Drilling holes for new neck advice

[Jackson-Charvel]

Ok what is the best way to do this without a drill press and a vice to hold the neck? Trying to do this with a 18v Makita cordless drill and a whole lotta luck. Is it do-able? Main concern is straight holes. Put yourself in my shoes and give me a Macgyver solution, thanks.

[JetFixxxer]

A "C" Clamp and go slow...

This is what I do.. I set the neck where I want, then with a drill bit the size of the neck holes in the body I hand twist it so that the drill removes some material for the starting point of the drill attached to my Makita.

[missionguitars1]

Do you have a C- or other style clamp? What I do is:
1) Put the neck on the guitar
2) Clamp neck with PADDED C-clamp or equivalent, adjust neck as best you can, and tighten, leaving the 4 holes in the body exposed (sometimes easier said than done!)
3) Run a piece of fishing line from both E tuners to the E saddles on the bridge (you can use string, but line stretches better).
4) Now tighten the line using the tuners. You *should* have 2 parallel pieces of string that are running where the E strings should be. If it's off, loosen clamp, move neck, tighten when it's perfect.
5) Some guys will drill the 4 holes now (MEASURE HOW DEEP YOU NEED TO GO AND MARK YOUR BIT WITH A PIECE OF TAPE!!!!), I prefer to use the largest bit possible to run into each of the 4 holes, twist until you feel a "bite" (by hand), and proceed to do this in the other 3 holes.
6) Disassemble - you now have 4 nice marks on the neck where you need to drill. Use a bit that is slightly smaller in diameter than the screws you are using (if you hold the bit in front of the screw, it should be slight narrower that the threads, but wider than the shaft).
7) Making sure you mark the bit with tape to gauge how deep you need to go (!), place the neck frets down on a flat surface, and drill your 4 holes with one hand on the drill, and one on the neck, holding it down HARD. The marks you made by hand earlier should be deep enough to keep the bit going straight and not wander off.

As long as you are looking at the drill from the top and the bit looks straight, you should have no problem getting 1/2" deep with any issues.

If you aren't confident in your free-hand drilling abilities, try it on scrap first.

Sorry for rambling, but 90% of a well-done job is in the prep, not in the actual execution... ...especially with musical instruments!

[Jackson-Charvel]

Well thought out Mission, I was prepared to do most of what you outlined so well. I didn't think of fishing line for the tuners I was going to use .008 gauge strings on both e tuners so keep the neck aligned properly. I have a few different sized rubber trigger/ratchet style C-clamps from Home Depot (yellow rubber and blue plastic frame), will this work or do I need the wooden or metal threaded C-clamps?

[missionguitars1]

Well thought out Mission, I was prepared to do most of what you outlined so well. I didn't think of fishing line for the tuners I was going to use .008 gauge strings on both e tuners so keep the neck aligned properly. I have a few different sized rubber trigger/ratchet style C-clamps from Home Depot (yellow rubber and blue plastic frame), will this work or do I need the wooden or metal threaded C-clamps?

Yep - fishing line a LOT cheaper than strings!

As for clamps, the best one will be the one that allows you access to all 4 holes simultaneously, because you don't want to mark, say, two holes, then move the clamp over (causing the neck to shift in the pocket), then mark the other 2, drill, and have to dowel & start over.

See if you can get the clamps you have to work first, but if you need to grab another clamp at HD, I'd go with the metal C-clamp for this application...FWIW, if you have time, Harbor Freight has a LOT of cheap ones - you can't have too many on hand!

[Jackson-Charvel]

I actually have some of those huge metal C-clamps I bought from ironically enough from Harbor Freight. I thought the rubber coated ones would be better as to not mar distort the frets and paint on neck heel. I know with the metal clamp I'd use cloth to prevent marring, but I figured with cloth even with the clamp tightened the cloth would make it slide since you'd have to have pretty thick layers to prevent marring on both sides.

[Bengal65]

"Ok what is the best way to do this without a drill press and a vice to hold the neck?"
Pray

For clamping, you can use a block of wood, like soft pine to pad the C clamp feet. Also sheet, PVC or polypro works good. Does your drill have a level bubble?

Also, the holes in the body should be 3/16" (or slightly larger for imports) If using standard english thread neck screws the neck should be drilled with 1/8" diameter bit.
Another tip: If you have access to have a brad point bit, that's the way to go. It keeps the bit centered.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Brad point bit, I'll get one for the hell of it, thanks Bengal.