Tele Neck Screw Holes Wornout

[kind]

Hi,

I have a mid-90's tele neck where the screw holes seemed to be worn. I was wondering if simply using larger screws would work and would there be collateral damage caused by doing this (anything I might be unaware of)?

Thanks for your help

[garytelecastor]

Before you go to a larger screw, which could crack the wood, try this. Get a couple of toothpicks, flat ones work well. Break off a piece about 3/4 the depth of the hole. Put the piece in the hole and reapply the screw. Old carpenters trick.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by kind

Hi,

I have a mid-90's tele neck where the screw holes seemed to be worn. I was wondering if simply using larger screws would work and would there be collateral damage caused by doing this (anything I might be unaware of)?

Thanks for your help

You don't want to use larger screws. Are the current screws turning in with no resistance? Do the screws tighten fully right now?

[cacibi]

Toothpicks and wood glue. I use Stim-U-Dent dental toothpicks as they have a nice broad, flat side.

[jwells393]

Toothpicks would probably work. A more involved option if you have a drill press would be to get a hardwood dowel. Drill out the neck holes with a bit the size of the dowel. Glue in the dowels. Cut and sand them flush with the neck heel. Drill new holes. Try the toothpicks first.

[6x47]

I have a Warmoth neck which has been on too many different bodies.

The tooth picks just turned into pulp and didn't hold.

I plugged the holes with increasing guages of insolated wire trying to imitate the plastic plugs some use in gyprock wall paneling to no avail.

I did some real careful measuring and determined that I could get away with going up one size in the wood screw and a 1/4" longer.

It's holding, but the next time that neck comes off I'll go with Jack's idea with the homemade dowls with the correct grain orientation, OR, I will use epoxied T nuts and use machine screws the hold the neck in place.

[Axis29]

Originally Posted by 6x47

I have a Warmoth neck which has been on too many different bodies.

The tooth picks just turned into pulp and didn't hold.

I plugged the holes with increasing guages of insolated wire trying to imitate the plastic plugs some use in gyprock wall paneling to no avail.

I did some real careful measuring and determined that I could get away with going up one size in the wood screw and a 1/4" longer.

It's holding, but the next time that neck comes off I'll go with Jack's idea with the homemade dowls with the correct grain orientation, OR, I will use epoxied T nuts and use machine screws the hold the neck in place.

Since it's not a Vintage neck, I would go with the t-nuts and machine bolts. Those things hold like mad and it'll be a nice strong mechanical connection!

[viking]

Either that or use hardwood dowels......If you are carefull , you dont even have to use a drill press to install the dowels. I always use dowels of varying thickness , never been a fan of the toothpicks....

[reddogbass]

T-nuts are inserted from the backside (which would be under fingerboard) for their holding power.

Using a threaded insert, like those from Rockler, would be a better solution. All that's required is to resize the hole properly for the insert, and since some are self-tapping, screw them in. Use the proper size machine screw, and voila!

Any good wood working store has them. Well stocked hardware stores may as well.

[garytelecastor]

BTW Kind-Welcome to the forum.
I don't know what level of proficiency you have with woodworking, but if you have a bit, I would go with the dowels too. If you don't feel secure enough, you probably could find a luthier or even maybe a woodworker in the area that could probably do it cheap.

[bamboopat]

Hi All!
Could someone tell me the depth of the pockets for neck and other hardware?
How deep from top of body to bottom of neck mount pocket?

[garytelecastor]

bamboopat-Welcome to the forum man. Mine measures around 11/16th's of an inch.

[TG]

The trick of the toothpick idea is to use a few of them in the hole with a bit of glue and to put the screw back in...but not quite all the way. Leave it overnight and then reassemble everything. The toothpick/glue mixture will go rock solid around the threads but you have to give it time to do so before you screw in tight.

[Axis29]

Originally Posted by reddogbass

T-nuts are inserted from the backside (which would be under fingerboard) for their holding power.

Using a threaded insert, like those from Rockler, would be a better solution. All that's required is to resize the hole properly for the insert, and since some are self-tapping, screw them in. Use the proper size machine screw, and voila!

Any good wood working store has them. Well stocked hardware stores may as well.

You're right Reddogbass. I was thinking of the threaded inserts... I typed without really thinking. I gotta stop typing when I'm tired.

On another note, while you can drill out the holes for dowels without a drill press, it's a lot easier with one! But you'll need one for the holes for the inserts as well. They do make those drill holders which work okay if you're not doing large volumes of work. They're under twenty bucks and make a world of difference when it comes to drilling a straight hole! I use them on the jobsite from time to time when I need to do a more accurate bit of hole making and don't have time to take the work back to the shop.

[bnjp]

I've used short pieces of toothpicks, first slathered in wood glue, stuck right into the hole. Worked great and was really really easy.

[kind]

Hi and thanks everyone for the info,

I think I'll let someone else take care of it. Its a new guitar for me I got from a friend. It looks like the neck was taken on and off alot for some reason and is loose. When I tightened up the strings I couldn't get it in tune etc...

Thanks again for your help :)

[6x47]

Originally Posted by reddogbass

T-nuts are inserted from the backside (which would be under fingerboard) for their holding power.

Using a threaded insert, like those from Rockler, would be a better solution. All that's required is to resize the hole properly for the insert, and since some are self-tapping, screw them in. Use the proper size machine screw, and voila!

Any good wood working store has them. Well stocked hardware stores may as well.

I've never used these so I didn't think of them, seems like a reasonable solution if you're competent enough to get the allignment right.

I refered to T nuts and epoxy. Open up the hole for the wide part of the nut so it can go into the neck with the correct orientation without taking the fret board off, in each hole drill side holes in the main hole to give the expoxy a surface to grip to permanently fix the nut.

The wood surfaces would be waxed so the epoxy would not glue the neck to the body. The holes would be epoxied, masked and the parts clamped together in proper allignment.

By epoxy I'm refering to materials such as Devcon Steel epoxy or Engine Weld.

[mlp-mx6]

Another vote for threaded inserts. The machine screw is able to hold more securely, and should never wear out (assuming you avoid cross-threading). Coupling should improve (slightly) also. You can use the existing holes as "pilot" holes to enlarge to the correct size for the insert you choose. Things should line up PERFECTLY, assuming you can drill at the exact angle of the existing screw hole.

One problem with the dowel fill approach is that you are now screwing into end grain, which is not as strong.