Official Luthiers Forum!

Even with all the precautions, wax on the screw etc. I've had a few break off. I've basically routed them out with a dental burr on a dremel which worked but was tedious. I was at a hobby shop this weekend and got some solid and hollow brass tubing in various sizes. Turns out a 3/32 I.D. hollow tube is a tight fit around both Waverly and regular tuner screws. I put a solid 3/32 rod inside so I could chuck it up on the drill. Beveled the end on the belt sander to sharpen it. Over drilling the screw in REVERSE grabbed it every time and extracted it. The hole left was covered by both the Waverly plate and the conventional closed gear tab.

I originally thought I'd drill clockwise and use it like a hollow mill but that grabbed the screw and just pushed it deeper. You could hollow mill it out with a larger I.D. tube but that would leave too big a hole and would not be covered by the plate. Going in reverse worked like a charm. I did 4 or 5 screws and they all came out easy. Have yet to try it on a real guitar but it should work.


The Problem




The Tool


The result


The resulting hole is covered by the tuner tab or the open geared tuner plate

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

You done good. That's actually a really common way to pull off that fix. You can also cut small teeth (serrations) into the tube to get through in harder wood, like maple. Neat that you figured that out yourself. I had to be taught that little trick!

Thanks John. I was sure it was not original (nothing really is) but thought I'd toss it out. I was amazed how well it worked. I'll try the serrations.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Wahoo!
This problem has been plaguing me more and more these days...