Repairing Striped Screw Holes

[zliminator]

I was adding springs to the back of my strat copy because I went to heavier strings and the spring holder the is screwed into the top of the "swimming pool" spring cavity on the back and the screws pulled out and springs went flying all over the place. I'm wondering how to repair this: should I drill out the old holes and fill with bondo or should I route out the wood and glue in a new piece and then drill new holes? BTW I tried doing a search and could find the words.

Dan

[idrum4food]

You might try buying a wood dowl at the hardware store and drilling the screw holes with the same diameter bit as the dowl. Cut the dowl the same length as the depth of the drilled out screw holes. Dab some wood glue in the screw holes and tap in the dowl and let the glue cure. 10 minute job.

[crafty]

Let the glue dry for at least 24 hours, not 10 minutes. The pressure put on those screws by strings and springs will be enough to pull those dowels out right after 10 minutes. They'd probably pull out when you'd go to drill them, too.

24 hours.

[Fanatic1]

If you want to fil the holes, that could be interesting for you.

Strap locks

[westhemann]

most would just get a slightly larger diameter set of screws.but i have never seen these screws strip out.usually they are in there very well.

how long are the screws that came out?they should be about 2" to 2 1/2" long

[idrum4food]

You might try buying a wood dowl at the hardware store and drilling the screw holes with the same diameter bit as the dowl. Cut the dowl the same length as the depth of the drilled out screw holes. Dab some wood glue in the screw holes and tap in the dowl and let the glue cure. 10 minute job.

←

Guess I should have been more clear on the cure time.

[thedoctor]

You may want to take advantage of this problem and make a real improvement to your axe. Drill the holes your screws were in to 3/8" and epoxy a pair of 10-32 "coupling" nuts in the new holes after filing some rough spots in the sides of them. Then you will have permanent metal threads you can adjust and screw with forever without worrying about wearing out the wood. I do it as a matter of course on any trem setup I do when the player is going to be playing with string-guage, etc.