Removing Floyd Rose Inserts?

[alfredpotter]

Hi everyone, my name's Alfred and I'm new here.

I recently bought this Charvel model 2 body from Ebay:

My plan is to sand it down, refinish it & eventually put a kahler 2300 tremolo bridge on it, but as you can see, it's already set up for a Floyd Rose tremolo bridge.

So my original plan of attack would be to woodfill part of the trem route (so that once the kahler 2300 is placed there won't be an unsightly gap) and then woodfill the screw holes..

BUT the screwholes are not ordinary screw holes! They seem to be metal inserts nearly an entire centimetre in diameter!

Please tell me, how should I go about removing these metal inserts?

Also, do the Kahler 2300 screws just go right into the wood?

I'm determined for a Kahler 2300, I don't want the floyd rose at all.

Thanks everyone!

[Racer X]

Easy. Find a bolt that matches the thread of the inserts, and a stack of washers whos holes are BIGGER than the inserts, plus one washer that is SMALLER. Stack all the washers over the insert, screw in the bolt, and tighten it. The resistance against the stack of washers will pull the inserts out, safely, and easily. I've done this tons of time, and always works.

I once mentioned this at another forum, and someone who claims to be a luthier chastised me for over-complicating things. he then went on to say HE uses a claw hammer. Yikes! Needless to say, I won't be sending any of MY guitars to HIM for work!

[metalwarrior]

I was just about to suggest a claw hammer.

If you do use a hammer just remember to put a piece of scrap between the hammer and the guitar so you don't put a dent in it.

[alfredpotter]

That screw and washer idea is really clever! But I have no idea what screws will fit =\ Could you take a random guess at what size?

And about the claw hammer idea (makes me wince just thinking about it!), how would i go about this? just stick one claw in the hole and lever it out? or put a screw in first and lever that out?

Thanks for those replies guys!

[Guest AlexVDL]

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[alfredpotter]

That's brilliant, thanks for the diagram too. I'll get straight onto it.

[soapbarstrat]

If the finish was sprayed after the bushings were pressed in, you really should exacto the finish around the top of the inserts or you'll likely pull up a bunch of finish with the bushing.

Yeah, that claw hammer method seems right out of Billy Jim Bob's back-woods guitar shack. I do it much like Alex does.