Mandolin Tail Pin

[Richard500]

The expanding rubber will conform to the hole. I'd be more concerned with someone cranking the screw until it split the tail block but I don't know how much that would take.

Very loose guesstimate, but a shallow angle taper also has high mechanical advantage too, and tapping one in could also break the block. You might not even notice a split in that area.

[MikeEdgerton]

They do make them with different tapers but I've never even thought about tapping one in. I guess you could though. For me it either fit or it didn't and I have learned after many years that if something doesn't fit don't force it. I've messed up a whole lot of other things force fitting them but no instruments thus far.

[Hudmister]

In dealing with a glued in end pin on a used The Loar I once owned, I cut the pin off flush with the body with a handheld hack saw blade. I then drilled a pilot hole in the remaining pin and attached a screw on strap button. All this to replace the tail piece. You can drill out an endpin, but it requires a tapered bit to do it right. If cutting the end pin off, use masking tape to protect the body around the pin.

[Fretbear]

In dealing with a glued in end pin on a used The Loar I once owned, I cut the pin off flush with the body with a handheld hack saw blade. I then drilled a pilot hole in the remaining pin and attached a screw on strap button. All this to replace the tail piece. You can drill out an endpin, but it requires a tapered bit to do it right. If cutting the end pin off, use masking tape to protect the body around the pin.

This post kind of circles everything back around to what the main point of my original post was, which was that drilling a large tapered hole through the small tail-block of an instrument that has never required it (unlike a violin) was (and remains) a bad idea.
If you are ever in the position that Hudmister was in, you must first determine if someone has previously glued the tail-pin in place or not.
The expert and secure fitting of a violin tail-pin (in a violin) is an art and science that does not and should not employ adhesive of any kind.
If you ever have to remove one from a mandolin to change out a tailpiece, after removing all the mounting screws, use some sharp tipped wedges made from maple or plastic and you may be able to safely dislodge the tail-pin by way of raising the edges of the tailpiece hardware itself, which is still often locked into place by the tail-pin.

[Mandobart]

Tapered end pins have been in use on guitars for over a century. I have one on my Martin HD-28. My Eastman E2OM-CD also came with one. Of course all my fiddles and a couple of my mando's have them too. It never once occurred to me to use anything but my fingers to install them. When I've needed to remove them it's just gentle pull and slight twist with padded or soft-jawed pliers. My experience is the tailpiece does not lock in the end pin in any way - the endpin can be removed and installed with the tailpiece in place. But the tailpiece cannot be removed without first removing the endpin.

Dropping any of my instruments straight onto the tail end would surely result in damage whether it has a tapered end pin or screwed in strap button.