Press fittings

[loos]

I’ve a question concerning press in bridge posts. Recently I bought a 1965 Gibson Melody Maker. It was the model with two pickups and the not missed but missing Vibrola tremolo that Gibson put on those student guitars. The holes where the Vibrola were empty, there was a groove across the body where the tremolo rested. The pickups had been replaced with mini humbuckers, the tuners had been replaced. The wraparound bridge had been replaced by a Tune-o-matic clone and a stop tailpiece had been added. The original wraparound stud bushing holes had been plugged and doweled. These changes had been done by the shop where I bought the guitar and goodness, what sloppy work. The dowels were a poor match for color and grain and worse, one of the dowels was chipped on the top so it couldn’t be flush with the body. The pick guard screws were falling out, the tuner screws also were installed in oversized holes and had zero grip. I totally loved the tone and feel of the guitar so I bought it despite the problems, brought it home and set about doing the minimum, plugging all of the oversize holes, re-drilling and reinstalling the pick guard and tuners. I replaced the just good enough Tune-o-matic and stop tailpiece. The tuners are Gotoh 3-on-a-plate and good enough and I guess a match for what came off. At least the dents appear to be in the original places.

So that’s the background but I found that the tailpiece and bridge bushings were finger press fits and since I believe that a lot of tone comes from the transfer from string energy to the guitar body I firmed up the holes with a few coats of glue. When it came to replacing the studs they no longer were finger pressable so after a lot of wondering how the heck I would get them back in place I ended up using a deep throated C clamp which worked but left me wondering what others use for press fittings if they don’t have either a press or a drill press. The C clamp worked OK but it wasn’t easy to keep everything square. If I decide I really really like the guitar at some point I will want to do a better job of doweling and install the tune-o-matic studs directly in the wood, again for better vibration transfer, better tone.

I’d love some constructive comment on any aspect of this.

Thanks, Loos

[MiKro]

I use my drill press.

[Prostheta]

+1 on the drill press for this. Clamps are fine and the studs will move into alignment anyway.

[loos]

Thanks for the replies. I certainly would like to have a drill press but anything with sufficient clearance is too big for my tiny work area. So I guess the C clamp will have to do for the time being.