Daaaaaaaaaaamnit...

[soapbarstrat]

Yeah, thanks John. About time I hear of a new method for dealing with this sort of thing. I did a search and also found this, where it shows a clear drawing of how the end of the pin is filed :

http://jimnevins.net/woodworking/Fine%20Wo...s/110144018.PDF

(need to scroll down a bit. There's a bunch of other tips on other stuff on the same page)

[Prostheta]

I used long brass woodsrews for my bass bridge in the hope for more sustain.

For guitar hardware screws I generally always use a Jewellers screwdriver set, the ones with handles about 1'4" diameter. If the screw is too tight to turn I make a larger hole. A rub with candle wax or soap on the threads reduces friction markedly.

The beauty of the Jewellers set is its almost impossible to break a screw as you aren't exerting the torque that a normal screwdriver would exert. Sorry this doesnt solve your broblem.

A great suggestion, and a very often an overlooked point. As far as it not helping goes, I think it illustrates the problem better. Prevention, cure etc. A lot of people drill screws into the body almost like they were an auger (I still do sometimes, admittedly) rather than "installing" them

I myself don't believe that the screw material will contribute noticably to the coupling, although the quality of the coupling between the bridge/body mating faces and the downforce provided by the screws would have a greater effect. Probably. I've never A/B'ed as I have no reason to, so I have no empirical information to back this opinion up. Unless the screws are of huge diameter (perhaps 1/2"?) and present an appreciable mass I think their sonic contribution would be minimal other than providing solid mechanical coupling. Just a thought.

[Narcissism]

well, in a perfect world, i'd install bushings and just bolt everything to the body. But that would require me to modify the bridge, pickups, order custom bushings bla bla bla, expensive not worth the time or effort or hassle plus there's already a way to do it that works you just gotta do it right run-on sentence without punctuation etc.

that rollpin idea is awesome though. I never knew what a rollpin was till now... I actually still don't know what they're used for other than extracting screws now. Thanks! This beats the hell out of drilling, tapping and/or filling!

[John Abbett]

Roll pins..

I'm not a machinist, but say you had two metal plates that needed to be joined one on top of another. You could pound in a roll pin, it would compress in a channel through both. You can remove it with a punch. It could also be used like a key, where there was a hole insteal of an open U groove. It fits tight in the hole, it compresses and won't come out on it's own. Needs a hammer and a punch.

I'm sure there are lots of uses for it, probably Mr. Google can tell you more.

They sell Kits at Harbor Freight tools with a bunch of different sizes for a few bucks. They must be used for something regularly.

-J