I am just about sick. I was switching the little "button" string retainer from my Strat to my Tele (it just looks more appropriate on the Tele) & as I was installing the "tee" retainer on the Strat, the head of the screw sheared off & the threaded portion is in the headstock about 1/16 below the surface of the wood. Any advice on how to get this out w/out bunging up the headstock? Don't they make some kind of tool for this?
Any help is appreciated-
Don't worry! This can be repaired. I repaired a similar issue many years ago but there are better techniques these days so I won't go into detail unless no one chimes in with something better.
I'm waiting w/bated breath!
I have had that happen - I experienced what I lovingly refer to as "the dead-man feeling"......right in the pit of your gut - up to your heart! Cold like chilled water, and all you can do is stare in disbelief. (mine happened on a bass btw)
Kenny Belmont
>:^{I)>
I'd recommend something like a Grabit Screw Extractor, but I don't know... do they make them for screws that small? Or does the "button" style have a pretty good sized screw in it? I've never had a guitar with one of those buttons on it.
I think the basic issue is that the screw is so small you can't tap it (drill down the middle of the screw) and the string retainer is so small you probably can't remove much wood around the screw without it being visible.
Could you move that string retainer to a point where you could put in a new screw next to the existing, sheared-off one? Would its base cover the existing screw hole?
Another idea thrown out there to stimulate conversation: what if you take a nail set and drive the existing screw a bit deeper? Then, you use the ol' toothpicks and wood glue trick to rebuild wood on top of it. Then, put a new screw in.
s'all goof.
Screw extractors don't work well on screws that are tight enough in wood to have broken off.
Here's what i did way back when...
I put the tiniest drill bit (wire with teeth!) that I had into a pin vice and drilled a series of tiny holes tangent to the stuck screw. When I remove enough material the screw came out easily. I then plugged the hole and re-drilled the hole. The repair was small enough to be hidden under the screw tab of a Schaller mini tuner. The repair was invisible.
I've read about people (Dan Erlewine?) using a piece of sharpened tubing that just fits over the screw to remove a tiny plug of wood that's barely larger than the screw itself. The end result would be similar to the repair that I did years ago, maybe leaving a smaller sign of repair.
I had the same idea as Don - removing and repairing a circle of wood around the screw - but didn't know how one would actually do it. That's what I would do.... although I would wish for a quicker solution with fewer steps. :)
I sold the guitar that I did that repair to over 20 years ago. Can you imagine! I did that repair without internet consultation!
The diameter of the round string retainer would probably be big enough to hide the repair. I don't know about the t-style.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
It probably is too deep, but if you could get a dremel tool in there to notch the piece stuck in the headstock you might be able to turn it out with a small-screwdriver.
"We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain
maybe you could crazy glue a small screwdriver to the top of the broken screw. Once dry, turn it out.
If, at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving.
Two leaps per chasm is fatal!
Go to your local hobby shop. They will have brass tubing there in 12" lengths for cheap. Buy 1/16" & 3/32" and maybe 1/8.
Next, take the smallest size that will fit over the screw. Use a sharp knife and roll the tubing under it about three inches from one end to score it deeply all the way around. The tubing will now snap in two where you scored it. Chuck it in drill with the snapped end exposed. You may want to take a file and debur the edge a little with the drill turning, but a little "tooth" to the end will help.
Just go slow and get it started over the screw. When you have the wood around the screw removed it may just come out with the tubing. If not, take the next smaller size tubing and and force it over the end of the screw, and then back out the screw. You'll now have removed the broken screw and have a nice, neat, easily repairable hole. Find a scrap of maple, whittle it into plug, and glue it in with aliphatic resin.
Reinstall string tree.
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
I've found that some screws are really soft and this happens a lot. I since then make sure I drill the right pilot hole every time now.
I've drilled them out without much problems. just a small drill bit, then did the tooth pick problem.
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Originally Posted by Don
This is pretty much exactly what I did. The hobby shop sold me a length of brass tubing 1/8" in diameter. I cut a few inches off that & put it in my drill press. Then I took a file & angled the end of it to give it a bit of a "blade". I was in the process of drilling around the screw (basically like taking a core sample, lol) when the tubing grabbed the remaining piece of screw & backed it out on its own. From there I simply installed the butterfly or tee retainer & the spacer covers up the shallow little hole the removal made necessary.
Thanks guys! That's what is great about this place! w00t!
Nice!
adding much mojo and character to the guitar for sure
BTW- I was using the drill w/the motor in reverse, just in case of such a thing happening. If I had it running clockwise it might have driven the screw right through the back of the headstock.
Great save, Robert!
"When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."
I love it when a plan comes together....
"We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain
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