Anyone replaced a truss rod on a Mexican Tele neck?

The symptom was the adjusting nut would just turn and turn without having any effect on the neck's relief. It turns out that the rod had come disconnected from the anchor. So I pulled the anchor out (a metal cylinder with a hole on each side, visible on the heel) and then pulled the rod through the headstock hole. To my surprise there were no threads on the end of the rod that went into the anchor but instead a flattened notch that causes the rod to lock into place when inserted into the anchor. Or there used to be another half inch of rod with threads that broke off, however I didn't find any stray pieces. And I can't see any threads in either of the holes in the anchor.

I guess what I need to know is what is the rod supposed to look like and how does it attach to the anchor. I'm just guessing at this point. I'll order a new rod from somewhere ultimately but wanted to research what's going to be involved in the installation.

Thanks for any help.

Do you have the tools to cut yourself an anchor out of a little nub of 1/2" metal round stock, drill the side of it, and tap it out for 10/32 threads? And a die to cut threads in some 3/16" rod? Then you could make it yourself and try to thread the rod into the anchor with some lock-tite or epoxy to seal the deal, hoping it doesn't back out if you loosen the trussrod nut later. Or maybe you could mortise out enough of an area in the heel to use two nuts as an anchor, jam-nut style.

I'm not sure what a "replacement" trussrod would look like, most pre-made rods have the anchor already peened in place and you can't drop that into a headstock-adjusted neck.

Those are all good suggestions--thanks. My plan at this point is to get a new rod that comes with the anchor. This is from StewMac and I'll have to cut it to length and then thread the end that goes into the anchor. Then since I can't peen the end of the rod they suggested I slide the rod down the neck and thread into the anchor and then drill a hole down through the anchor and the rod and shove pin of some sort down into the hole to secure everything into place. Sounds doable. What say you?

I'd be inclined to just lube the nut at the working end, and lock-tite the threads at the anchor. You could always do the extra drilling later.

Probably the best chance you have at a good fix without tearing open the skunk stripe is to thread the anchor, screw the rod into it, drill a hole through the anchor and threaded-in rod, and install a roll pin to prevent the rod from unscrewing. This will be much stronger than using loc-tite.

The major problem I see with this option is that the channel in the neck is curved, so by the time you have the rod through to the anchor chamber the anchor will probably be misaligned with the rod and getting the rod threaded properly to the anchor may be impossible. You may be able to back-relief the neck somehow to get the channel straight enough temporarily so that the rod is straight when you're threading it into the anchor.

Good luck!

Brewbaker, can we get you to post pictures of this? I'd really like to see it. What model guitar do you have?

just re use the rod and have it welded. I did it; replaced the Walnut filler strip, and touched up the neck. It still works perfectly.

I agree with tfsails that a drift pin would hold better than loc-tite or a jamb-nut, it's basically a matter of your comfort level and available tools.

Imho,I would scrap it and buy a used neck somewhere. Good Luck tho!