Bushing puller

[TBurst Std]

Searched and can not locate. Anyone have plans/pics for a bushing puller? Need to build one to pull TOM bridge and TP bushings.

Thanks

 

[Cagey]

Waste of time/money. Just screw in a mounting post, place something on the face of the body like a shim or a magazine or something like that to protect the finish while you pry against it, and pull them out with a claw hammer. Works like a charm and it's fast, free and easy.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Else inspiration can be found here.

Should be relative easy to recreate as DIY.

 

[Kuro Uma]

I just drop an appropriately sized screw down in the empty bushing. Then screw the stud back into the bushing. With the foreign screw head down and pressing against the wood, the bushing will push itself up and out. dump the screw out and you're done. Hope this helps.

 

[Day-mun]

I'm with SustainerPlayer on using some sort of puller. I'm pretty sure they gotta come straight out. Early in my DIY'er ventures, I cracked finish doing the claw-hammer trick because the bushing canted to follow the rocking/arched motion of the hammer.

 

[Hbom]

You might try dropping a socket of the appropriate size over the bushing, then a washer with the correct hole for a screw to come down from the top. Run the screw into the bushing and it should pull it straight up.
I'd also use a felt or rubber washer under the socket to protect the finish.

Good luck.
:rock-on:

 

[TBurst Std]

Thanks everyone. My bridge on my 79 LP Std has collapsed some so going to replace it (again LOL). Going to try thr Callaham milled steel ABR bridge with Nashville conversion posts. Also needing to get it refretted. After numerous dressings over the last 34 years, there isn;t much left to be dressed LOL. Going SS on the frets so it should be the last time I have to do this.

 

[Cagey]

I'm with SustainerPlayer on using some sort of puller. I'm pretty sure they gotta come straight out. Early in my DIY'er ventures, I cracked finish doing the claw-hammer trick because the bushing canted to follow the rocking/arched motion of the hammer.

You do need to pull straight up, which is why I like to use a shim. As you pull, you move the shim along to raise the fulcrum point, maybe even stacking a couple along the way. The bushings aren't in as tight as many imagine; they're not hard to pull. Installing them takes more force as you're displacing wood.

 

[Cagey]

Thanks everyone. My bridge on my 79 LP Std has collapsed some so going to replace it (again LOL). Going to try thr Callaham milled steel ABR bridge with Nashville conversion posts. Also needing to get it refretted. After numerous dressings over the last 34 years, there isn;t much left to be dressed LOL. Going SS on the frets so it should be the last time I have to do this.

You're the second person I've heard say this year that they've had older TOM bridges collapse. What did they make those things out of? I've never been a fan of the things, but the longer I go the more reasons to avoid them stack up.

Incidentally, who's doing your frets? I didn't get a call...

 

[Kuro Uma]

Here's a video on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsZ9zBX2eDU

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Here's a video on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsZ9zBX2eDU

That's clever. Thanks for posting.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

Here's a video on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsZ9zBX2eDU

That's an excellent solution I hadn't considered at all. As he says, it doesn't take a whole lot of force to pull those bushings; the wood has already been displaced so you don't have to fight that.

My only concern with that method is the dreaded straight slot screwdriver. Those damned things are notorious for slipping/snapping out of the slot and turning into lethal weapons on your finish. But, knowing the danger ahead of time, you can govern yourself accordingly.

 

[TBurst Std]

Tried Kuro's method and the TP bushings didn't budge

 

[Hbom]

I read in  a post about removing studs for a Floyd that you can heat the stud with a solder iron to help loosen any paint or glue.
You might try that.

 

[Cagey]

Tried Kuro's method and the TP bushings didn't budge

It's possible the bottoms of the bushings aren't open. Not all of them are. Some even have locking screws down there. If they're not open, that method won't work.

I'm tellin' ya - thread a post into the bushing, and get out the claw hammer. Protect your finish, and increase the height of your pad under the fulcrum point as the thing moves out so it comes up straight. Easy as falling down during a good vodka drunk. I've done it 7.2 million times. Pull bushings, I mean. I think. Wait...

 

[stubhead]

Saying a claw hammer doesn't pull evenly - gulp, dare I?

A hammer, actually, doesn't pull at all. You do. The pickup prevents you from doing a perfect rotation around the whole thing, but still... think? And just be careful... pull a little bit on one side, go 180 degrees, pull a little bit more, hit it at 210 degrees, opposite, another 30 degree displacement. I would automatically have my 2X Optivisor there. In fact, before I even started I would check the finish surrounding the bushings. If it's lacquered over somewhere - not impossible, depending on the path of the thing through the factory - you need to break the lacquer with an X-acto knife. I do like Kuro's fundamental idea of using it's own threads to leverage it up. Too. In looking at one here, I see that you could slip an open ended wrench over the post - 1/4" wrench, roundabouts. And that head is only 1/8" wide. And then you elevate the head of that wrench till it's snuggy against the bottom surface of the head. Not pine, but... hard. I have a few butter knives with solid stainless handles. There's probably half-a-dozen things in your kitchen and garage. Any kind of washers, I would personally be padding the guitar with popsicle sticks. WAAH! Everything keeps falling apart! Mr. Masking tape to the rescue! Tape the stuff down!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rjc_O52IY0

All you need to do is break that one little grippy annoyance, and it can be done with it's own threads, or with external leverage.

 

[Kuro Uma]

Absolutely, if the bottom of the bushing is solid or closed then my way of doing it does nothing. Every one that I've had to remove was open and a flat top machine screw about half the depth of the hole always worked for me. I've had to heat up a few of them. But most just rise right out of there. The first one I ever pulled years ago I did by heating up the bushing, screwing the stud in and using a pair of Vise grips I pulled it straight out. Hulk Smash style. Body down on the carpet. left hand holding down the body right hand pulling up. I was kid and realized "there must be an easier way to do this".

For me the claw hammer method would seem to bend the wood over slightly towards the side the hammer is on. Unless you carefully worked it around in a circle I guess.

 

[Fat Pete]

I pulled some Wilkinson bushings out using the claw hammer method (they're not open at the bottom). No trouble at all. the only tip I would add is to screw the bolt/stud down as low as possible so you're not starting the pull with too much angle. (YMMV). Good luck!

 

[Kuro Uma]

I pulled some Wilkinson bushings out using the claw hammer method (they're not open at the bottom). No trouble at all. the only tip I would add is to screw the bolt/stud down as low as possible so you're not starting the pull with too much angle. (YMMV). Good luck!

Exactly Wilkinson bushings wouldn't work with the method I was referring to. 

 

[TBurst Std]

I was working on the TP bushings. They are not closed. Will try some heat first.
Going to have to find something small enough for the Nashville bushings