1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette [7.4 lbs] :: bum switches & broken truss rod

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1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette [7.4 lbs] :: bum switches & broken truss rod.

A bunch of work went into this guitar.  The removable truss rod was broken (and missing the adjustment nut), a small crack near the nut between the neck and the fingerboard, the original rocker switches were shot and the pickguard had shrunk and become distorted.

First the truss rod was repaired and the neck crack glued.  The switches were replaced with a Jaguar setup, and the pickguard mounting holes in the body were plugged and the guard re-mounted with new screws (I also added a few screws between the pickups and the neck to hold down the puffed up pickguard).  The tuner bushings were replaced as I could not source a replacement for one that was missing.  A neck shim along with a new bone nut finished off the setup.  These DeArmond Silverfoils sound incredible.

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Truss Rod Repair :: 1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette

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Truss Rod Repair :: 1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette

This 60's Silvertone had a broken truss rod.  At some point a portion of the threads snapped off and the nut is missing.  After removing the truss rod, I extended the threads with a 8-32 die and shortened the upper bar.  There is a collar that then slips back over in which the nut works against.  Luckily I was able to source an original truss rod nut (thank you Erick!).  Now to reinstall and continue on with the setup.

Broken truss rod repair :: 1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette

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Broken truss rod repair :: 1960's Silvertone 1488 Silhouette

While attempting to correct the excessive relief in this neck I was surprised to find that the truss rod nut was missing.  My guess is that it was overtightened and snapped off a portion of the threads at some point.  Upon researching I was pleased to find that Frank Ford over at Frets.com (and Gryphon of course) had made a post about a Harmony Sovereign with an identical removable truss rod.  I cut away enough material around the washer collar (pictured resting on the fingerboard above) to get enough grab with my pliers.  Once the collar was removed, I used hemostats to pull the rod free from the neck.  The truss rod was set quite far into the neck, leading me to believe that a portion of the threaded rod was in fact missing.  I'll need to source a new nut, shorten the upper bar and extend the threads on the lower bar before reinstalling.