Can I drill and dowell through a pickup screw?

[thebigz]

I'm working on getting my model 5 working again, and one of the problems is that there are broken off screws where I need to mount the pickup rings. I know a lot of people will drill a hole and glue a dowel rod in there (by the way, can I just use gorilla glue for that?). Can I just drill through the screw? I guess it is no different that drilling through a piece of metal, eh?

Here is a picture just to show what is going on. It is like this in 3 of the screw holes

[neilli]

You could try a screw extractor, but those screws are pretty small to grab.

[paranoid]

Yes you can glue in a plug. Use a small hollow drill like a hole saw, with the aid of a drill press you drill over the screw. chisel out the slug in the center and plug with a dowel that can be redrilled were you need the hole. Trying to drill a very small broken screw out of wood is very difficult

[hairy-dude]

Stew Mac sell a set of tools for exactly this purpose:

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Routers_and_Bits/Bits/Guitar_Screw_Rescue_Kit_Complete_kit.html

I've used this to drill and plug lots of things, from lock nut screw holes, tremolo screw holes, machine head screrws, etc. Very handy kit.

The only problem I see is that the repair my be visible under the pickup ring, ie the pickup ring may not cover the new plug, so you may have to add a little paint to cover it up.

[workerunit]

If you have access to a drill press, you can use a High Speed Steel (HSS) or carbide reverse drill bit of the appropriate screw diameter and drill out just the screw, that way you do not need a large plug, and you will minimize the damage to the finish of the guitar. After you get the screw out, you can use a small diameter dowel to fill in the hole and re-drill the hole for the pickup ring mounting screw.

Do not try to use a drill free hand as the drill bit will walk off the screw and damage the guitar body.If you do not have a drill press, the Stew Mac tool may work, but you will need to install a larger plug.

Use Elmer's white wood glue or equivalent. Some types of gorilla glue expands as it dries and will cause a plug to push out unless it is clamped in place.

[thebigz]

Thanks. I'm planning on taking it to my friend's house and using his drill press to drill it out. That stewmac tool looks pretty sweet though. The guitar is pretty beat as it is, so I'm not too concernet with ruining the finish any more than it already is