Truss Rod adjustment 1976 Alvarez A700 F-style Mandolin

[zohnpoole]

I have a 1976 Alvarez A-700 F-style mandolin made in Japan. I am trying to do a set up on it but when I removed the truss rod cover I found the truss rod is not an allen wrench type but rather a nut like you see on Gibson's and others. I tried a 1/4" wrench on it but it was way too loose and I don't want to strip the nut. Can anyone tell me what size this nut is and or if there is a truss rod wench that will fit it available. Stuck in second gear till I can find out. Thanks, jp

Spruce top, maple back and sides, ebony fretboard, gold color tuners, yada, yada, yada.

[MandoMan1]

Is the action too high? Just checking to see why you are wanting to adjust the truss rod?

[pops1]

Does your neck have relief? If not your truss rod is fine. The truss rod is not to adjust action, tho it does effect it. If you do need to adjust it, it may be metric. Try sockets until one fits. In over 30 years or repair I don't think I have ever found an instrument where the truss rod wrench fit.

[Don]

In years past, I have owned a bunch of the older MIJ Alvarez mandolins, and seem to recall that many of them included a wrench that came in a pouch. The mandos were all bought used, but I had the impression they came with the mando when new. Several years ago, I had one in for some work, which included a refret. The repairman couldn't find a nut driver to fit the trussrod, so he gouged out the wood. Said he almost went all the way through the peghead. I think I would have found a different way. If he had just mentioned it, I probably had a wrench for it.

[MikeEdgerton]

Most of the Japanese guitars from that era came with a truss rod wrench, generally a socket on one end. I probably have a few laying around. It will be Metric. I'm assuming you've tried SAE sizes. Unless someone is familiar with that model you need to use the process of elimination. If 1/4 was sloppy I'd try 6mm. I'll note that some sets of metric truss rod wrenches that are being sold contain a 6.35 mm wrench but everything I look at tells me that's a 1/4 inch wrench.

[jfonner]

Did you figure this out? I'm working on bringing an Alvarez A900 F-style back to life (probably 1980 but the serial # tag is missing.) The truss rod threads are badly stripped so I have used a "truss rod rescue" boring tool from StewMac to expose good threads further in the neck. I'd like to find out what the original nut size before I risk damaging the newly exposed threads by trial and error. The nut I took off (M4.7) was not original and is probably responsible for the badly mangled threads.

Thanks, John