did I screw up.....

A

allen

New member
After 9 years the screw holes that are used for adjusting the spring claw in my guitar stripped out so I filled them with wood filler, screwed the screws back in, let it dry with the screws in so it would be threaded then removed the screws. All was well. Six years later I decided to redo it but this time the wood filler glued the screws in and they broke off inside the guitar. It was a sad, sad day... .
My plan to fix this...
Drill a couple of holes outside the original screw holes and use the single spring claws that came with a tremconverter I got from stew-mac. So far it's working but I can only use 2 springs and they don't provide enough tension so that the floyd trem is parallel with the body when it's tuned up. I'll have to get some stiffer springs and hope for the best (the best being that it doesn't work and I can get that translucent red Music Man Axis at the local guitar shop that I've always wanted lol).
Just sharing this so that no one else makes my dumb mistake :) .
 
Re: did I screw up.....

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Re: did I screw up.....

The best fix is the same as is usually used for the old Floyd wood screw pivot studs when their holes got egg shaped. Drill out the holes to 1/4" inch or so, this will be tricky with the broken screws in there. Get some hardwood dowel that is the same diameter (NO PINE, HARDWOOD). Rub wood glue all over the dowel and press it into the hole. Then let it dry overnight and drill a new hole.

This will be trickier given the location of the holes and that there are screws broken off in them, but it is the best fix.
 
Re: did I screw up.....

devastone said:
The best fix is the same as is usually used for the old Floyd wood screw pivot studs when their holes got egg shaped. Drill out the holes to 1/4" inch or so, this will be tricky with the broken screws in there. Get some hardwood dowel that is the same diameter (NO PINE, HARDWOOD). Rub wood glue all over the dowel and press it into the hole. Then let it dry overnight and drill a new hole.

This will be trickier given the location of the holes and that there are screws broken off in them, but it is the best fix.
Click to expand...

I agree with this approach, but I would consider using a smaller drill bit at first (maybe 1/8 inch or 3/16 inch at the most ) that is a Cobalt or Titanium (NOT High Speed Steel ...HSS) to try and drill out the broken screws. Go very slowly and try to keep the hole from becoming more than 1/4 inch diameter if you are drilling at angles to get the broken screws drilled out.

Then proceed as devastone has described. Be very sure to use hardwood (maple) dowel as he emphasized.

Good Luck.

Dave
 
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