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Screw Holes In Neck


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Hey hey.. My first post. I'm a Bass player of 25 years and always just paid someone to do the work on my guitars but I am interested in doing more mods myself.

I did a search and could not find what I needed. I bought a used J-style neck as a temporary replacement for my 78 P-bass. The 4 holes drilled in the neck are too big for the Fender screws. I do not want to drill out the P-bass body to accommodate the larger screws. Can sombody recommend a wood filler or epoxy that I can use to fill the holes on the neck? Is there better solution (without modifiying the P-bass)?

My other option is to forget it (as the neck was very inexpensive) and just buy a cheap Squire body that I could (in good conscience - lol) modify and build out another bass.

Any info/insight would be great.

Gman-29

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Hey hey.. My first post. I'm a Bass player of 25 years and always just paid someone to do the work on my guitars but I am interested in doing more mods myself.

I did a search and could not find what I needed. I bought a used J-style neck as a temporary replacement for my 78 P-bass. The 4 holes drilled in the neck are too big for the Fender screws. I do not want to drill out the P-bass body to accommodate the larger screws. Can sombody recommend a wood filler or epoxy that I can use to fill the holes on the neck? Is there better solution (without modifiying the P-bass)?

My other option is to forget it (as the neck was very inexpensive) and just buy a cheap Squire body that I could (in good conscience - lol) modify and build out another bass.

Any info/insight would be great.

Gman-29

Some pictures would be helpfull, but here's what I would do based on what you have told us so far.

Get some hard wood dowel and cut to slightly overlenght the depth of the neck joint.

Using a bench drill, re-drill the holes wider to accept the dowels.

glue and tap in the dowel pegs.

when dry, sand the dowels flush and paint, laquer, finish. (whatever)

Re-drill the much smaller holes to accept your original screws.

If possible, your new dowels need to be MUCH wider than the current holes. So if the holes are now, say 3mm, then the dowels should be around 10mm

you get the drift?

hope that helps.

PS: Do NOT, under any circumstances use filler. It isn't strong enough and over time, your neck will go wobbly.

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Some pictures would be helpfull, but here's what I would do based on what you have told us so far.

You're right, a picture is worth a thousand words (unless its a pic from my pos camera phone, then its worth about 700 words).

I think that you hit the nail on the head....

Thanks so much for the advice!

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Actually,he said he did not want to drill out the body holes...he said nothing about keeping the fender screws,though possibly he does.

I have seen these used in various basses and would have no problem going with them but I'd have to think that the body holes would have to be widened allow the bolt heads to sit deep enough so that they'd sit flush to the wood.

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The 4 holes drilled in the neck are too big for the Fender screws. I do not want to drill out the P-bass body to accommodate the larger screws.

You quoted it,why do you not understand it?

I have seen these used in various basses and would have no problem going with them but I'd have to think that the body holes would have to be widened allow the bolt heads to sit deep enough so that they'd sit flush to the wood.

You may be correct.

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The 4 holes drilled in the neck are too big for the Fender screws. I do not want to drill out the P-bass body to accommodate the larger screws.

You quoted it,why do you not understand it?

With all due respect to your many many posts, moderator status and presumably, good guitar building skills....

I understand it PERFECTLY!!

He says:

The 4 holes drilled in the neck are too big for the Fender screws.

So he clearly wishes to retain the fender screws.

He says:

I do not want to drill out the P-bass body to accommodate the larger screws

So your suggestion won't work as doesn't want to drill out his existing body to use those huge allen type heads

You started your post in this thread with the words "Better yet". But your answer was neither better or an answer to the problem.

I'm not claiming mine is perfect, but at least I'm not just trying to cause an argument or be discourteous.

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If possible, your new dowels need to be MUCH wider than the current holes. So if the holes are now, say 3mm, then the dowels should be around 10mm

I've never ever seen anyone suggest this. You realize that over-drilling like that will more than likely end up weakening the walls of the hole--if they don't just split the side of the heel while he tries drilling them? The existing holes are probably already within 5-6 mm of the sides.

I really think that's poor advice.

Just use the same size dowels as the existing hole. The resulting wood/glue joint will be perfectly solid.

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?SNIP<

PS: Do NOT, under any circumstances use filler. It isn't strong enough and over time, your neck will go wobbly.

Gosh,

and your suggestion for using dowels is what? Dowels will leave him with ENDGRAIN. Just about as useless as filler. Use PLUGS cut correctly( straight not tapered) and glued correctly and it will work.

