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Hi,

I have run out of threaded inserts for necks. I used to get them from McMaster Carr on the company acct, but no more. McMaster Carr is no longer accepting new accounts either. For such a little thing, they seem hard to come by. Rona, HD, Lee valley, have all come up dry. I need the high strength steel ones, 1/2" length. Anybody know of a place similar to McMaster Carr to have a look at?

Thanks,

Ed

I can usually get the 1/4-20 by 3/8 steel ones at either Rona or HD near where I am in Mississauga .. Rona is usually half the price though ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I'm using barrel nuts now but I use to buy the threaded inserts at Ace Hardware.


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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
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Try Acklands-Grainger in Calgary.

I obtained some of these from Reid supply http://www.essentracomponents.com/sku/sti-125 but they have changed their name and now you need to order 100. These are the best inserts I have seen but now we would need to do group purchases as 100 is a large order. I was turned on to these by Rick Michaletti (Luthier cool tools) at the Montreal guitar show.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I've given up on the inserts and barrel bolts for neck joints and have gone with Trevor Gore's mortice and tenon method of a brass bar morticed into in the heel of the neck.
It is just so much stronger than either inserts or barrel bolts.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I can't help with a source but here is a great video on keeping them straight when you are installing them. I realize that this method will be difficult in the heel of a guitar neck. However, I'm sure folks can adapt. Flipping the drill press around on its post will let you align the neck vertically at the correct angle. (There is also an online video for doing this.)

I am not convinced that he is right about the slot in the insert but the method is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhEqoKE ... r_embedded

James

McFeely's




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Colin, do you have a photo of what that looks like? Sorry to the OP, not wishing to hijack your thread!

Thanks everyone!

Rusty, those are the very ones, at a fraction of the price!

The McFeeleys are pretty much like the ones Martin used. I never seen on of them fail and use those when I do a bolt on neck. Plenty strong.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

$1.41 for 100 from Essentra components (use to be reed supply) like Fred said. And you can buy them in Canada and not worry about the border...

shipping will cost you $32 though.. So $33.41/100 or $0.33/ each is a pretty good price.

http://www.essentracomponents.ca/fasten ... ad-inserts

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I think it reads as min. order of 100, priced at $1.41 each.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

The bolt-bar method is in the book for sure, but I can't lay claim to it. That's one of Gerard's great ideas that he came up with nearly 30 years and several hundred guitars ago.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Rod, I think that is per unit price, so mcfeelys wins there...(why does that sound vaguely dirty?)

The inserts seem strong enough to me too. I flood the threads with thin ca first. Virtually impossible to recover if you want to reuse them.

Next mission, better bolts than Rona...

No James, he is totally, 100% correct in what he says about the slot in the threaded insert. These slots are not for accommodating a screwdriver, they are there to facilitate cutting a thread in the workpiece as the insert enters.

Good video btw, thanks for posting it up here.

The slot goes in first. The few I have seen fail were installed upside down. They are amazingly strong fasteners.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

You've probably been there, but I followed Liutario Mottola's advice http://www.liutaiomottola.com/construction/Bolton.htm
and got the "Self-tapping steel threaded inserts for metal, 1/4”-20 internal thread, 3/8” external thread, 31/64" length (part# 90240A001 from McMaster-Carr)." They were pricey at $2.58 each, but they have fine threads and were actually made for use in aluminum. At least the bolts for the inserts were relatively cheap. I like the brass insert method in Gore and Gilet's book, but it's more involved than I want to pursue right now.

Well, I don't really care if the slot is for a screwdriver or not, I install them using the drill press to drive them, and put them in with the slot up, so if I want to, I can get them out easily. Since I have been using a reiniforcing strip (two actually, one on each side) of rosewood, I have not had one fail .. even looking back, the only one I had fail was a students and I am not sure if was driven in properly in the first place .. I also use thin CA to glue them after they are installed, then recut the threads with a tap ...

And when I get them at Rona they are about 50 cents per .... they dont always have them in stock (something I hate about Rona, and Cdn tire, seems they are always out of stock of whatever it is that I am after) ... but when they do have them , I usually get 20-30

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

What kind of bolts are you using Tony?

Rona as well?

No .. 1/4 -20, 1.5 inch at Lee Valley .. cheapest source around .. I went to Brafasco a few years back and the guy in there couldn't believe that I was buying them for less at LV than his cost !!!!

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Are they plated zinc alloy? I've had two bolts strip at the head that I got from Rona. I'd like to find something of higher quality. I'll check out the LV ones...

Thanks

Cant say for sure .. but using a 3/16 nut driver (like a screw driver, not a socket wrench) I cannot strip these by hand, the insert would rip out first ... I would say they are some kind of steel .... they are more than enough for what we need them for

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Cool, the Rona ones are bunk...