Somewhat big problem... how would you fix this?

[RobRR]

Without getting into too much detail at this point... How would you fix this obvious careless manufacturing mistake? The nut as it sits is perfectly center... I really have no idea how something like this could be fixed.

The one nut mounting screw anchors into nothing... it just wedges between the wood and the truss nut. The piece of dowell was found wedged in there under the nut, but it wasnt doing anything. The nut creaks badly and visually moves under Floyd useage. Blocking the Floyd is not an option either. This also explains why it was somewhat difficult to adjust the truss rod.

[jackson1]

Ugh, that's a bummer! I've been thinking for the last 5 minutes... haven't come up with any good fix yet, apart from glue... hmmm....

[Newc]

Rebuild, and this time use the CNC machine to line everything up perfectly. The mystique of "hand made" is meaningless in times like this.

[RobRR]

Yeah... the fact that it left the factory like this, and they KNEW it was like this... sad. The only thing I can think of is dowel what little of the hole there is, then put the screw in on an angle... but doing that, it might not recess into the nut making it useless.

Im really bummed... I gotta say, maybe the Japs spoiled me... but I am less than impressed with what Ive seen of USA's thus far. Maybe Im being picky, but binding scraping marks all over the board (both), horribly masked headstock (sl2h), nuts needing to be shimmed just to get the action close to right (sl1), missing paint in the trem cover shelf (sl2h), this perticular problem (sl2h), unlevel Floyd to get action low (sl2h)... all on the only two USA's Ive had my hands on thus far.

Ive NEVER had ANY of these problems on any of my MIJ guitars... 20+ years old or brand new ones for that matter. The one thing Ill give the USA's is they just sound amazing, and sustain for days. I cant deny that... the materials used are quite superior, but what good is that if theyre built like crap?

The fact is, I love the guitar... its beautiful, sounds and feels great, and I do NOT want to give it up. But if I cant fix it... ya know?

[Hellraiser6502]

Ugh...that's just wrong.

You said it right, it's a manufacturing defect and should be covered under their warranty terms.

Send it back and DEMAND either a new guitar or a refund. Nothing else would satisfy me if it were mine.

A prime example of why I don't spend my hard earned money on NEW Jacksons....I mean, who has any patience for this crap? No excuse for something as bad as that.

The older (80's) Charvel & Jacksons are usually a bargain and are already broken in. Your money would be much better spent on those.

Just my .02

[ulijdavid]

RobbRR,
What size is the nut? Is it an R2 or R3 (it should say on the back)? If it is an R2, I have an extra that I could have a machine shop drill and countersink a hole bewteen the clamp screw and the hold down screw. Or you could find a machine shop near your to do this. Then you would just have to add a new hole. It may have to be a smaller screw and closer to the tuners to ensure it doesn't interfere with the tapped clamp screw hole. This should fix your problem.

[toejam]

Ugh...that's just wrong.

You said it right, it's a manufacturing defect and should be covered under their warranty terms.

Send it back and DEMAND either a new guitar or a refund. Nothing else would satisfy me if it were mine.

+1. Send a PM to Brian McD, I'm sure he can help you.

[RobRR]

RobbRR,
What size is the nut? Is it an R2 or R3 (it should say on the back)? If it is an R2, I have an extra that I could have a machine shop drill and countersink a hole bewteen the clamp screw and the hold down screw. Or you could find a machine shop near your to do this. Then you would just have to add a new hole. It may have to be a smaller screw and closer to the tuners to ensure it doesn't interfere with the tapped clamp screw hole. This should fix your problem.

Thats a great idea! Ive got a drill press so I can do it to this nut I have. Thanks for the offer man, thats awesome of you!

But before I go and do that, Im going to try to fix it the right way. What I did was remove the truss nut and put tape around it. Then I reinserted it, and using the truss nut as the "other side of the hole", I drilled the hole (more like half circle) out to 1/8". I then, using titebond, inserted a hardwood dowel in there, using the truss nut to keep it tight inside the half hole.

Once it dries, Im going to once again remove the truss nut, then smooth the dowel flush with the truss cavity walls. Ill go from there, probably will redrill the nut mouting hole at an angle... theres a few degrees in the screw angle that I have to play with, so hopefully it will be enough. If not, I may ream out the screw hole in the nut to get a little more screw angle play.

I could send McD a message, but the fact is, Im not the original owner, and being a 2002, was before they started the "lifetime warranty" thing. Sure, they might make an acception, but probably not... and if they did, the guitar would probably be out for months and months...

[Axewielder]

I would judge that repair to be very high on the difficulty scale. Wow.

[neilli]

My first thought was to suggest adding a new mounting whole to the nut-baseplate so the nut could be secured correctly, albeit further to the bass side, but ulijdavid got there first!

[dogueboy]

That is not right man send it back. I know it is a great guitar but you pay for quality on these USA models. They need to make it right.

[VitaminG]

that's shocking! And unacceptable. Like the others have said, return it to your dealer.

It's funny - when Vic discovered a similar problem with his GMW (in addition to the other issues with the laminated fretboard & lifting frets), some people were actually defending GMW's methods & told Vic to get over it.

[RobRR]

Guys, its a used guitar...

[Trem]

RobbRR,
What size is the nut? Is it an R2 or R3 (it should say on the back)? If it is an R2, I have an extra that I could have a machine shop drill and countersink a hole bewteen the clamp screw and the hold down screw. Or you could find a machine shop near your to do this. Then you would just have to add a new hole. It may have to be a smaller screw and closer to the tuners to ensure it doesn't interfere with the tapped clamp screw hole. This should fix your problem.

+1 That was my first solution. I actually had a dream about something like this once
Another idea, you could put a regular nut on it, get a bigger truss cover and locking tuners, maybe it's not ideal for you personaly, but just throwing it out there.

[bibz]

+3 I guess for the manufacture the nut around the bad workmanship. This is what happens when theres deadlines I guess. I think perservering and fixing it yourself would be better anyway man, you know what your doing and it'll bring you and the guitar closer