Good or bad idea? guitar repair....

ThrowAway · Post by **ThrowAway** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:39 am

A friend of mine owns a strat thats any where from 10 to 20 years old. she recently pulled the screw out on the bottom that holds the shoulder strap on. Is it ok to drill a slightly bigger hole and fit another screw onto it? Im thinking itll be all right i just wanted to ask someone other than the douches at guitar center before I do it. any info is appreciated.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:41 am

Sure, shouldn't be an issue at all as long as you drill the right sized hole and have a screw that fits. Alternative is to use some wood glue and glue a toothpick (or two) in the original hole and use the original hardware once it all dries.

gjm · Post by **gjm** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:01 am

Doesn't the fitting have a screw that goes through it? ie its a 2 piece fitting. Check to see if you can get a larger Diameter screw through the fitting.

Also is there any break out of the wood where the screw was? Is the hole say, oval now? The extent of this would determine how much repair is needed. If it is quite damaged then you could drill an oversize hole to fit a dowel, glue that in and then reset the strap fitting. This will not be noticed if the dowel is smaller than the strap fitting, which will hide it.

If there is minimum damage, you could consider a longer screw of the same shank size.

Post a pic

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:32 am

I have no idea why, but i've just been reminded of an incident from a long long time ago.

Back in the day when all of them big hair metalers used to do that thing where they would spin the guitar around their back and heads on the guitar strap a'la Indigo mouse wee, among many other truly annoying things, a friend of mine had a bass player that used to do it all of the time, any ways, this one time he did it and didn't realize how low the lighting rig was

One of the funniest things i have ever seen was watching him try to disentangle him self from the rig, bass and strap

It couldn't have been planned better for Spinal Tap...

Any how, just to keep it on topic, i would go for the wood glue and soft tooth pick down the hole trick. Worked for me.

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:27 am

if its really a 20 year old Fender Strat, you might wanna check what model it is. It could be valuable and you dont want to be altering the body yourself in that case as it can affect the resale.

if its just a copy then have at it! there shouldnt be any electronics any where near there so a larger hole would be fine, or go for the mighty toothpick fix.

this is where you find out how old the strat is:

http://www.guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx

Simbosan · Post by **Simbosan** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:54 am

CBS Era 80's Strats were a bit meh, but for me personally I would say, if you love the guitar, treat it to the best.

S

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:03 pm

Homebelly wrote: Any how, just to keep it on topic, i would go for the wood glue and soft tooth pick down the hole trick. Worked for me.

+1
Carpenter's Wood Glue or Gorilla Glue-- strong glue, not just the white elmer's stuff. I did exactly this and it works fine.

I wouldn't redrill anything, a little risky-- and a bigger screw might cause cracks.

Aequitas123 · Post by **Aequitas123** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:11 pm

No don't drill a new hole.

Fixing these things are easy. If you were to take it to any pro repair shop they would do this:

Fill the hole with glue and toothpicks. Let it set and screw it back in.

Hope that helps.

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:36 pm

Another vote for the toothpicks and glue; I've used that on a number of occasions.

ew

pixelbox · Post by **pixelbox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:36 pm

Tarekith and the rest are correct. Toothpicks and glue are what the pro repair people would use.

dave999z · Post by **dave999z** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:21 pm

i would actually recommend you take those big wooden matches (fireplace matches), stick one of those in the hole and break it off. It's nice soft wood - i find it better than toothpicks. might not even need glue, but could certainly use glue too.

gjm · Post by **gjm** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:08 pm

pixelbox wrote: Toothpicks and glue are what the pro repair people would use.

Any Pro worth his/her salt would ask why it happened in the first place and effect a repair to make sure it didn't happen again.

How is the guitar treated in daily use? If the owner respects the instrument and is not rough with it and the fitting ripped out of its hole, then a toothpick may help with screwing the fitting back in but not prevent it from happening again.

ALL screws (except self tappers) require pilot holes to be drilled the size of the shank. People get lazy and skip this step if the wood is softer and just drive it in, crushing the wood fibers. The bodies of those mass produced guitars are usually Alder or some variant, which is a soft material. The size of the screws are usually a No.6, quite small on the shank, but the point loading is at 90 deg so usually is sufficient to hold the weight generated by the guitar and the person using it. You would be surprised how much load a tiny screw can take.

But the fact that it happens fairly regularly should alert you to the fact that something is not quite right with the combination of fastening choice.

Any repair has to consider the damage done to the original part. Did the screw bend? Is the hole oval? Did it just 'fall out'?

If the screw bent, then you need a larger diameter screw.

If the wood surrounding the screw gave way or was too soft, then you need to deal with compression loads on the soft wood, by either providing a harder bearing material, or a larger screw which has a larger bearing surface on the soft material.

If it ripped out more or less in line with the shank then you also need a longer screw so more threads are gripping the softwood material.

Toothpicks are made of soft wood. The screw ripped out in the first place because the load generated on the fastening could not be supported by the soft wood it was screwed into.

I would NOT be happy if a so called pro shoved a tooth pick down the hole, and then charged me for it. Its a band aid solution, not a permanent solution. "A tooth pick saved the day". Makes you wonder why they didn't included a tooth pick right from the factory.

A lot of the time you get these half baked repairs because, in many cases to do it properly, the bill generated for a persons hourly rate would soon exceed the value of the instrument.

If you pay a Pro to use tooth pick and wood glue, get them to guarantee that its a permanent solution, that you will never be back for the same repair. If he hesitates with his answer, then you know his fingers are crossed behind his back.

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:26 pm

gjm wrote: A lot of the time you get these half baked repairs because, in many cases to do it properly, the bill generated for a persons hourly rate would soon exceed the value of the instrument.

well, yeh, hence all the advice about the glue and the small, soft piece of wood that fits in the original hole

But to keep it from happening again, that is a good point. I use a type of strap that I've had for many years where the strap is more or less permanently attached to the guitar, it avoids pulling directly on the original strap screw and bushing-- I cannot remember the name of the thing (it is not strap lok) but it works very well.

Cyberstar · Post by **Cyberstar** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:36 pm

I agree tooth picks and strong glue, I had to do this same thing to my 78 strat a few years ago.

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:48 pm

Somebody earlier mentioned the value of the guitar. Pay attention to what you are doing for "who". Is the guitar a player, a collector or something else. If it is a collector then you don't want to be stuffing junk in the screw hole or even using a larger screw (non original equipment). Some freaks out there will even claim a tooth pick (you can get hardwood toothpicks by the way), changes the tone of the guitar. Personally I don't care about the itty bitty things and all my guitars are "players" so I'd just follow gjm's advice about figuring out what the "real" problem is.