**OUTDATED: CHECK DESCRIPTION** How to Install Threaded Inserts on a Bolt-On Guitar Neck (EZ LOK)
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- UPDATED VIDEO HERE: • How to Install Threade...
Chapters
0:00 Parts Used & Tool Setup
1:12 Drilling the Holes
2:40 Thread in the Inserts
5:19 What's the Difference?
6:55 Guitar Improv - Outro
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HOW TO INSTALL A BOLT-ON NECK:
• How to Install a Bolt-...
CLEARING THE NECK POCKET HOLES:
• Bolt-On Neck SECRET | ...
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Using a 10-24 or 10-32 bolt will require a significantly bigger pilot hole and get even closer to the edge of the neck -- it'll work, but in my opinion, is not necessary, and gets uncomfortably close to the edges of the neck.
I've been doing this on all of my personal guitars, as I do all of my own work and am constantly tinkering with necks, swapping them out, taking them on and off, and that can really wear on the threads in the neck heel after a while.
An added benefit is full contact with the neck pocket, which can only be good for sustain, resonance, and guaranteeing for playability's sake that the neck goes back into the exact same position every single time, no matter how many times you take the neck off and put it back on.
Also, the 8-32 screws are a little smaller than most neck screws because they don't have that aggressive thread on them, so you'll likely be able to get away with leaving the neck pocket holes alone.
What does that mean? I mean that most of the time the holes will have to be cleared, as the screws should NEVER thread into the neck pocket, EVER, not even a little bit. You can check out my important video on clearing the neck pocket holes (again!) here:
• Bolt-On Neck SECRET | ...
I'm having a nerdgasm at the level of precision executed with such simplicity.
Thank you so much!
Excellent, 1st class instructional video. No dumb faces, no crappy music. Perfect!
Thank so much for the support!
Nice video man very detailed.
Thank you! I have a redo of this video on the way with updated information. I hope to get it posted soon.
Thanks to your video, I successfully got these installed!
That's awesome. Thanks so much for letting me know. So glad that my video helped you!
I don't have a drill press so I use a Kreg KDG-6000 Drilling Guide and add the extra to the tape mark of the drill bit. Thanks for video.
Hank Hill vibes at Nut & Bolt Depot
Stainless steel has lower tensile strength so snapping the bolts are actually rather easy, what usually happens is the thread galls and then you snap the bolt trying to thread it loose. It would be preferable to use chrome or nickel plated steel screws and steel inserts, as the corrosion resistance of stainless isn’t really a requirement on a guitar. However, as long as you’re conscious of the lower tensile strength and the tendency for stainless to gall you should be fine. A bit of lubricant on the threads is also a good idea to minimize the risk of galling.
Great tips. Thank you for posting this!
Hey, this was an excellent video as usual. I'm wondering if you commission work for others? I'm aiming to build a custom tele deluxe this year and there's no one in my local area good enough for this. Please let me know... thanks!
You can contact me at guitarmdofficial@gmail.com
I do take on work once in a while. I recently helped someone put together a Stratocaster that they shipped out here. You can contact me there if you're interested in setting something up. Thanks for reaching out!
How is this NOT the way a Fender guitar should be built at the factory? Same for the the claw screws. For the money they charge, it's ludicrous that you don't get something that is engineered properly. I know the wood screws work and it's unlikely a neck would ever just fall off but, as I said, it looks cheap and it IS cheap considering what you pay for one of these "great" guitars. I mean, are custom shop guitars by them just as cheaply built?
I see that you use mighty mite in this vid. So many online sources say mighty mite is fine, but not quite as good as Warmoth, Musikraft or fender US. Has this been your experience as well?
Great video. I've got inserts in the necks of two of my basses (one of them being my main instrument), and I swear by them. The note just seems to vibrate "true", almost like you'd expect a neck-thru bass to do.
Quick question though, because I'm about to fit them on a neck myself for the first time; I see that you recommend wood glue on the threads of the inserts. Would running some water-thin CA glue in after the inserts are fitted also be a good way to lock them in? It seems that CA glue might make a tighter bond between wood and metal.
CA glue might very well work better. Another option would be 2-ton epoxy instead of wood glue. With epoxy I'd just be careful to clean the threads out really well after installation.
