Hi - hopefully someone knows about this. I don't want to screw up my beautiful neck. It's a mahogany with an ebony fingerboard. It came from Warmoth with the 4 holes in the back for screws, but I'm wondering if they'll work as is - or should I drill them out a little closer to the screw size I'm going to use? I'm getting screws from warmoth.
Question - should I widen existing neck screw holes?
- Thread starter sduck
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S
swarfrat
Guest
Necks are predrilled unless you specify otherwise. I wouldn't enlarge the neck screw holes. There's no harm in enlarging the neck screw holes in the body if you get finish in there. (In general threads should only engage the piece in tension. They pull the neck into the body.) But leave the screw holes in the neck alone.
Use wax, not soap. A candle is fine... And make sure you have a decent-quality screwdriver that matches the slots in the head of the screw. Good screwdrivers, rather than the potmetal bargain sets, really help*. If you look at the tip of a phillips-head screwdriver and it's already gacked, throw it away (or give it back to the gacker :evil4
. I find it's easiest to run a screw in and out of the holes to cut the threads first, with the neck laying on a towel and me concentrating on the screwdriver. Instead of trying to cut the threads & hold the neck at the same time. You're asking questions - that's a good start.
*(Everything about lubrication, pilot holes & screwdrivers that FIT goes quadruple when it comes to the bitty screws - ESPECIALLY the tuner-location screws. They don't need to hold anything on, they're just alignment pins. So there, making the pilot holes big is a great idea. Search "tuner screws" here for some Steven King-surpassing horror reading sometime.)
ADDENDUM: I have seen at least four different "#8 screws" that differ in sizes slightly, and I think it's a good idea to use new screws on each neck and keep the old ones with the right neck. Otherwise, at some point the statistical inevitability will hit - you'll try to remount a neck threaded with fat #8's using skinny #8's. heh.
. I find it's easiest to run a screw in and out of the holes to cut the threads first, with the neck laying on a towel and me concentrating on the screwdriver. Instead of trying to cut the threads & hold the neck at the same time. You're asking questions - that's a good start.*(Everything about lubrication, pilot holes & screwdrivers that FIT goes quadruple when it comes to the bitty screws - ESPECIALLY the tuner-location screws. They don't need to hold anything on, they're just alignment pins. So there, making the pilot holes big is a great idea. Search "tuner screws" here for some Steven King-surpassing horror reading sometime.)
ADDENDUM: I have seen at least four different "#8 screws" that differ in sizes slightly, and I think it's a good idea to use new screws on each neck and keep the old ones with the right neck. Otherwise, at some point the statistical inevitability will hit - you'll try to remount a neck threaded with fat #8's using skinny #8's. heh.
S
swarfrat
Guest
Updown said:
You'll have to spend some time coming up with a really creative set of inlays to cover that one.
Wow! Thanks for all the elaboration on how to do this. Glad I asked! I've done this before with an old showcase neck, and it worked fine, but this time I have a really nice neck that I paid some real $$$ for and don't want to mess it up. Yes, I've got the correct length screws for my contoured heel, and with all this advice I should be good to go.
ccasion14:
