djobson101 Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 I'm trying to fix up a borrowed guitar right now (LTD FX400) which has the basic Gibson style stop tailpiece. It was sitting around in a storage unit our band shares and being the guitarist/fixer upper guy I told my buddy I would go through the guitar and get it up and running again - it's been neglected/unstrung and missing parts for awhile. Anyways the first major problem I noticed is that one of the anchors where the stud mounts for the stop tailpiece is really out of whack. You can only thread the stud down about 1/4 of the way before the stud itself sits at an angle toward the headstock end of the guitar (basically it is far from being totally perpendicular to the body of the guitar) and you cannot drive it any further. My guess would be that there is some horrible cross threading in the anchor, because the stud appears to be pretty straight. Not sure how to go about fixing this, would it be better to attempt to pull the anchor out of the body, trying to bore it out to replace it with a new one? Or are they typically glued in pretty good. Any ideas or advice would be hugely appreciated thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 If it is cross threaded you may be able to run a tap through it and get it lined back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 Yep sounds cross threaded to me. Use the other one to measure and get the correct thread then tap the insert. You may need to run a die nut down the post also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted May 2, 2015 Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 All good advices here. If the re-.threading don't work you will need to pull the bushing. They are typically never glued, just pressed down. You can make a simple jig from an appropriate threaded rod, a few nuts, a stack of small pieces of mdf or similar or get a bushing puller. I pulled the first few bushings without one and now that I have a puller I'm not very satisfied with the action of that one either. http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Maintenance/Knob_and_Bushing_Puller.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djobson101 Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 Well, I don't have a tap and die set or the bushing puller so I think I might invest in the bushing puller, because down the road I could probably get more use out of it maybe during a refinish or something. A nice tap and die set looks more expensive than the puller and I wouldn't want to spend money on a tool like that unless I'm ready to spring for one of the nice high quality sets. Anyways thank you for the pointers, much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 Any decent auto workshop will have a tap'n'die set you could ask to do the job. Or alternatively you could just buy the size you need at a much cheaper cost. Honestly ive been an engineer for over twenty years and seen some cheap taps in my time but a stoptail insert isn't the hardest of materials so a cheap tap and die from your local hardware store will be more than up for the task. Again any local engineering place or good mechanic would be able to retap this in a couple of minutes.. My advice would be buy a cheap set yourself, they come in handy for all sorts of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djobson101 Posted June 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 I ended up grabbing the tap and die, worked just fine. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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