I'm just speculatin' I don't think it was friction that held them in place. No business is done in Malaysia and the Castle Studios went under in the 1990s so no one to ask if it was chewing gum, spittle or super glue.

But SOMETHING held them in didn't it?

I think Rutherford's reference to the glue was that someone might have made their own replacement rod and gotten sloppy or they drilled their own hole in a none-rod piece and stuck a piece of wire in there. Again, just speculatin'