Alfang said:
I'm with Death, I have NEVER waxed a screw, and have never had a problem.
However, I have waxed and soaped screws for other projects non guitar related in the past, don't use soap.
Soap helps screws go in just fine, but theres something in soap, or most soap that is alive or something, it eventually makes the wood mushy over time.
Yes, don't use Soap if you can help it! (And I'm taking BAR SOAP - put down the bottle of
Dawn and step
away from the guitar.) :confused4:
Bar soaps, et. al., have moisturizers, detergents, perfumes, etc. that do not play well with wood. Essentially you're introducing water
directly into a body or neck via the screw cavity's that will rot and weaken the area over time.
Use WAX. Bee's Wax for best practices but any candle laying around the house works just fine - your GF/wife might get pissed, but I'm sure
that's nothing compared to having to tap, drill and extract a broken off screw.
People that tend to drill pilot holes don't 'need' to lubricate their screws, but I would recommend it regardless. It really depends on if your
drilling into something 'punky' like Ash or Alder vs. something a bit harder like Maple or Mahogany.
My entire guitar was assembled withOUT power tools (not including a soldering iron). I used the two hand drills in the picture below for every
hole that I needed to make (pick guard, jack plate, tuner, strap lock and FR string retainer screws):
ORCRiST