Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

[metallicaxlxl]

Re: Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

ok i should be fine. i used bigger nuts for mine so i had to use bigger screws. im gonna revert back to the old ways this week thanks to you. thanks so much, the big screws were kinda ugly, and they are amazingly close to touching the pickup, which i assume can do something bad to the sound, just like if you tap it with something metal. do i just put the nut on there, and apply solder all around it so that it sticks? or do i put it under or something like that? (under would be weird and hard to do.

[AdmiralB]

Re: Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

I run a screw through a spring, then through the hole and secure the nut on the bottom. The spring pressure keeps the screw straight and centered.

Then heat the nut/baseplate with the iron until it is hot enough to melt the solder (heat the joint, not the solder). The solder then should wick around all sides of the nut. Let it cool for a few minutes and you are done.

[metallicaxlxl]

Re: Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

wow never though about heating the surroundings to that amount of heat than just putting the solder around. pretty smart, but doesnt that take a ****load of time to do? and wouldlnt one side of it cool while youre heating up the other? or do you put the solder on as you finish heating one spot?

[metallicaxlxl]

Re: Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

wow nvm that was so much easier than i thought. thanks for great advice, now i just have to remake the metal plate at the bottom of my cavity because for some reason my neck pickup doesnt fit perfectly into it like it used to anymore. why do mini-humbuckers have to have those plates?? that pisses me off. or at least mine does, i could just have a threaded insert, but freaken epiphone suck with wood and have those really weird cavity for the neck, and theres a giant hole where one of the inserts should go. i might try and glue a block of wood in there, and than put the insert in there, but is that really the best way to do it??

this is what the neck cavity looks like http://thieery.tr.free.fr/photos/tenonb.jpg

[Bill Dennis]

Re: Can I fix stripped mounting holes?

I solder nuts to the tabs; I bought a box of 100 from McMaster-Carr for something like $5; you need #3-48 brass. I had a lot of guitars that direct-mounted the pickups and I was always drilling the tabs out; using the nuts let me resell pickups that I'd drilled.

Do you use standard electrical solder?

[Iron1]

Another vote for soldering nuts onto the tabs. Easy peasy quick fix and you already have the iron out if you're swapping pups.

[ehdwuld]

I am sure that after 14 years
the OP has solved the problem or moved on

But in fairness
I have solder nuts to the legs
JB weld will turn loose at some point

Hot glue works as well

Brading the hole
Beat the hole with a hammer deform the hole and re tap

Solder in the hole
Solder is too soft to make decent threads
Wont last long

[idsnowdog]

Replace the baseplate with a new one. Although I'm sure there are plenty of people who will tell you how rewarding it is half-assing something instead.

[ehdwuld]

once it is set up
most folks don't really adjust it a lot over its lifespan