WTF...Stripped neck bolt

[Jeff Albertson]

Damn, I was putting a neck back on a USA Charvel and one of the screws just kept on turning and turining and turning. Heel mounted truss by the way. 1st time that happened to me..actually pretty suprised about that. I was kicking around the idea of dowelling it, but maybe thought about something different. Has anybody ever tried sticking a metal anchor bushing in there? Just like a Floyd has. I'd rather just try and make it bullet proof off from the git-go. Seems like I have to adjust the truss rod needs to be adjusted once in a while...hate to have it happen again.

[jeff300]

Don't do something so drastic!

Grab a tootpick and some glue, glue the toothpick in the hole, let dry, cut off the excess, and the the screw will hold.

[hippietim]

Don't do something so drastic!

Grab a tootpick and some glue, glue the toothpick in the hole, let dry, cut off the excess, and the the screw will hold.

+1

[jackson1]

I haven't tried the bushings sorry, but a proper done repair should last for many years, assuming you don't overtighten the screws.
Drill out, put in maple dowel with grooves + a little glue, trim it flush when dry and drill a new, proper hole for the neck screw, which is the diameter of the core of the screw.

Is it the Nuno guitar that uses bushings for the neck? Mark?

[Adam]

Don't do something so drastic!

Grab a tootpick and some glue, glue the toothpick in the hole, let dry, cut off the excess, and the the screw will hold.

No... I don't think I would do that.

The toothpick method works great when you're repairing a stripped strap-button hole, but something like a neck screw that is helping fight against over 100lbs psi trying to fold the guitar in half deserves a proper repair.

Dowel it and re-drill. That's what a luthier would do.

[Bengal65]

No... I don't think I would do that.

The toothpick method works great when you're repairing a stripped strap-button hole, but something like a neck screw that is helping fight against over 100lbs psi trying to fold the guitar in half deserves a proper repair.

Dowel it and re-drill. That's what a luthier would do.

Yeah, +1 I would dowel it also. It doesn't take that long to do and it will be as strong as new. If you have access to a drill press, it's even better. I use a drill press to perform all the drilling for neck mouting holes.

[Jeff Albertson]

I've toothpicked this and drilled & dowelled that. It's all good but still just wood. Sooner or later the same thing could happen again, just as easy. If the bushing is good enough for the Floyd then why not the neck I guess? I'll have to get it all together over the next few days and post some pics of the fix up. I was just hoping someone else might have tried it first.

[Shawn Lutz]

I often wondered why bushings were not used on bolt on necks...especially when you have to take the neck off to adjust the truss rod. I guess it makes it less universal and holes doen align up with every body out there

[toejam]

No... I don't think I would do that.

The toothpick method works great when you're repairing a stripped strap-button hole, but something like a neck screw that is helping fight against over 100lbs psi trying to fold the guitar in half deserves a proper repair.

It'll work fine for either. I was having the same problem on my new Charvel Star... the top right neck bolt also has the strap button on it (why they don't just drill a hole in the middle of the plate and put the button there is beyond me). The button kept getting loose, so I glued a toothpick in there and it's fine now. Someone here actually got a new Charvel with toothpicks already in there from the factory!

[rjohnstone]

Bushings are fine for holding things in with latteral force applied against them. But holding a neck on is different than holding a Floyd in. The Floyd bushing is used to anchor a pivot point, the forces applied to it are primarily side to side, not so much up and down.
Overtighten the bolt on a neck and you pull the bushing out, or worse... spin it in the hole. Either way, you lose any grip you just had.

[mm2002]

Bushings are fine for holding things in with latteral force applied against them. But holding a neck on is different than holding a Floyd in. The Floyd bushing is used to anchor a pivot point, the forces applied to it are primarily side to side, not so much up and down.
Overtighten the bolt on a neck and you pull the bushing out, or worse... spin it in the hole. Either way, you lose any grip you just had.

1000% correct!

[Jeff Albertson]

1000% correct!

Splined stainless with a tight fit and glue...you really think it will pull or spin? If there's enough to spin it, surely, it would have already pulled out the wood.

[rjohnstone]

Splined stainless with a tight fit and glue...you really think it will pull or spin? If there's enough to spin it, surely, it would have already pulled out the wood.

Spun or pulled out.. doesn't matter... once the grip is gone, the bushing is useless.
Pressed in bushings are not meant to be used as an anchor for the kind of forces a neck bolt gets put through.
If it were a threaded bushing that was screwed into the wood, sure, but that kinda defeats the purpose.

[jeff300]

No... I don't think I would do that.

The toothpick method works great when you're repairing a stripped strap-button hole, but something like a neck screw that is helping fight against over 100lbs psi trying to fold the guitar in half deserves a proper repair.

Dowel it and re-drill. That's what a luthier would do.

Think about it... You dowel, and then you redrill in the exact same spot. Bye bye dowel, except for maybe 0.001% of it! The well glued toothpick will actually give you more hold surface in this case.

[Jeff Albertson]

counter sink this