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Stripped screw hole in pBass neck
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Author:  Matt R. [ October 1st, 2008, 9:19 am ]
Post subject:  Stripped screw hole in pBass neck

I have a stripped screw hole on my beloved Darkstar Precision bass. It's not bad, but it's bad enough. I noticed it when I was putting the neck back on the other day after a truss rod adjustment. What is the best way to tighten that back up? I assume the ol' "shove toothpicks in there" routine wouldn't be good enough for a neck. I'd rather have a more permanent fix. And I hope I won't have to resort to drilling it out and doweling it.

Author:  Rodent [ October 1st, 2008, 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stripped screw hole in pBass neck

a couple of emergency type of things you can attempt ... but a stripped hole needs to either be plugged and re-drilled or drilled out larger and a steel threaded insert installed

emergency "out in the field" type of fixes -

- toothpick and woodglue in the stripped hole. clean off the slop, add a layer of plastic wrap to the neck pocket to keep the glue from bonding the neck to the body, reattach the neck while the glue is still wet. this will work if you have just one stripped screw, and might work if there are two screws on opposite corners from each other

- utilize a screw with larger threads. sometime you can go up one size difference, or you can utilize a screw intended for softwoods/plastics. be sure to measure the screw length so that you don't end up with a pointy thing protruding thru your nicely figured fretboard (especially if you have a contoured heel instrument)


if it was my bass and I had the time/tools/supplies to do it right, this would be an opportunity to

1) install steel (NOT brass!) threaded inserts in all of the neck holes and swap over from woodscrews to machine screws

-or-

2) drill the stripped hole and install a section of wooden dowel of the same wood and grain orientation. once the woodglue has completely dried to where it can withstand pulling force, re-drill the pilot hole and reinstall the neck

all the best,

R

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