Lefty ES-1GL

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Jarro,

What part is the broken screw from?

I have had some screws break on me also - very frustrating.
For one I was able to remove the threaded part with pliers,
for another (which broke quite deep and could not be removed with pliers) I had to shift the whole bridge slightly back,
and for another (for a pup surround I think) I actually just CA glued the head part onto the top of the surround (as it was not under a lot of stress and the surround still sat flat on the body top).

EDIT: also, do you use bees wax on the screws before you put them in?

[jarro_2783]

It was the anti rotation screw on a tuner, I just turned it too far after it was tight. I didn't use bees wax for this one. It has broken off right at the wood, so pliers can't reach it.

[colin2121]

It was the anti rotation screw on a tuner, I just turned it too far after it was tight. I didn't use bees wax for this one. It has broken off right at the wood, so pliers can't reach it.

Had a similar thing happen to me.
Very fine drill bit either side of the broken screw then use fine tipped pliers to wiggle out the broken bit.
I then back filled with similar colour timber mate and drilled and put in a new screw.
Always best to use wax on the screws as they are quite weak. If you don't have any wax, stick them into a cake of soap - it has the same effect as the wax.

[jarro_2783]

I was thinking something like that, and maybe drill wider and plug it with dowel if I have to.

I'll use the bees wax on everything just to be on the safe side I think.

Thanks.

[Keith Walters]

Generally the screws supplied with these kits are not particularly good quality.
They may look the part but you have to be very careful fitting them.
For my last guitar I bought some higher grade screws from Bunnings. They don't look quite the same, but nobody is going to notice that from the normal performing distance.

[Simon Barden]

Definitely replace all those tuner screws with stainless ones. The kit ones are just plated pot metal and even if you do drill a pilot hole that’s only just smaller than the thread diameter, there’s still a good chance that screwing into hard maple, the head will shear off or the slots round off so much you can’t tighten further or remove it.

[jarro_2783]

All finished.




The plugged hole ended up pretty good, and the tuner covers most of it anyway. Although that maple wood filler looks nothing like maple.