Guitar repair

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marshall409

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I discovered that one of the holes in the neck that bolts it on to the body is stripped. i searched around, and found alot about the toothpick and woodglue method of repairing stripped wood screws. i was also thinking about getting some of this stripped screw glue liquid wood kinda stuff that you just fill the hole with. which of these methods would you suggest? this is just a cheap strat copy, but its gonna have to last a while longer til sometime next year when i begin my complete overhaul on it. i really dont wanna take it in for this repair, as it seems like the kinda thing a shop would love to over complicate and overcharge for. so what method would you suggest for filling in the hole? and after that, do i have to drill the holes? or just drill a small pilot hole and screw the neck on by hand? the latter seems to make more sense to me.

and incase your wondering, i probably stripped it when i traded neckplates with my brother. i was younger and stupider. i wanted his black one, and he wanted my plain chrome one so he could have his girlfriends name engraved on it. lmao.

Adam
 
the woodglue and toothpicks works ok on small stuff (strap buttons etc...) never tried it on a neck screw though, On a neck screw what I have tried (and it works) is to remove the neck and coat a dowel peg with a good wood glue and put it in ( you probably will have to drill out the screw hole a little). you want the peg to fit tight enough you have to tap it in lightly with a hammer. after its dry you can cut off whatever is sticking out and sand smooth then re-drill the screw hole. I have also used this method to fill floyd rose bridge mount holes when switching to a non floating bridge...The kind of dowels im talking about is not smooth dowel rod but the small fluted ones about an inch long (they give the glue something to grab on to) if you ever put together a piece of walmart furniture in a box you have seen these. you can actually buy these type of dowel pegs at home depot for about 2 bucks for a bag in assorted sizes....
 
thanks alot.

i hate ikea!!!

i know exactly what youre talking about though thanks to them lol. that sounds like a better idea. also, all the sites talking about the toothpick thing seemed to be talking about smaller jobs, like pickguard screws. but i couldnt find anything about neck bolts, which is probably the most important attachment of a bolt on guitar. anyone else have any other tips or suggestions?

Adam


EDIT:


100 posts!!!! yayay!!!
 
Fill with a regular dowel rod of appropriate size (you will probably need to drill the hole a bit larger to get it the right size for the dowel). Use wood glue to hold the dowel. Once the glue has dried at least overnight, redrill the hole. DO NOT use any kind of wood filler, or what ever that stuff you mentioned was. It will not have the structural strength to deal with the issue.

This one is too big of a hole (and too critical) for the toothpick thing.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
ok but....

ya i thought the toothpick thing was alittle too simple or temporary for this kinda job. so do i have to completely drill the hole out? or just a little hole to get the screw started?

Adam
 
less trauma to the neck if you drill the hole back out, a good way to make sure you have the right size bit is to look at the screw and the bit together, you want the bit to be the same size as the screw body not the threads. if you plan to do a lot of work on your guitars definately check out the "guitar player repair guide by dan erlewine" it is the ultimate book for guitar repair and set up. Dan is the guitar guru that the stars go to when they need guitars fixed.
 
Tips given about using a dowel are right. In addition, when you are ready to drill your screw hole, put the neck back on with the other screws (you don't have to tighten them) so you can mark the center of where you need to drill. Then remove the neck to do the actual drilling. Also you might want to insert the drill bit into one of the other screw holes and mark the depth on the bit with masking tape, you don't want to drill too deep.
 
yep thanks dani. that was pretty much what i was thinking. i should be filling the holes tonight or tomorrow.

Adam
 
why were you playing with the screw to discover it was stripped??

i haven't had a bolt on neck in a long time...but i can't recall ever taking a screw driver to it
 
i found out it was stripped because i simply suspected that might be the problem. i know you should be able to bend a note a little by pushing the neck forward or pulling it back, but it was waaaayyyy too easy. so i remembered having the neck off once and decided to see if it needed tightened. thee screws were all tight, and i definitely didnt strip them at that point, but one of them just kept turning.

i filled the hole last night. went pretty well. the dowel was pretty snug and the glue seemed pretty good.it feels very solid today. ill be chopping it off and sanding it tonight and then drilling the new hole.

Adam
 
marshall409 said:
know you should be able to bend a note a little by pushing the neck forward or pulling it back, but it was waaaayyyy too easy.
Click to expand...


this is bad for a guitar. that being said...i do it constantly.

why did you originally have the neck off?
 
ya i dont really do it for effect that much, i have a tremolo for that. but like if im sitting in a weird position(lol?) and the necks got a tiny bit of pressure on it or if im throwin it around while playing. it would bend enough for me to hear it. but i dont expect it to be rock solid. even an LP can bend a tiny bit.

i took it off to trade neck plates because my brother wanted my old plain silver one so he could have it engraved. his had a logo on it already.

Adam
 
i dont think it was that bad of an idea. just i shouldve been more careful putting it back on.

Adam
 
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