Special nut wrench?

[Axtman]

Is there a specialized tool to remove this nut? I have tried pliers, needle nosed pliers, and small cresent wrench to no avail.

[Chuck H]

Not that I've ever seen. And I've seen plenty of those narrow, wide nuts in tight spaces. I'm thinking that dissilar metals might have a bit of oxide sort of locking things in place.?. Sometimes you can't help but scar things a little getting the job done. Maybe a dab of WD40 could help.

[glebert]

I'd unsolder the wires and use a deep socket. Or needle nose locking pliers if I was feeling ornery. I've got a small cheap one I got from HF and filed the jaws to have pincer teeth at the end, that works pretty well to grab things that don't want to be grabbed.

[Greg Robinson]

Depending on the geometry of the chassis and what's easiest with the space available, I either use an offset ring spanner (wrench), which requires desoldering the leads to fit the ring end over, or this tool from Tone Craft Audio. The rear plastic part is narrower in one dimension than the other, so an open-ended spanner/wrench can be jammed on for counter-torque. From memory an 11mm spanner is a fairly tight fit.

[Mick Bailey]

A long time ago I quickly made up an open-ended spanner from a strip of stainless steel about 1.5mm thick using a hacksaw and file. It was intended for just one job to get to the thin nut behind a switch, but is one of my go-to favourite tools. Despite not being hardened, its lasted maybe 15 years.

[x-pro]

Heat the nut with a 40-60W soldering iron with the soldering iron against one side of the nut. Then, while it is hot, unscrew it with notched pliers.

[Tom Phillips]

... tool from Tone Craft Audio...

Thanks for that info Greg.
I have often thought about making a tool similar to the one offered by Tone Craft audio but their price is reasonable and the tool looks like it will do the job well. I'm thinking of just ordering it so I can keep focused on my huge backlog of projects.

[Axtman]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

After pondering the situation. I realized if I unbolt the torrodial transformer and remove it I would have room for an deep socket (Glebert had the same idea). I was lucky this time. Many times I do not have room and the nut is frozen.

Greg Robinson, I did order one of those wrenches. Thanks!

[g1]

These are 13/16 wrenches?

[stokes]

These work great https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...-multi-spanner

[Chuck H]

To be honest I'd probably pull that switch to the left to make more room and get in there with whatever I had that would work. There would likely be a little scuffing, but only inside the chassis. Poor design for service extracts sacrifice. I know that's not the ideal but that's how I roll sometimes with designs that are poorly thought out for service. Function follows form. We can't all have every tool so why make it like this? With very little cosmetic detriment inside and NO cosmetic detriment outside I can get over it.

[Axtman]

Chuck, I thought about that as well but the faceplate is mounted on chasis. In order to remove the power switch (and control pots) you have to remove the faceplate. Everything but the indicator light is mounted on the chasis.

[Greg Robinson]

Chuck, I thought about that as well but the faceplate is mounted on chasis. In order to remove the power switch (and control pots) you have to remove the faceplate. Everything but the indicator light is mounted on the chasis.

Wow... What an incredibly obnoxious design.

[Axtman]

Greg, Yeah I agree. They should have attached the power indicator bulb socket to the chasis and have it poking through the faceplate like all the other controls. Then all someone would have to do is remove 4 screws to remove the faceplate.

[The Dude]

Out of curiosity, why was it necessary to remove it?