Couple of pointers wanted on fitting tuners & string tree

[Sibob]

I have a Warmoth neck arriving tomorrow and I have a string tree and some Ultralite tuners to fit.
The body screws are pre-drilled so that's fine, but I'll drill the holes for the above hardware, what's the best way of going about this?
Simply mark the spot and screw in with a screwdriver?!
Each tuner has one screw, and the string tree has two screws.

Many thanks

Si

[gelfin]

Use a very fine drill bit 1mm to make pilot holes first, but not quite the full depth of the screws.

Do the tuners have a small tang or pin on the face that contacts the neck surface if so you will need to make an indent for this as well.

[Sibob]

Thanks for the pointers, noted on the guide hole.
No the Ultralites are completely flush to the wood, just one screw to secure for each tuner .

So a 1mm hole part way in, then screw in the actual screw to finish the hole?!

Cheers
Si

[Andyjr1515]

Put a bit of soap on the screws too and tighten 2, back 1, etc, to make sure the screw cuts a thread in the wood. The neck wood is often very hard and it is easy to shear off the screw

[HowieBass]

I usually drill a pilot hole to about the same depth as the screw it'll receive - it's the thread doing the job of holding it in securely not the shank. I'd also put some tape around the drill bit to act as a depth stop.

[zero9]

I drilled some test holes on a waste piece of hardwood first, to ascertain which size of drillbit worked best for a particular screw. I would then position the tuner or string tree and mark the holes with a sharp pointy object. Use a pillar drill or similar if you can get hold of one, as it gives a much easier and accurate experience when drilling. With a handheld drill it's hard to center on the hole, difficult to get the drill perpendicular to the surface and the drillbit can get stuck more easily. I also put some masking tape over the surface being drilled, which helps for marking out and minimises damage to the surface around the hole when drilling.

[neepheid]

Yup, so basically, you should drill a pilot hole before you try to screw a screw into hardwood. Any wood really.

[Manton Customs]

If it's standard tuners screw size, you'll want a 1.5 mm bit to avoid any chance of breaking the screw. Breaking a screw is about the worst thing you can do as they usually break flush with the wood. All the advice so far is good, tape the bit to get the correct depth (so you don't drill too shallow, or through the other side!) and wax/soap the screw.

Also make sure all tuners are in the correct position (obviously!) as they look awful if not.

[Sibob]

Thanks a bunch guys
I have a 1.5mm drill bit, but not 1mm, so hopefully that should do for the pilot?!

Cheers
Si

[HowieBass]

If the shank of the screw is about 1.5mm wide you should be fine - I usually hold the drill bit against the screw and try to match the shank width with the bit width.

[hamfist]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1417648836' post='2622773']
I usually drill a pilot hole to about the same depth as the screw it'll receive - it's the thread doing the job of holding it in securely not the shank. I'd also put some tape around the drill bit to act as a depth stop.
[/quote]

This

[DuncanF]

Not relevant to the OP, but maybe of use to others reading this thread for guidance.

If you have 2/3/4 screws on the tuner, drill [u]one[/u] pilot hole, mount the tuner, screw it down and [u]then[/u] drill the remaining holes using the tuner screw holes as a guide. If you try to pre-drill all the pilot holes, the chances of one more more being fractions of a mm out are much greater. That in turn puts stress on the small screws as you try to force them in, which is an excellent way to shear off the heads.

True story! Happened to [s]me[/s] a daft muppet of my ...er .. acquaintance last week.