Epoxy might be the best for its gap-filling properties and the fact that it cures hard as a rock. I've done many epoxy bridge reglues, and the guy who taught me how to do those has done thousands -- and we both have agreed the guitar sounds better after.
Epoxy gets a lot of flack in the tech community but it's unparalleled for its gap filling properties and strength.
However, after installation, CA glue might wick in more fully. Unless you really glob epoxy onto the inserts I'm not sure how much they'll 100% fill all the voids.
In general, CA glue seems like it could be a great option. And it shouldn't adhere to the metal itself that tightly, meaning cleanup should be simple if you do get some on the inner threads when applying it after you've pressed the inserts it.
So...I'd probably try the CA glue first and see how that goes. Wanted to throw some other options out there but CA glue is a winner in so many cases. Let me know if you end up deciding to try either method.
And thanks so much!
You’re a true master perfectionist. Can I send you my axe and have that job done to mine? I don’t know of anyone in Chicago that works with that level of skill.
Thanks so much! You can hit me up on guitarmdofficial@gmail.com if you'd like to reach out in regards to getting some work done.
I recently did one of these for someone else. It'll be much cheaper to ship the neck alone as guitars are quite expensive to ship -- and usually just the neck will be A.OK to ship by itself for this job.
Thank you for reaching out! 🙏 I will do that.
I've bought an EZ-Lok 8-32 kit, but thought M4 screws too thin for it (body heel pocket holes usualy are larger, for M5 diameter like screws)... but then again, 10-24 inserts would be gigantic! what's your opinion?
Check out my video on neck pocket clearance holes here:
czcams.com/video/8hHxZCakAYY/video.htmlsi=6mpKWSbvxdEkGJOa
I'm planning on redoing it to address some similar concerns. To adjust neck alignment, the holes have to be cleared as well. So there are multiple benefits.
The screws do *not* need to fill the neck pocket body holes, and actually, they should slip through easily without threading into the body holes *at all.* This is the correct way to attach a neck.
To keep the neck from shifting around, you can use shims. I like to double stick tape wood veneer or clear mylar film shims to the sides of the neck pocket. Generally, you'll only want to shim one side. You want to shim until the string alignment is where you want it.
By string alignment, i mean where the outermost strings are in relation to the edges of the frets on either side of the neck, at the end of the fretboard.
Some people like more room on the Low E string, some people more room on the High E string, some people like them as dead-even as possible, with both strings an equal distance from the edges of the frets.
With the neck pocket holes cleared, you can shift the neck freely. Another alternative is to just loosen the neck screws, shift the neck into position, and re-tighten. But I'm partial to a more permanent fix, which would be shimming the sides of the pocket.
I'm working on a formula for this. So simply by observing the alignment, and determining the desired alignment, you can determine the proper thickness of shim you'd need to put in the neck pocket. I do think it's worth shifting it in the pocket first to make sure the neck pocket actually has enough room for the neck to shift in the first place. Sometimes the walls of the neck pocket need to be sanded down to allow for alignment.
But more often than not, clearing the holes is the necessary operation. So in short: you definitely DON'T want the screws filling up the body holes. It isn't only unnecessary but actually incorrect from a woodworking standpoint. Mechanical impedance will be maximized by using clearance holes -- better vibration transfer, as well.
Hey champ. How do I measure screws for ordering on the site?
I use digital calipers to measure the length and then a thread finder for the thread pitch. Some nuts from the hardware store will also suffice if you can't get a thread finder set right away.
The machine screws should be about the same length as the original neck screws. It's okay if they're a bit shorter, but not longer. Let me know if this helps or if you need any more clarification
The youtuber WoodcraftBySuman did some tests with threaded inserts. I was surprised to see, the superiority of wood threads compared to metal threaded inserts.
check out his video with title "this is the problem with threaded inserts".
Just checked it out. Very interesting. I've been doine fine using Titebond with the EZ Lok inserts, but that's got me thinking that epoxy might be the better long-term solution. Although with Titebond it's easy to use the drive tool to *remove* the inserts, if you ever want to do that.
My first thought was that the EZ-Lok inserts have much more aggressive threads than the inserts he used in that video. The EZ-Lok wood inserts do seem to have an excellent hold, with wide, sharp flanges that really bite into a large surface area of the wood.
