Stripped strap button hole...

[Strat Avenger]

How do you guys like to go about fixing a stripped strap button hole. I have never had one strip out before....until now. The one on the upper horn of my current Strat build.

I have a couple of ideas, but wanted to get your ideas as well.

 

[Cagey]

The traditional method is to dip a couple/few toothpicks in Cyanoacrylate, stuff them in the hole, then a little bit later drill the hole out for a #8 wood screw. You can use a wood glue like Titebond II and it'll work just about as well.

 

[erogenousjones17]

I've gotten good results using baking soda and superglue (cyanoacrylate, if you want to get fancy like Cagey). You've got to go in stages though: fill the hole about a third of the way with baking soda, add a few drops of glue (the really thin kind) and repeat.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Only time this has ever happened to me, 20 years ago or so, I took it to a friend's house and he drilled it out a bit, filled it with wood filler, and when it was dry, re-drilled the hole. It held for years after that, and then I sold it, so no idea if it ever failed again.

 

[swarfrat]

Superglue I'm ok with, but baking soda? Eeek. I'd feel a lot better about a traditional wood toothpicks + superglue.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Superglue I'm ok with, but baking soda? Eeek. I'd feel a lot better about a traditional wood toothpicks + superglue.

I can understand being skeptical, but it works. See the "Filler" section of the Wikipedia page Cagey linked to. For serious! :laughing7:

 

[swarfrat]

Neat, learned something new. (See what happens when you're not careful.) It's not just gluing powder baking soda or filler, it actually reacts with it. I'm sold.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Slash's guitar tech actually gave me his "hotel room" method a while back too, I forgot about that. Matchsticks with woodglue into the hole until no more will go in. Then put a screw in immediately. The screw clamps the matchsticks to the outside of the hole, important to get a good join, and the threads of the screw tap the hole ready for use when the glue is all dry. Haven't tried it, but it seems to make sense. He didn't tell me what he'd do if he wasn't out on the road though.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Or, when all else fails, you can always play sitting down.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[mayfly]

Slash's guitar tech actually gave me his "hotel room" method a while back too, I forgot about that. Matchsticks with woodglue into the hole until no more will go in. Then put a screw in immediately. The screw clamps the matchsticks to the outside of the hole, important to get a good join, and the threads of the screw tap the hole ready for use when the glue is all dry. Haven't tried it, but it seems to make sense. He didn't tell me what he'd do if he wasn't out on the road though.

I've done this.  works great.  wooden matchstick dipped in white glue, stuff in, break off end (the part that lights on fire), screw in strap button.  Done.

 

[AndyG]

I did the toothpick and glue repair on one of my older, not really expensive basses ... it worked for a while, but the body was basswood, so the repair didn't last.
It became a permanent repair when I drilled out the hole and filled it with a small piece of 1/4" hardwood dowel (about 3/4" long).
It is slightly more complicated surgery, but the repair became permanent ... and invisible when the strap button was put back into place.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Threaded insert.

 

[stubhead]

The #8 neck screw is a pretty bit upgrade over the #6's typically supplied, to begin with. But you have to turn the heads down by clamping in a drill and running them against a file, to fit into Schaller straplock buttons.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I fixed it. The super-glue trick seems to have worked. I didn't use toothpicks though. I made a dowel from a shish kebob stick which was the perfect size.

 

[Cagey]

I've used shish kebob sticks in the past as well. They're cheap and plentiful, and just the right size for a #8 hole.

They're also good for stirring paint  :icon_biggrin: