I'm about ready to hammer in the bridge pins on my WL-1 build. It's got the Floyd Rose style bridge.

My understanding (from watching the video) is that it needs to go in so that it ends up flush with the front of the guitar. So it needs to go in the whole distance of the fat part of the pin, with just the screw adjustable bit clear of the hole?

I've done a spray paint finish, and I'm worried about the paint chipping off around the bridge pin as I hammer them in - the hole seems quite a bit smaller than the pin, I guess it's designed to push it's way through the wood as it goes in.

Any tips on how to do this (or not do this) without wrecking the paint finish? I'm wondering if I should pre drill the holes a bit, just to clear out some of the paint that has gone around the top edge of the hole.

And for future builds... could I have put the pins in before spraying, and just masked them over? Is that a better way to do it?