Official Luthiers Forum!

The advantage with a jig like that ^ is that you can use it for both the body and the neck...

I like that Brad!
Last time on a Uke I had trouble with stripping out the threads while trying to screw my barrel insert in.

I have easily ground the brass threaded inserts down to be shorter...
Of course that was after I couldn't screw them in far enough

Thanks everyone for the pictures

Beth,
I fist saw a similar jig on Mario Proulx's site. Of course there is a "learning curve" to using it, like anything else.

I forgot to mention that there is a removable spline that fits into the truss rod channel that gets removed when using it on the body.

Ok stupid question number ten thousand. I take it you guys just don't go the the hardware section of Home depot and get a nut and bolt. But that would probably suffice. How do you come about these critters?


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Lonnie,

For the hangar bolt approach, it is all Home Depot or Ace Hardware stuff.

They inserts are available there as well. I haven't used the inserts so I don't want to say that is the source, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. I actually picked up parts to do both when I was first testing stuff out. It all came form the local hardware store. The only reason I am not doing the inserts is that I stared testing with the hangar bolts and it worked.

John

I get brass inserts at Ace and matching Allen head bolts for those, and lately, have bought the furniture knockdown bolts and nuts at lmii. See their website under neck parts.

I've used the brass inserts at Lee Valley, and they work ok, but I definitely prefer the ones available from McMaster Carr or mcfeeleys.

If you punch 'threaded insert source' into the search box of the OLf, you'll find a thread about this, where someone put up,a screenshot of the ones I like. You install them with a hex wrench.

The cheapest place by a long mile for he bolts was, to my surprise, Lee Valley...

I use hanger bolts just as Bryan and John do. I adopted this method after reading posts by Mario. I also shorten the wood-thread end of the bolt so the end is square rather than tapered. This gives you thread, hence holding power, along the entire length of the shaft. One detail of mine that's different than others described is that I drill the hole very slightly on the large side to make sure I don't crack the heel, and then put in epoxy (I use slow-set JB Weld) before I screw in the bolt. This fills in any little void at the end of the pre-drilled hole and may reinforce the threads a bit. The epoxy does not firmly glue the bolt into the hole--it's easy to release the bond and withdraw the bolt should you need to. (A make-do fix for slippy piano pins is to put epoxy in the holes; the pins will not adhere to the pin block but the epoxy liner forms a bushing. This is what gave me the idea for lining the hanger bolt hole.)

_________________
Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Thanks guys and ladies for the input. My local Home Depot is less then four blocks from my house. I'm getting ready to do a baritone Uke I'll use something from there for that. But after that build I have my first guitar commission so maybe I'll look around a little more.


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