NOTE::: This is prolly 'way too much information for most people to read, but it is interesting. And I'm somewhat anal about this subject too. So there. 
Before one declares a product as defective, there are a few considerations to make first.
According to the ICS, not all so-called Phillips screws and drivers are really Phillips™ brand either. There is a materials consortium on such designations.
There are also the SAE, JIS, DIN, Reed-Prince, Cross, and just plain cheap copies that will ruin a real Phillips™ screw head almost instantly.
Here's where the Phillips™ design is not really a good choice for many situations::
So - jumping out of the head is normal for a true Phillips - especially if the driver is hand held or the screw reaches a critical friction point.
There are quite a few other cruciform drive variants:::
On a MIA, MIM, MII, MIK, MIJ or CIJ Fender product, there can be two or even three different standards in threads, head configuration and cruciform driver differences that are not obvious to the untrained eye.
PG screws are not even across-the-board the same for all years and models on a Fender-esque bass. A REAL Fender geek can spot the wrong screw at twenty paces however.
Why all the differences and incompatibility?
Sometimes it's just financial dynamics: if a manufacturer sends offshore companies a design, many times the ICS specs in the factory in which they are made aren't employed in the final product.
Many foreign companies won't have tooling for meeting much more than generic specifications, and in the worst case might produce a very poor copy of a spec that is different from their own indigenous standards.
This has been a problem that is constantly being debated and committee'd to death in attempts to arrive at some form of design parity.
Chewed up screw heads and ruined drivers are the result of manufacturers not complying with a modicum of some standards.
The ICS has been at this hammer-n-tongs for a long time, trying to at least standardize the industry.
Always make a test of the screw driver in the head of the screw first to see that it indeed fits and matches the design of the screw itself.
Finally::: Phillips™ screws and drivers are not a good choice for handheld installation by a hobbyist because of it's self-limiting torque capacity (read the whole article above ^).
Before one declares a product as defective, there are a few considerations to make first.
According to the ICS, not all so-called Phillips screws and drivers are really Phillips™ brand either. There is a materials consortium on such designations.
There are also the SAE, JIS, DIN, Reed-Prince, Cross, and just plain cheap copies that will ruin a real Phillips™ screw head almost instantly.
Here's where the Phillips™ design is not really a good choice for many situations::
So - jumping out of the head is normal for a true Phillips - especially if the driver is hand held or the screw reaches a critical friction point.
There are quite a few other cruciform drive variants:::
- Phillips (and it's industrial permutations)
- Frearson
- French Recess
- JIS B 1012
- DIN Nr. 3
- Mortorq
- Pozidriv
- Supadriv
On a MIA, MIM, MII, MIK, MIJ or CIJ Fender product, there can be two or even three different standards in threads, head configuration and cruciform driver differences that are not obvious to the untrained eye.
PG screws are not even across-the-board the same for all years and models on a Fender-esque bass. A REAL Fender geek can spot the wrong screw at twenty paces however.
Why all the differences and incompatibility?
Sometimes it's just financial dynamics: if a manufacturer sends offshore companies a design, many times the ICS specs in the factory in which they are made aren't employed in the final product.
Many foreign companies won't have tooling for meeting much more than generic specifications, and in the worst case might produce a very poor copy of a spec that is different from their own indigenous standards.
This has been a problem that is constantly being debated and committee'd to death in attempts to arrive at some form of design parity.
Chewed up screw heads and ruined drivers are the result of manufacturers not complying with a modicum of some standards.
The ICS has been at this hammer-n-tongs for a long time, trying to at least standardize the industry.
Always make a test of the screw driver in the head of the screw first to see that it indeed fits and matches the design of the screw itself.
Finally::: Phillips™ screws and drivers are not a good choice for handheld installation by a hobbyist because of it's self-limiting torque capacity (read the whole article above ^).
