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Thread: #2 screw pilot hole size?

  1. #1
    Registered User CeeCee_C's Avatar
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    Default #2 screw pilot hole size?

    All -

    What is the recommended pilot hole size for the #2 wood screws used to mount Schaller and Grover tuners?

    Also, I don't have any beeswax to lubricate the threads. Will ordinary candle wax serve the same purpose?

    Thanks,
    CeeCee, Self-appointed Supreme Arbiter of All that is Good, Just, and True
    1 Spousal Unit, 4 cats
    1919 Gibson A1, Girouard custom F5, Collings MF, Northfield F5-S, Eastman 815, Eastman 514, Eastman 315, JBovier ELS-VC electric mando

    The difference between theory and practice is smaller in theory than it is in practice. anon

  2. #2
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    Default Re: #2 screw pilot hole size?

    1/16" for the pilot. Candle wax or even bar soap will work fine.

    Mike J

  3. #3
    Registered User
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    Default Re: #2 screw pilot hole size?

    I have found it just as easy to use a small finishing nail and tap it in perhaps 1/8 inch to allow the tuner screw threads to catch...

    Of course tap the starter hole in the wood while the tuners are in place so you get the hole in exactly the right position. It is an easy job.... No guessing required at all.

    By the way,,, I use a felt cloth under my mando while installing screws to keep loose screws from falling off the table... They are really hard to find on a carpet, and impossible to find in a shag rug.
    Bart McNeil

  4. #4
    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: #2 screw pilot hole size?

    I use a sharp awl to make the pilot hole, as it compresses the wood the screw will engage.



    When you drill a pilot hole, you lose wood. Those little screws need all the fiber they can get to hang onto, especially in a soft wood like mahogany.

    Soap is hygroscopic: it attracts moisture. Use wax instead.
    .
    ph

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  5. #5
    Adrian Minarovic
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    Default Re: #2 screw pilot hole size?

    Make sure your screws are good quality. Some tuner screws are made of plated brass or very weak steel and will snap if you try to drive them into even sligthly undersized pilot hole especially if you are going through ebony veneer into hard maple (DAMHIKT). I typically use 1.5mm drill bit and chamfer the edges by hand with 3mm drill so the screw won't pull edge out of the hole. I also use piece of candle as lubricant.
    Adrian

  6. #6
    Registered User Lefty Luthier's Avatar
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    Default Re: #2 screw pilot hole size?

    I use a sharp awl then follow with a 1/16 drill to the depth of the screw when driving into Maple. With Mahogany the awl is all that is required. I second the recommendation not to use soap, I keep a block of canning seal wax handy to lubricate the screws. Been using the same block for near 30 years.
    Byron Spain, Builder
    www.theleftyluthier.com

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