What's the best way to fix a stripped...

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Edit Profile

Author Message   Orion (Orion) Posted on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 6:55 pm:    One of the screw holes for the spring tension adjustment is stripped in my Pro 540S. I've already been told how to fix it, but I thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone has different opinions on what's the best way to go about it.   Raceboy (Raceboy) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 7:26 am:    I'd say the best way would be to drill the hole out and glue in a wooden dowel. Then redrill for the screw. The quickie fix would be to cut the ends off a few toothpicks and put them in the hole (maybe even a tiny drop of glue) and re-install the screw. I'm doing a setup on an old guitar for a friend, and most of the screws in the pickguard were stripped. I took wire cutters and cut the ends off a few toothpicks for each stripped hole and re-installed the screws to a nice, tight fit.   Fredb (Fredb) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 9:31 am:    The Guitar Player Repair Guide (written by Dan Erlewine, also of stewmac fame) recommends cyanoacrylate (superglue) plus baking soda. He says to fill the hole with 1/3 at a time with baking soda, then saturating with the superglue... Haven't done it yet, so no firsthand feedback right now, but I have an old SG that I'm planning to fix the tuning pegs on with this method. Fred   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 11:39 am:    I have always used the toothpick and white glue method for small holes. The baking soda method sounds interesting, and Dan's a great repairman, but I wonder if this is good if you plan on redrilling the hole.? In the case of redrilling a hole, I'd opt to glue a hardwood dowel in the hole with white glue and the redrill it fresh. Note: a good glue joint using white glue is stronger than the wood itself (in case anyone wonders why I recommend this over some specialty glue).   Raceboy (Raceboy) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 3:58 pm:    I've also mixed sawdust and Elmer's glue to fill holes. Works great.   Fredb (Fredb) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 4:14 pm:    According to the Erlewine book (with baking soda/glue combo) the holes can be redrilled. If I run into problems with my repair I'll post a warning. For what I've done so far, I trust the superglue. I picked up some of the black 20-B from stewmac for a couple ebony board repairs, and I'm amazed at how well it works. Sands really well and makes for invisible patch jobs.   Orion (Orion) Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 8:12 pm:    I talked to a repair guy in a guitar shop today and he said a couple of round toothpicks with no glue works fine. He builds guitars too. That's not to say that he must know what he's talking about, but I thought I should mention it. All in all, I just want something that will last and not cause future headaches.   Raceboy (Raceboy) Posted on Friday, January 31, 2003 - 7:15 am:    The toothpicks tend to disintegrate when the screw is installed, so you'll probably have to put new toothpicks in every time you remove the screws when no glue is used. No big deal.   Fredb (Fredb) Posted on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 11:43 am:    Just a note that I got around to finishing the superglue/baking soda repair mentioned above. Worked fine, screws are really tight...just noted a few differences from the GP repair guide: - The book mentioned putting baking soda in first, then the glue, with a "puff of smoke" from the mix. Didn't happen for me, I started each hole like this but usually ended up putting the soda on top of the glue, with them mixing together in the 30 sec or so window before the glue got too hard. I did it like this because it was easier to tell how much soda to mix with glue on each step - Also didn't need to drill before putting the screws back on. What I did was wait for the glue to harden, then made a pilot indentation with a jeweler-size screwdriver (so the screw would have something to grip on) then drove in each screw. Thought it made more sense to have the glue cure around the screws overnight   Winnie_Thomas (Winnie_Thomas) Posted on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 12:37 pm:    Fred, Unless you put some sort of wax on the screw you might have some trouble taking them back out in the future. Winnie   Fredb (Fredb) Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2003 - 9:08 pm:    Winnie, I made sure there was still some play with the screws at a couple points while completely drying. That would be something, huh? (having the screws mistakenly glued in there, hey if I glued a couple fingers together I could be a human slide ) Fred

Add Your Message Here Post: -Color- Black Red Green Blue Yellow Purple Orange Cyan Gray White -Font- Arial Courier Symbol Times Verdana -Size- Smallest (-2) Small (-1) Normal Large (+1) Largest (+2) Enter Item number: Username: Posting Information: This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here. Password: Options: Enable HTML code in message Automatically activate URLs in message Action: