nexrex said:
Just a trick i picked up from a guitar tech friend. Get you studs and pop them in the freezer. The metal will shrink, and then put a dab of past wax on the bottom. Doing this now, and they practically slide in. Hammer and wood block to tap them in with little effort.
:headbang: :headbang:
I never thought of freezing bridge studs or bushings.... I do freeze the bronze pilot bushing when I change a clutch in my pickup truck, makes them slide right in with a tiny bit of persuasion from the deadblow hammer And waxing or soaping a bushing is definately the way to go. In fact, you should have a bar of soap or an old candle around you anytime you are working with hardwood and screws (which, as guitar builders, we run into this situation during every assembly we do, unless we are building pine guitars!!)
I recommend doing them yourself. If it is a stud, use a block of wood and be gentle. Use a deadblow hammer if you can get one. That is what they are made for.
If you are installing bushings, you can take the bushing to the hardware store and get a 2" or 3" bolt that threads into the stud with a couple of nuts and thread the bushing onto the bolt and whack away. That way too you have a stud puller if the time ever comes that you need to pull the bushing back out of the guitar.
This one is an easy one, and it's an easy $10 for warmoth. I wouldn't ever be uncomfortable with installing my own studs or bushings, and I am cheap, I can buy a lot of bolts for $10. Oh well you got her done, which is the most important part of the thread.
There is nothing to be afraid of when working on your Warmoth...... If you mess something up, it can be fixed. Anything can be fixed. We aren't working on '57 Les Pauls or '54 strats here, we are working with project materials. chip or scratch your nice shiny new finish, they make stuff that you can 'flow' new laquer into old etc. Blow out a hole for a stud, nothing that a dowel rod and a drill can't fix. Also, look outside the box when it comes to having stuff done that you cannot do. Some (not all) machine shops that do engine work don't mind setting up their drill press to drll some holes for you. You'd be amazed how much more a simple case of beer or a joint can buy you than the actual money you spent on the beer or doob!! Just remember if you do ever decide to have a machine shop do any work to your guitar, especially if it is unfinished guitar to tape everything on the body unless you want greasy fingerprints all over your new quilted maple top!!!