Just my 02 cents.

MK

Edited by MiKro
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?SNIP<

PS: Do NOT, under any circumstances use filler. It isn't strong enough and over time, your neck will go wobbly.

Gosh,

and your suggestion for using dowels is what? Dowels will leave him with ENDGRAIN. Just about as useless as filler. Use PLUGS cut correctly( straight not tapered) and glued correctly and it will work.

Just my 02 cents.

MK

Wow, people do get tetchy and sensitive on here don't they? I think I should look for some place a little more welcoming. I'm not keen on the one-upmanship, see who's smartest thing. I thought people here were supposed to help one another. That's what I tried to do. So I made a mistake by mentioning measurements because I was sat at work. The basic principle of my suggestion was sound and was a solution. But I've been attacked now by three people on details. I said nothing about end grain or cutting tapers. Oh I give up. Have a great time between yourselves.

I see you all stick together and this is no place for newbies. Fine. Lucky I didn't hit that "Donate" button yet.

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The issue that was pointed out was that you said to use dowels. Dowels are always cut with the grain running through them, so you end up with end grain showing out of the hole. End grain is very poor to screw into, it pulls out very easy. A plug is cut with the grain running across it. Meaning you get a much better joint. It is not that people are jumping all over you because you are a newbie. People will search the forum in the future and come accross this post. And the goal is to make sure that the correct information is given, and not just information. It is too easy on the web to search something, and get multiple answers, with only one of them being right. But, because there is no one to qualify the information everyone can claim to be an expert.

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?SNIP<

PS: Do NOT, under any circumstances use filler. It isn't strong enough and over time, your neck will go wobbly.

Gosh,

and your suggestion for using dowels is what? Dowels will leave him with ENDGRAIN. Just about as useless as filler. Use PLUGS cut correctly( straight not tapered) and glued correctly and it will work.

Just my 02 cents.

MK

Wow, people do get tetchy and sensitive on here don't they? I think I should look for some place a little more welcoming. I'm not keen on the one-upmanship, see who's smartest thing. I thought people here were supposed to help one another. That's what I tried to do. So I made a mistake by mentioning measurements because I was sat at work. The basic principle of my suggestion was sound and was a solution. But I've been attacked now by three people on details. I said nothing about end grain or cutting tapers. Oh I give up. Have a great time between yourselves.

I see you all stick together and this is no place for newbies. Fine. Lucky I didn't hit that "Donate" button yet.

Well gosh,

I apologize for sounding so harsh, but miss information can harm people. Yes your idea is sound in principle, but it must be done correctly. As Ihocky pointed out the reason for plugs, I should have explained it in more detail.

Again, my apologies,

Mike

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Epoxy does not shrink and can hold a couple thousand pounds of pressure (per screw hole) before breaking, it will work fine as a filler for those screw holes as long as you don't plan on stage surfing on your guitar. Although a professional repair with Maple plugs can look better.

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I'm not keen on the one-upmanship, see who's smartest thing. I thought people here were supposed to help one another.

Has nothing to do with that.

There are lots of different ways to go about the building process, and many people have developed their own techniques for doing things. If you look through this forum, you'll see that people are always sharing their methods. But you'll also find a lot of healthy (cough) discussion, especially when someone posts a method that people simply don't agree with.

There's also a history in this forum of at least one former member giving out some pretty horrible advice. Not saying your advice was horrible, just that it gets too extreme and will probably lead to more problems than it fixes (because the OP is a novice builder).

No need to get upset. This place is actually pretty polite compared to most other forums. But it is only an internet-based forum. Just remind yourself that none of us really exist. :D

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Better yet,buy some inserts for the neck and drill them out larger,then you will have a better connection anyway.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts....On+Neck+Inserts

I purposely didn't suggest that because he stated that he wished to keep the current, original fender screws.

he can always get new bolts that have a countersunk heads to fit the fender plate, which would save any mods on the body. my local hardware store has somehting similar to these, might be a good idea to check out a local hardware store for an easy fix, may make a stronger joint with no possibility of stripping the threads. the plugs should work well also.

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Maybe #8 machine screws have a head that will fit into the counter-sink of a Fender plate, but #10 machine screw heads are too big for a Fender plate. Why do you think Vintique makes a thicker plate, with bigger counter-sunk holes.

Some bolt-on guitars do use a wood screw with a head about the same size as a #10 machine screw head.

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