Handmades

"to give a little more relief on the neck"

"the small wooden piece by the headstock sticks out a bit now, and the trussrod-screw has lost its grip."

On traditional rods, when you loosen the adjuster the relief increases because the strings pull the neck into a bow.

But the Bi-Flex rod is different. When you loosen it the strings pull more relief into the neck, then you hit a slack point where the adjuster isn't pressing against the wood on either end -- that's where the strings pull the most relief into the neck. But some strings are too light, or the neck is too stiff, or the neck has too much of a backwards warp for the strings to pull the amount of relief you want. So you keep unscrewing and the wrench-side of the adjuster starts pushing on the inner wall of the walnut cylinder, and the rod actually forces more relief into the neck.

Your neck apparently has developed a backwards warp that's too great for the Bi-Flex plus the string tension to overcome. In trying to force more relief into the neck, you unscrewed the adjuster completely off the rod, and in the process broke the glue joint that holds the walnut cylinder.

The rod isn't broken, just the walnut cylinder's glue joint. The "snap" you heard was the cylinder breaking loose. The reason the adjuster just spins is because it's really hard to get it threaded back onto the rod down the blind hole of the cylinder and you haven't managed to get it screwed back onto the rod yet.

The repair is simple. Pull the walnut cylinder all the way out. Screw the adjuster back onto the rod until it bumps up against the neck wood. Then glue the cylinder back in place with Titebond or similar aliphatic white or yellow glue. (Don't use epoxy or Gorilla Glue or any of the insanely strong glues -- if you ever strip the adjuster's socket those glues would make replacing the adjuster even harder than Bi-Flex repairs usually are.)

The real problem is that the neck has a backwards warp. The proof of that is that the strings aren't pulling any relief into the neck. If you loosen or remove the strings and lay a flatedge on the frets you'll see a back bow.

So if you fix the adjuster instead of replace the neck, you'll have three options. Use heavier strings to get the amount of relief you want. Live with a little less relief and raise the saddles to get rid of string buzzing. Or pull the frets and plane the fretboard, then refret.

At any rate, you've got nothing to loose at this point.

Please pull the walnut cylinder out and see if you can get the adjuster screwed back on. Then you'll know for sure if the rod is broken.

Don't try to grab the cylinder with pliers. It probably isn't sticking out far enough for that -- even if it is, you'll most likely marr the neck finish and booger up the cylinder.

First take a thick paper clip, straighten it out, and bend a little hook into the end. Shove it down the cylinder's hole, hook the inside rear edge of the cylinder and pull. You may need to movethe hook around and pull in different places.

If the hook unbends because there's too much friction holding the cylinder in place, find a big wood screw and screw it into the cylinder's hole, then pull the screw. That'll leave some marks on the wall of the hole but they won't be too noticeable and won't affect anything.

If the cylinder cracks or shatters while you're pulling it out, Fender sells replacements. You'll probably have to get one through an Authorized Service Center. If they don't know what you're talking about (a lot of Authorized Repairmen don't know anything about fixing Bi-Flex's), email Wrnchbndr and he'll send you one.

Speaking of Wrnchbndr, this thread should have gone in "guitar mods and repairs".

Steve knows his stuff, but I think he missed your comment that the walnut cylinder popped out of place.