Stripped neck screw

[whyachi]

I meant to post this a few weeks ago but it keeps slipping my mind.

When I went to swap my neck plate for the Dangerous one on Murphy, I noticed the lower-left screw doesn't seem to be biting into anything. It'll hold in the body but it wasn't really gripping at all. It screwed in fine when I put it together, but I think when I took it to the shop to get the slots cut into the bridge that he took the neck off to adjust it or something and f'd it up on reassembly.

As far as I've noticed, it plays great and the neck is straight and true, but could this cause a problem in the future? I'm guessing the only solution would be inserts, but I don't have the tools to install those at the moment.

 

[nexrex]

As I'm a perfectionist this is what i would do. Use a good glue like titebond to insert a wood plug effectively filling this hole. You can then re-drill this hole to the same width and depth, and then the screw will bind

 

[Cagey]

The looser the neck is, the less sustain you have. Also, you may get some inconsistent tuning if the thing flexes much at all. You've got extra load on the other screws, so they may want to loosen up over time. The neck could eventually warp from the imbalanced pressure.  Although, I think it was G&L who did three-point attachments of their necks, and didn't suffer for it. So, maybe the 4 point is overkill. Of course, the three screw attachment was laid out differently, too.

Installing inserts isn't difficult, and you don't need any tricky tools. A variable speed drill motor, the appropriate-sized bit, and an inexpensive little tool make short work of the project. I just did it the other day for some speaker mounting holes. See this page from McMaster-Carr. The inserts and tool altogether shouldn't cost you more than $16-$17 all told, and you'll have enough inserts left over to do another neck. The tool is certainly reusable - you won't have to buy that again unless you go to a dramatically different-sized insert.

 

[-CB-]

I'd personally not do the total wood plug thing... unless its REALLY bad. 

The age old "fix" is to get some tightbond (wood glue) and glue a flat toothpick into the hole.  Maybe two if its rather loose.

Let those dry, shave flush with the neck surface, reattach the neck... fixed.

 

[ocguy106]

+1 to what CB said that will fix everything

 

[nexrex]

Forgot about the toothpick fix. Good call guys.

 

[line6man]

Neck bolt inserts.

Or at least that's what I would do.

 

[Dan025]

i just drip some THIN  CA  a.k.a. SUPERGLUE down the hole, it doesn't fill the hole the first application so you may just be able to screw it tight at that point. if it's a little looser the toothpick and redrill should work with either super glue or a good wood glue.

 

[Jeremiah]

Is there a risk that if you've previously used wax, soap or some other lubricant on the screws, this will be left in the holes and will prevent the glue sticking properly?

 

[whyachi]

Luckily, I haven't. I screwed it in naked.

 

[Steve_Karl]

I'd personally not do the total wood plug thing... unless its REALLY bad. 

The age old "fix" is to get some tightbond (wood glue) and glue a flat toothpick into the hole.  Maybe two if its rather loose.

Let those dry, shave flush with the neck surface, reattach the neck... fixed.

+1

 

[line6man]

i just drip some THIN  CA  a.k.a. SUPERGLUE down the hole, it doesn't fill the hole the first application so you may just be able to screw it tight at that point. if it's a little looser the toothpick and redrill should work with either super glue or a good wood glue.

I've used superglue and baking soda to fill stripped pickguard holes, and that worked quite well.

What I did was fill the hole most of the way up with baking soda, and then drip super glue into the hole until the baking soda was fully saturated with it.
Once it dries, it's really hard.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Toothpicks, baking soda and superglue are the handyman's best friends. It's amazing what you can do with them. When filling something with baking soda, I like to fill the hole about a third full of baking soda, saturate with superglue, then repeat until the hole is full. To me, it's a way of making sure it's really saturated and really hard.

 

[AprioriMark]

I screwed it in naked.

Time tested methods are always best.

-Mark

 

[whyachi]

I screwed it in naked.

Time tested methods are always best.

-Mark

And the rosewood was slick enough that it didn't seem to matter.

 

[DangerousR6]

That might be a good reason to try some threaded inserts.... :dontknow:

 

[Paul-less]

I screwed it in naked.

What does your clothing situation have anything to do with it?

 

[BigBeard]

I screwed it in naked.

What does your clothing situation have anything to do with it?

I thought everybody assembled guitars naked? 

 

[-CB-]

That is a very bad visual....

 

[Mor Paul]

Look out for flying solder.