E-minor7 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Received the tulips for my Dove this evening and find that I need to drill 6 holes out of 12. Never tried that before and get curious if there is any advice I need to know before starting. (Not sure I dare yet). I know the duct-tape-trick regarding hole depth, but how about the place where the guitar lies while drilling. Imagine it placed on a handkerchief on and eiderdown to avoid too much stiffness and then an assistant holding the neck - maybe that's all wrong. Maybe it's too harzardous to start the operation as the greenhorn I am. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Do you have a drill press, and or a vice? 6 out of 12 - I'm not following, is this a 12-string Dove ? I think I understand that you have a bunch of tulip buttons, right? and it is just tuner buttons you are talking about, and not the whole tuner? Or the reference to what to do with the guitar is leading me to think you are replacing the tuners??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 I'm replacing the 1 screw pr unit Grovers with 2 screws pr unit tulips where the one original hole will work fine. So just need to drill the remaining 6 - 1 extra pr unit. Actually wish it could be done by hand, , , with an awl or something. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 EM7 First off, get a new drill bit. Or, buy a set so you are sure you have the right size. Get a piece of scrap wood, hard wood of course, and drill a few different size holes close to what you think you need. Put the screw in each to see which is the best fit. Snug, but not forced. Make sure when drilling the holes in your headstock you keep the drill perpendicular to it. In other words, don't drill a hole that isn't straight. Oh, and measure twice where the holes should go to be sure. Measure twice, drill once. G'Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 If you're not super comfortable doing this to such a nice guitar, I'd suggest taking it to a reputable shop/repair person/luthier. This is a super easy job for them, and wouldn't cost you much at all, but if you do it yourself and mess up, you'll never forgive yourself and will probably cost much more to fix your mistake and still have them installed by a tech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 You should probably support the headstock and neck as evenly as practical, but with no string tension, I don't think there is much danger of excess pressure. In this case, since the guitar will be lying on its top, it just means a bit of extra support under the face of the headstock, although I put some padding between the entire guitar and the underlying surface. I have found the blue quilted furniture moving blankets (readily available in the US) to be the ideal padding on my workbench under the guitar, whatever the job. Use a brand new twist drill bit of a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the screws, and use light pressure when drilling, as small-diameter bits break easily. To avoid the drill bit "skating" across the surface, I like to indent the location I am drilling slightly with a small pointed awl, once I have marked (usually on a small piece of masking tape stuck on the surface to be drilled) exactly where I want to drill. You don't need a drill press for this job. It would be extremely awkward, with more risk to the instrument. A small battery-operated hand drill will do just fine, but make an effort to hold the drill such that the bit is perpendicular to the surface you are drilling. Certainly the tape depth stop on the bit is very important, as tuner screws go almost through the headstock, especially if the guitar is an older Gibson with a tapered headstock. In that case, the maximum screw length is limited by the thinnest part of the headstock you will be drilling into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattd Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I just changed mine to gotoh tulips yesterday on my J-45, I put the tuners on first with the new bushings and installed the bottom screw on all tuners, this allowed me to adjust and line them up then I drilled for the top screws, took about ten minutes. Just use the right sized bit and don't drill to deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Do you have a drill press,... WTF, a DRILL PRESS, are you really serious? You would recommend trying to stick a guitar headstock, with guitar attached, under a drill press, just to drill six 1/32" holes 3/8" deep in mahogany or maple! I wouldn't, and don't, even use power drills of any sort on guitar work. I use "hand" drills, you know, the kind that you actually have to spin by hand. DO NOT use an awl, it does not make a hole, it makes a SPLIT in the wood grain. For a few small tuning machine holes you could probably spin the bit between your fingers. "Brad Point" bits are self centering and will not walk on you, highly recommended. It's kind of funny that the "toy" tools I was given as a child, along with the assignments from 7th grade shop class, plus a bunch of surgical tools I acquired by questionable means, is most of what I use for guitar work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Now that we are all suitably terrified and confused, maybe you should take it to a guitar tech - probably take 5 seconds. Either that or go buy an old junk guitar at the pawn shop to practice drilling on to refine the techniques...... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Hand drill or Spiral or "Yankee" drill Use an awl to make a tiny dimple and the bit will not walk. You could use a Dremel or other moto tool but I would recommend only one with variable speed control. A drill bit that fits, not snugly but not too loosely either, in the other hole can be used as a visual aid to help keep the new hole perpendicular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pittgibson45 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think the drill press and vice was brought up because of confusion of what was being drilled. I think Dan thaught that only the button on the tuner was being changed and the hole needed to be enlarged, not that new tuners were being installed on the headstock and the originals only had one hole and the new ones have two holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 WTF, a DRILL PRESS, are you really serious? You would recommend trying to stick a guitar headstock, with guitar attached, under a drill press, just to drill six 1/32" holes 3/8" deep in mahogany or maple! I wouldn't, and don't, even use power drills of any sort on guitar work. I use "hand" drills, you know, the kind that you actually have to spin by hand. DO NOT use an awl, it does not make a hole, it makes a SPLIT in the wood grain. For a few small tuning machine holes you could probably spin the bit between your fingers. "Brad Point" bits are self centering and will not walk on you, highly recommended. It's kind of funny that the "toy" tools I was given as a child, along with the assignments from 7th grade shop class, plus a bunch of surgical tools I acquired by questionable means, is most of what I use for guitar work. My mention of a drill press was in response to what I thought might be just a button replacement - drilling holes in the buttons to then later mount them on tuners. It was not until later did it become clear that the task was actually replacement of the whole tuners and drilling the headstock, and not just buttons. Sorry if my reply caused additional cnnfusiion. I was thinking this sort of operation: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyd Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Actually wish it could be done by hand, , , with an awl or something. I have these little drills that were part of my father's tools. Not sure where/if you can find them today, sorry. But they're just little drill bits with plastic handles. You hold them between your thumb and finger and just spin them back and forth - the handles have raised "ribs" so they don't slip in your fingers. They work great for this type of thing, very easy to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I'm pretty comfortable with power tools of all sizes, from miniature routers to 36" shipsaws with tilting tables that require two people to operate, so using power tools for a job like this doesn't bother me. If you are going to work on guitars a lot, a super-compact rotary tool like a Dremel, which can use small-diameter conventional drill bits, is a must-have item with lots of other applications. I think we may have over-analyzed Em7's little project just a bit, and he's probably going to take the guitar to his luthier for the job. If you aren't comfortable drilling holes in guitars, that's never a bad solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyd Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I'm pretty comfortable with power tools of all sizes Me too, have been using them since I was a little kid and spent over 20 years managing a shop that built theatrical scenery. But I still prefer using hand tools for this kind of little job that doesn't require any real "power". You know the joke about using a bazooka for a fly swatter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Me too, have been using them since I was a little kid and spent over 20 years managing a shop that built theatrical scenery. But I still prefer using hand tools for this kind of little job that doesn't require any real "power". You know the joke about using a bazooka for a fly swatter? You can't go wrong with hand tools. Bazookas make pretty good fly swatters, I would reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Received the tulips for my Dove this evening and find that I need to drill 6 holes out of 12. Never tried that before and get curious if there is any advice I need to know before starting. (Not sure I dare yet). I wouldn't do it although I knew exactly what to do. I would always go with direct replacement parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 so a nail gun isn't gonna work either right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.