But the strength of the tapped wood is undeniable. Very interesting stuff.
I'd actually love to get a mini torque wrench and see how many foot pounds I have my guitar neck bolts set to. I've taken the neck on and off a bunch of times on my main Strat and have had no issues, no loosening or lifting of the inserts -- but I'll keep an eye on it.
Touching up wood threads with CA glue does work, and I've done that many times to restore neck heel holes that just leave the screw spinning around.
Though drilling them out and driving an insert in is much easier (for me) than drilling it out, doweling it, then re-marking and re-drilling it for a new threaded wood hole.
The other people I've seen using threaded inserts on guitars are using metal inserts and a tapped hole. The metal inserts have a much smaller flange and I don't think they'd have the secure hold that a wood insert like the EZ-Lok wood.
Very, very interesting video either way -- I certainly wouldn't have expected those results. I'd love to see that test repeated with EZ-Lok inserts.
Some people in the comments mention the superiority of T-nuts. My friend and mentor has speculated (without seeing that video) that T-nuts would be the best way to go for threaded inserts on a neck heel.
The EZ-Lok seem to be working great for now. The need to remove inserts is very unlikely, and I'm doing that on one of my guitars at the moment -- but barring that, I would bet 2 ton epoxy to secure the inserts would be far superior to wood glue, as well as CA glue. Epoxy acts as a very strong gap filler and it would really strengthen the area between the flange and the wood, which seemed to be the main point of failure in those tests.
Great video, and very thorough! I'll keep an eye on these threaded insert installations I've been doing, but so far, so good. If there are long-term problems with threading in and out repeatedly as he showed in that video, I'd like to know -- my main thought with inserts is you could do this infinitely with no issues.
May go to that 2-ton epoxy in the future. The only thing with that is it would be tough to fully saturate the hole without also getting it all over the internal threads. Cleaning out the inside thoroughly after installing the insert could be pretty tough, but that's the only caveat I can think of.
@@guitar_md right, i can see how size of threats and use of epoxy could improve such test results. i'm just wondering if installing threaded inserts is worth the trouble at all, if the other method is both simpler and yielding better results.
@@guitar_md I haven't seen the video but I'll comment anyway. First, I've heard that contact between the neck and body is the paramount concern when fitting a neck to a body. Even neck shims, if necessary, should be full pocket length to avoid kicking up a bump in the fretboard at the top frets. If the inserts enable full contact between the neck and body then that requirement is met.
I feel this is just another "tonewood" argument for the sake of arguing therefore, I will end my comment. Re: Jim Lill's videos about where the tone comes from in an electric guitar.
@@tsiggy If the guitar came with inserts from the factory you wouldn't have to wonder if it is worth the problem to install them yourself but Fender is not ever going to do so because they feel they can get away with building them cheaply because of past reputation. With the onslaught of inexpensive Asian made guitars that rival name brand expensive ones, you think better mechanical engineering would be a significant way of differentiating their brands, studies of the benefits of wood screws notwithstanding. Just as with cars, most of the info is hype and someone will buy it (the guitar, car, etc.) because it makes them happy (and broke) whether it's true of not.
Call me crazy but if you have a drill press in your house, you probably dont need tutorials like this one.....
“Shivers”, REALLY😳
More sustain ? Not really a little bit stronger connection but also risk cracking neck pocket and paint finish you could had just gone for a heaver wood screw same difference as slug to bolt
Just because you can do it doesn't mean you necessarily would want to do it. There's a reason why most guitar builders wouldn't ever even fathom doing this. That is because the threaded connection acts as a brake on energy transfer (string vibration). All those little air gaps in between each thread prevent your instrument from ringing out as loud and for as long than if you just have the screw directly into the wood where there is basically no air gaps. The metal to metal energy transfer inherently will have its own deduction of the guitar's resonance.
The only reason you should ever do this is if your neck holes are at the point where they do not take the screws well enough to maintain a solid, tight grasp on the screws. But even then, you could always fill and redrill, as 99% of luthiers would do and I would say a huge chunk of them would actually talk you out of using threaded inserts. The benefit is tiny compared to the many cons.