drilling holes straight up and down

I dont have a drill press (and cant get access to one). Any suggestions on how to get your bridge and neck and pickup holes drilled straight up and down with a hand drill?

Also, is it better to use Brad Point bits for all your drilling?

Try looking for a drill guide for your hand drill

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz246/adirondak50/unnamed.jpg?t=1293213998

Twist drills are metal working tools that work acceptably well in woodworking, but in their larger sizes tend to walk off center when drilling freehand. Brad point drills are the better tool choice for drilling all but the small diameter holes in wood.

The old timers were able to drill straight holes freehand, but it's a knack that requires posture and practice. Like lining up for a pool shot, the position of the wrist, elbow, shoulder, etc need to be in the same plane, the motions the joints will move as the drill cuts into the wood need to be visualized, etc. You will need to put holes in lots of pieces of scrap before you will feel the confidence needed to do this in money wood.

Making a drill jig is always good practice, better to scrap a dozen drill jigs than a single body or neck blank.

Having drilled more than a few straight holes in steel and wood (but not stainless: Melted the tip off the drill by not being bold enough with my feed) it is a learnable skill, but keep in mind that "straight" is a matter of tolerance and not of perfection, a drill press will consistently outperform a freehand driller in keeping within the tightest tolerances.

Im sure you could make a jig of somekind to hold your drill straight

do a search with "drill press" keyword (titels only) and you'll find alternatives to drill press to get straight holes.

you'll see that most of the topic will be abt drilling string holes for the bridge, but then again it is way more complex that pickup screw holes.

You could ask somebody with a drill press to make a guide block for you - just a piece of hardwood or even channel-iron with the hole you need drilled in it that will guide your hand-held drill. As previous posters have said, anything is an improvement on the Mk 1 eyeball method.

Try this...it is cheap. Glue two squared up pieces of wood together to form a 90 degree angle.... This would be shaped like where two walls come together. That inside corner should be 90 degrees to your body if the ends of the wood are square. Put the drill bit into the corner and hold it at that angle while you are drilling. That should be closer than doing it by eye.

Put a mirror on the working piece, and line up the drill bit with its reflection.

It is better to use sharp drill-bits. The optimum grind angle depends upon the material being cut. The brad point only helps at the start of the cut, once the edges of the drill engage the cut material, they define the centering of the hole. Start your centers with a punch.

The great Terry Downs uses a metal jig for drilling string through and bridge mounting holes.

......http://terrydownsmusic.com/Archive/drill_jig.jpg

He was kind enough to post this drawing some time ago.

Terry Downs Drill Jig (http://terrydownsmusic.com/archive/Drill%20Gig.PDF)

If using a jig like that, I would drill the two outside string holes all the way through. The four inside holes I would drill about an inch deep. I'd then flip the body over, align the jig with the two outside holes using dowels or drill bits, then drill the inside holes to meet the holes drilled from the front. This would insure the holes on the back are in a straight line.

The great Terry Downs uses a metal jig for drilling string through and bridge mounting holes.

That is very clever - I like the way the Great TD uses the bridge screw holes to align the jig, or 'gig' as the drawing has it. That's an idea I'll be using - thanks, Jack & Terry.

I use an old strat bridge block. Remove the chrome bridge plate and flatten or cut off the bend (where the saddle screws go thru). Drill the holes where the strings come thru to the same size as the holes in the bridge block where you would normally put your strings thru. Ream out the tremolo block with a drill bit so they size is the same the whole way thru. Reattach the tremolo block. Turn it upside down and clamp it to the body where you want it. Use the upside down tremolo block for a drill guide. Once you get your holes drilled, you can always open them up for your ferrules. One other thing, when you clamp down the upside down tremolo, clamp a piece of wood where your drill bit will be coming thru the back at the same time. That way the paint won't chip when the bit comes thru. Works every time. Hope this helps someone here.

cool idea...it's too bad all my cheapo trem blocks aren't 2.125".

When I wanted to drill straight holes for my guitar hangers, I used a brute-force monkey-man method: I marked opposite sides of a 2inx2inx6in block of wood with a line down the center and cross lines every centimeter, so that each cross was directly under one on the other side. Then I drilled through at each cross, and looked to see which attempt came out the straightest (in other words, it came out through the cross on the other side). Then I just used the best one as my jig!

The use of that modified tremolo block is clever. I would however suggest that you only drill the two outside holes all the way through from the front. Drill the inside holes about halfway through. Turn to the back side and align the block with the two holes using dowels, rods or drill bits. Then drill the inside holes to meet the holes started from the front. This will ensure your holes on the back side are in a straight line.