Machine head installation problems, Please help!

[JamieBenzies]

Basically, I am installing the big Fender style machine heads to a Mighty Mite Neck and I am having a nightmare. 3 of the screws for the first machine head had Broken, so that it was pretty much just the heads that had snapped off, so I have screws with no heads stuck in my headstock.

I don't really know what I have done wrong, I worked out the positioning of the holes and then preceded to make an indent and then slowly screw the screws into the wood by hand. This is the way I have been told to do it and it seems fairly clear to me that this should work.

The screws came with the Machine heads and they are Gotoh, but I'm starting to think they may be faulty or something? They just seem so weak.

Can anyone please give me some advice? How do I get these screws out of the headstock? What am I doing wrong?

This is driving me insane so any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

Jamie

[willyf87]

I'm no screw expert lol, but it seems that most screws that manufactures send with there products are abit rubbish. The ones that came with my dimarzio pick ups were absolutely terrible, they rounded really quickly then got stuck, I then had to get a luthier to drill them out and sort them for me as i don't trust myself to do it!! If they are completely in to the point where you cant get at them with forceps to try and unscrew they will have to be drilled out , you could do it yourself but thats up to you! As a side note when I installed new machine heads on my neck I drilled the hole roughly the length of the screw (a little less).

[Mr. Foxen]

Pilot holes are necessary, maple is really hard wood. If you can't get them out, just glue the tops over the holes, as long a one screw is in it's fine.