Straightening out an ornery Ovation

One of oldest friend's 35 year old Ovation Balladeer was bothering his hands to play and he brought the guitar to me for a look see.  "This is an ornery old dip in the neck!" I told him.  Normally, a simple neck adjustment would correct the neck bow, so I removed the truss rod cover cap and dug out a nut driver to proceed with the neck adjustment.  Oh Oh, not so easy.  The neck had been adjusted over the years and now the adjustment nut had come to the end of threads on the truss rod.  Whoa, Nellie!  After thinking a moment, I remember getting a tech update from Fender (20 years ago, while working for a Fender Dealer as a certified tech.)  By removing the adjustment nut and placing a washer over the truss rod end and replacing the nut, you position the nut out father on the truss rod, giving more thread area to turn on.  Brilliant!  I searched about and found two small nylon washers just the perfect size!  I put them both over the truss rod end and prayed that I'd have room to start the nut.  Hallelujah!  I did, but now will the neck straighten out for ole Tommy?  Did it ever!  Just what the doctor ordered; the neck came right back to normal playing range and with some extra light strings on, it played like butter.  I would have put lights on but Tom had suffered some nerve damage years ago and his left hand really appreciates the extra lights and that 35 year ole gitbox sounds sweeeeet!