Bush Model owners

[Frank Russell]

Hey Gibson Bush model owners, Big Joe or anyone else who can help. I just bought a "Bush Jr," which is an F5G with a Bush neck, including the flashy block inlays. It's pretty good mando, but I think it might need a bit of truss rod adjustment. Every mandolin I've had to tighten the truss rod on has been different. Is there a special size hex key/Allen wrench, or pliers that work best on Gibson's truss rods? I don't seem to have anything at home that size. Also, does anyone know what the basic differences would be between the Bush model and this modified F5G? Other than trim, is it the same? New mandolin, new dumb questions. Also, does anyone have an old Bush -style string spacing cut nut they are not using? I'd like to try it, and would give you some cash in exchange. This one has semi-standard string spacing. Thanks for the knowledge in advance. I have been lucky for the last 3 or 4 years to have a luthier that did all this kind of stuff for me, but he moved to Maine and now I'm learning to be self-sufficient. Frank

[batman]

Hey, Frank,I don't know the size of the nut on mine, but I use one of 2 truss rod wrench that i got from stew mac. I believe its the 5/16. I'll look for the old nut with the even string spaceing. I think its out there somewhere. PM me with your address and I'll give it to you, if I find it. later Don

[Big Joe]

Hey Frank...Actually it is not a Bush Jr. It does not have a radiused fingerboard. It is just a big neck F5G. The only difference from this and the Bush is the inlay, the radius fingerboard, the color of the sunburst, the binding, and the headstock overlay. It does carry a good similarity if you don't see them side by side. It offers many of the Bush features in tone at a much reduced cost. They have been great mandolins.

The truss rod uses a 1/4" truss wrench. It is available at Stewart McDonald (stewmac.com) or you can use a thin walled 1/4" nut wrench available at many hardware stores. Just be careful. If you break the neck or trussrod it is not covered by warranty. Go very slowly and if it begins to get firm, just stop. I hope this helps.

[steve in tampa]

I got the stewmac wrench and had to bend it, cut off about 3/4" and grind it down to have shallower walls before it would fit my F9, but it does now!

[arbarnhart]

The expensive Gibbies don't include the wrench? Weird. Even my cheap Pac Rim A included a wrench and instructions. Not trying to bash, just truly surprised.

Maybe they are hoping I will void the warranty... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Big Joe]

Actually we hope you won't fool with it yourself but leave it to trained professionals. I'm sure chevy does not want you overhauling your truck or giving your car a valve job for many reasons also. We see many consumers break their trussrods by trying to save a few bucks and doing something that looks so easy. Obviously we can't stop you from doing what you want with your mandolin,but we don't have to make it any easier than we have to. From our standpoint, it's not good policy to provide you with the means to destroy what took such hard earned bucks to get. Like anything esle, it's easy enough to make one or buy one if you really want to do this, but it is not encouraged.

[arbarnhart]

All it takes is the wrench, a good steel rule and a little common sense. Unfortunately, the hardware store only stocks the first two items...

However, as mentioned by another poster, even a specific purpose tool required extensive modification to work. That makes it all the more odd that one isn't provided when generic ones won't work.

I tweaked a little on mine; maybe 1/8 of a turn when it was all said and done. Probably wasn't necessary, but I have been perfecting my set up and wanted to try some slight adjustments where possible.

[Frank Russell]

Thanks to all for the replies. I got the truss rod adjusted last night. There was some glue in the end where the tool would have gone, so I had to improvise with a small socket wrench. It only needed about a half turn or less, not a major adjustment. Big Joe: I had no idea that the Bush model had a radiused fretboard. Has that model always come standard with a radius? Thanks for the help, Frank.