Official Luthiers Forum!

Still very new to this (working on #2 and #3) and wonder when most of you guys drill the holes in the headstock for your tuners?

Before pore filling?
After pore filling but before applying the finish?
After applying the finish but before the final sanding/buffing?
After buffing?

And why do you do it at that stage?

I test assemble the complete instrument before finishing... just in case.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Good advice from Chris

I drill pilot holes in the head stock before finish with the drill press. I make them small enough so when I drill later with a forstner bit they work well in guiding the bit. After finish I do that drilling with a hand held and go in from both sides so as not to harm the finish. Before I did it that way I would sometimes have a chip out on the back side while drilling

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I drill after finish and final buff. I drill through the front with a very sharp brad point into a backing block. I find that if the holes are there before buffing, compound gets stuck on the edge of the holes and its generally harder to buff.

I always drill the holes before finish. I've tried countersinking for bushings (geared tuners) both before and after. I do it before now and clean out the pore filler and buffing compound residue with an 11 blade and reamer after finish. That has worked well. I know a lot of guys ream the countersink after finish but I always got a little chipping with that. Even doing it at low RPM on a drill press with everything clamped up.

You guys that use the StewMac bushing counter sinks after finish successfully, what's your technique, RPM, etc.?

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

Personally me likes to wait until the full moon or some other sort of auspicious astrological event before doing any drilling...you know ...to help stay in touch with the universal flow of things....

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I like to drill holes before finishing in lacquer. The only issue I have is during wet sanding. Sometimes the water used during wet sanding swells the unsealed wood at the edges of the holes a bit. It then shrinks back leaving slight creases in the leveled surface. I have tried leveling that area without water and that seems to help although a large flat sanding block is necessary to achieve a perfect surface. For me, drilling holes through a leveled, high gloss finish is like drilling through glass. Also drilling for an acoustic guitar strap button is the other problem.

Michael

That's the nice thing about French Polish, you never have lifting or other issues because the finish is so thin that you get more reaction from the wood than the finish itself. It is literally like bare wood. If you do scratch the finish after that for whatever reason you can always touch it back up.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I drill before I've reached the final thickness for the headstock. I always thickness from the back and that way I remove any tear out.

Chuck