Tailpiece Anchor removal?

[LoFiBrian]

If i decide to pull the tailpiece on my hamer...how would i remove those pesky gold achors? opn eis already loose and with the right reverse motion comes right out...the otehr is in there pretty good...I really dont want to ruin teh guitar

but the one gold anchor showing can kinda get on my nerves...

if its a easy thign to do then fine...if not i guess i can live with it as is...

-Brian

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104417

There's a couple of good methods in that thread. I'd find out if your bushings are actually steel and not brass or an alloy. If they are steel and they're not coming out easily- leave them.

 

[LoFiBrian]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104417

There's a couple of good methods in that thread. I'd find out if your bushings are actually steel and not brass or an alloy. If they are steel and they're not coming out easily- leave them.

I tried to register to read up and it said my email was banned by the admins...

WTF?

 

[big_black]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

I tried to register to read up and it said my email was banned by the admins...

WTF?

You can't use free email (Hotmail, Gmail, etc.)

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

Some relevant posts from the thread... I left the usernames and everything so their contributions are duly noted...

This subject comes up quite often, especially since Pigtail began offering steel bushings. I hear people talking about prying bushings out, the thought of which makes me cringe, so I thought I'd share my method of pulling bushings. If anybody's got other suggestions, feel free to chime in.

Like many things, it's relatively simple providing you don't screw it up by doing the wrong thing. Whatever you do, don't pry. Even with padding between the prybar and the guitar, you may dent the wood or distort the holes by pulling the bushing out at an angle. You want to lift the bushing straight up, just as it went in.

First of all, the lacquer finish will be covering the top of the bushing. You need to use an X-acto knife to carefully score the lacquer around the edge of the bushing so that you don't lift a big chip of the finish from the surrounding area.

Here are the tools I use, which is just some crap I found in my junk drawer. The yellow part is a rubber garden hose washer which contacts the top of the guitar and protects it. The chome nut is part of a plumbing coupling. You could also use a stack of large diameter washers. Just make sure the hole is big enough to allow the bushing to pass through them. Next is a smaller washer that seats underneath the stud. Once you have these parts stacked up, you simple thread the stud into the bushing and tighten the stud. The screw threads have a good mechanical advantage, so the bushing pulls out relatively easy.

Make sure that you use a large screw driver to prevent scarring the slot in the stud. Wrapping paper or masking tape on the blade helps. It's also a good idea to cut a hole in a piece of cardboard and tape it to the top of the guitar to protect it in case you drop a screwdrive or washer while you're working.

Time-honored:

If you have any doubts about your ability to control the movement of simple hand tools, do not attempt this. If you have a basic high school shop class level of dexterity and an average adult level of attention to detail, use this simple approach. :salude

That's the way I do it too. Just go slowly and it's no problem. I also use old studs, not the nice Pigtail ones while prying out the bushings. I also put a thick towel under the wood rather than newspaper.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

I raise the studs up high, Then put the tail piece back.Then wedge a piece of wood (or something that will NOT damage the guitar under the tail piece. Then get out your giant screw driver.:laugh2: Tighten a 1/2 turn at a time alternating from stud to stud. They should both start lifting out with ease.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

Some more...

To answer the question about finger pressure getting the new one back in, I sure hope not! That would be a pretty sloppy fit. See that old stud I'm using to pull the old bushing out? I screw it into the new bushing. Pay attention to the bushing. Every one I've ever handled has one end more beveled or rounded than the other. The beveled or rounded end is the end that goes down into the body. I get the bushing as straight as I can get it by eye, and start tapping carefully but firmly on the top of the old stud. Once the bushing starts down the hole in the body, it will self-center, so unless you actually have a mis-drilled or damaged hole, the bushing will go straight all by itself after a few taps. Simple. It looks and sounds a bit severe to someone who's never done it, but believe me, it's been done like this for a long time, and once you've done your first one, it's no big deal any more. Unless you're a professional repair person (I'm not) and plan to do this a lot, buying or manufacturing special tools is an unnecessary expenditure.

