold hard). Then peel off the tape and “give ‘er”. Some light clamping for just a few minutes to let the glue tack up. In the foreground of the picture you can see the clamping block that I’ll apply next. It’s made of two pieces of thick maple hardwood flooring laminated together. It’s dead flat and has no flex at all. Then I used some carpet tape to affix a piece of cardboard to the top of the wood just to add some cushioning for the frets. I didn’t want to squish the fret wire. Made sure the fretboard was still exactly in place and then clamped the whole thing onto my maple brace. Making sure the truss rod was in the neutral position of course. Let sit 24 hours and voila ….
Epilogue
The truss rod was successful, so then I had to put new tuners, new nut and new saddle. Plays pretty good now. I sold it for $200 to a young girl who had been saving her allowance money to buy a decent guitar, but she only had $200. Used market value on this guitar was probably $350-$400. I really wanted to see this kid get a good guitar for her money, so I took the hit. I took a net loss of about $100 (after repairs), but I learned a new skill and I made a kid happy. That’s way more valuable than a hundred dollar bill.
Thanks for the feedback. I’d have taken a far bigger loss on it had I anticipated the size of the smile on the young girls face when she bought it. It was worth more than money.
My name is Grant S. and I, too, am from Winnipeg. I have recently started working on guitars in my basement and somehow found your site. It’s quite excellent BTW!!
This truss rod fix – holey smokes!!
Picked up a Seagull S6 on Monday for $125 because it had one very large crack and multiple small ones. This will be my first acoustic fix and I’m very excited.
I will contact you with my 411 as I’d love to exchange notes and ideas with you.
Wonderful! I think I know the guitar you are talking about – it was on Kijiji for a long time – I even made an offer on it. If it’s the one I’m thinking of there is a crack through the top running up along the left side of the fretboard. The crack on the lower bout is really nothing to worry about – it’s largely cosmetic and doesn’t affect sound or integrity of the guitar, but that crack along the fretboard is structural damage and must be addressed well. Good luck.
General Guitar Works 
Nice job and nice story, Grant!
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Thanks for the feedback. I’d have taken a far bigger loss on it had I anticipated the size of the smile on the young girls face when she bought it. It was worth more than money.
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Hi Grant L. from Winnipeg,
My name is Grant S. and I, too, am from Winnipeg. I have recently started working on guitars in my basement and somehow found your site. It’s quite excellent BTW!!
This truss rod fix – holey smokes!!
Picked up a Seagull S6 on Monday for $125 because it had one very large crack and multiple small ones. This will be my first acoustic fix and I’m very excited.
I will contact you with my 411 as I’d love to exchange notes and ideas with you.
Again, great site!
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Wonderful! I think I know the guitar you are talking about – it was on Kijiji for a long time – I even made an offer on it. If it’s the one I’m thinking of there is a crack through the top running up along the left side of the fretboard. The crack on the lower bout is really nothing to worry about – it’s largely cosmetic and doesn’t affect sound or integrity of the guitar, but that crack along the fretboard is structural damage and must be addressed well. Good luck.
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i am happy you did that to that young girl,i got a b 25 12 strings 1981,i am from quebec
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