I snuck out a little early today and spent the afternoon working on the Bottlecaster. There have been a couple of things I've been wanting to do to the Squire Mini Strat short scale neck I used. One was to fix the slightly stripped neck screw holes, by installing threaded inserts. I had used threaded inserts on my spalted maple Tele project a few years ago and really liked the sustain that guitar has. So I went to the local Coast to Coast and picked up some #8 brass threaded inserts and 2" long stainless oval head 8-32 machine screws.
Now putting these inserts into the maple Mini Strat neck is a PITA. The type I used are the ones that have a screwdriver slot for installing them. There is another type that has an Aallen head - much better head for installation, but the threads on those inserts are no where near as stout or sharp. Kind of a paradox...the 8-32 insert of the insert I chose is supposed to require a 1/4" hole. Fuggedaboudit - after struggling for a while I upped the hole size a couple drill sizes to 9/32", done on a drill press set to 14mm depth.
A bigass slotted screwdriver would start the insert but then even with wax on the threads the insert would get so tight that the brass would break away from the slot. On top of that the inserts were canting over at an angle and trying to chip out the maple of the neck - a disaster in the making. I tried a method suggested on the web, of putting a slotted bit in a drill press and turning it by hand while pressing down, but it did no better. So I stopped what I was doing, went to Ace hardware to get a couple more inserts and put on my thinking cap.
Came back with more inserts, an #8-32 x 1/2" machine screw with Allen head, and a 5/16" - 18 tap to match the outside thread of the insert (which I figured out a when I got home that I already had one of - sigh). Ran the tap into the 9/32" holes with no problem, then put the #8-32 screw into the insert. This allowed me to use an Allen wrench torquing in steel rather than a slotted screwdriver in brass (!?!?!?) to run the insert into the threads until the top was just below the surface of the wood. They went in nice and straight. Backed the screw out and I was ready to install the neck on the body.
Next I ran a couple drills through the neck holes in the body to increase their diameter slightly, as I needed just a bit of wiggle room to take a slight cant out of the neck. I used a bolt cutter to cut the stainless screws down to 1-3/4" ( you can get these, and steel inserts from McMaster Carr and save some hassle - but I was impatient). Cleaned up the ends of the chopped screws on a grinder and ran them through an 8-32 die.
The screws clamp into the inserts really well. The inserts were ever so slightly out of alignment with the holes in the body, but my sizing those body holes solved any misalignment and the screws snugged down nice and tight in the backing plate. The end result was much better alignment of the neck, curing a slight misalignment of the strings, and giving gonzo sustain.
While I had the neck off I pulled off the inexpensive tuners, opened them up, lubed them with Teflon lube and snugged the little clamping screw a touch. Makes them take and hold tune quite well. Last thing I need to do on this neck is to replace the plastic nut with a bone one. I think I will save that for a time when I am fresh and my old hands aren't aching...
« Last Edit: June 23, 2012, 05:35:47 AM by Doc B. »
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.