The point of this method is to have a sacrificial stud whose job it is to get both ends of the hammer! :salude :2lol

Hey Mofinco,

Boy do I feel STUPID in restrospect for the question regarding thumb pressure. That was an utterly ignorant thing for me to ask. That said, thanks for the information. I guess what I was really after was something more along the lines of how similar in size a Historic bushing is in comparison to a Pigtail bushing, for example. It would seem to me, seeing those grooves running along the outside of the bushing that if there was even the slightest bit of difference in size between the originally installed bushing and the replacement, that there would be an issue of 'looseness', not to mention that those 'grooves' would make me wonder if the replacement bushing would have to be 'slotted' into the same grooves to prevent some sort of issue.

Secondly, I gather that the thread count is exactly the same between the OEM Gibson Historic bushing/stud and the replacement parts such as Pigtail or RS Guitarworks?

Hi Curt - your question about the thumb pressure for reinserting the bushings was a good legit question. I'm apologize if my response left you feeling otherwise - that wasn't my intent. :salude

The grooves (splines) running along the outside of the bushing serve to bite into the wood, and my poor little brain thinks it's to keep the bushing from rotating inside the wood when the studs is turned under slight string pressure. The hole in the wood needs to provide a bushing with a good tight fit, but not so tight as to 'stress' the wood and possibly crack it. So the splines on the outside of a bushing help give it some traction. The replacement bushing doesn't need to have the same number of splines, necessarily, as the one you pulled out. The splines aren't that tall. If the splines of the new bushing aren't exactly the same as the old, the new splines will make their own place in the wood just fine, just like the originals did - no problem.

As far as the thread count on the replacement studs, yup - there's a standard thread on those things. RS and Pigtail are smart enough to make studs that can still be used in existing bushings. Not everyone wants to pull their old ones. Making a different thread on their studs would severely limit their market. The place you will see different threads is on import guitars, and even then, not on all import guitars. Many do have different threads though. Steve Rowen at Pigtail sells steel studs for import guitars. I don't know about RS.

I've got a few import guitars with stop tails, notably my Orvilles. That picture I posted above with the hammer is showing me pulling the metric bushings out of one of my Orvilles to install 'normal' bushings, which I have a ton of. Pulling/replacing bushings is so easy, I do it almost immediately when I buy an import. I want to be able to use any of the studs in my parts box, so 'normal' bushings go in right away. I've become a big fan of steel TP studs, like many others around here. I have some Pigtail stuff, but a number of my guitars have old original Gibson steel studs. Gibson continued to use steel studs up into the very early-'70s, so there are more sources of steel studs than just Pigtail or RS. I've hounded the poor repair folks around my area to death to go through their parts cans with a magnet in hand. :biglaugh:

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

A little more...

after reading this thread I went with the claw hammer method, worked just fine.

I boogered up the finish at the edge of the hole a tiny bit but that was because I was not as careful with cutting the finish as i could have been.... live and learn.

I don't really care much since unless you take the stopbar off you can't see it and this is a player with many scratches etc. I just fiigure it's part of my relic'ing process

just as a warning to others.... if you DO care make sure you really carefully cut away the finish on the top of the bushing. it's a little scary with an exacto knife and it's harder to tell where the wood starts than I would have thought but the right prep will make all the difference, then I'd guess either method would work nicely. and the claw hammer method sure is easy and fast.

I forgot all about the grounding wire until the middle of last night and then I couldn't remember if i had heard any noise. I'll be checking carefully tonight......

yes there should be a grounding wire in the lower bushing hole and I'm not sure how you get at it or how it is attached. I even had my guitar guy fix it on my classic so I can ask him about it now that I can pull the bushing again.

the optimum advice i would give is what I said above, really take your time on removing the lacquer above the bushing it's hard to tell exactly where the wood starts but if you get that area cleaned up prying the bushing out using the stud is easy, just got real slow.

I was more worried about getting the new one in but gentle tapping with a soft mallet, I used my daughters jewelry hammer did the trick, I was very carefull to try and keep the bushing straight as it went in but after a certain distance it just does go in straight.

 

[LoFiBrian]

Re: Tailpiece Anchor removal?

after seeing that i might just leave the gold bushings in and try to ignore the gold lip of the bushing til it fades or comes off...

i can live with that...

****ing up the top of my guitar or ruining the tailpiece bushing hole i cannot live with

Thanks guys so much for your help...

Golden Boy...You are a life saver!!!

Cannnot wait for my new tuners and aluminum Tailpiece

-Brian