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Ideas to extend top strap button for better balance
- Thread starter lukiluk
- Start date
Thank you folks!
Thank you to everyone here, the neck dive is gone. Parts include 1” nylon spacer ($0.55), rubber washer ($0.33), 6 x 2” wood screw ($0.18). No drilling or structural modifications.
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good idea!!Thank you folks!View attachment 3319140 Thank you to everyone here, the neck dive is gone. Parts include 1” nylon spacer ($0.55), rubber washer ($0.33), 6 x 2” wood screw ($0.18). No drilling or structural modifications.
can i know the internal diameter of the nylon spacers?
do you think it's a solid solution?
. I did a similar mod with a piece of an old briar smoking pipe stem cut off. Vintage Crafton Imported Briar Smoking Tobbaco Pipe | eBayThank you folks!View attachment 3319140 Thank you to everyone here, the neck dive is gone. Parts include 1” nylon spacer ($0.55), rubber washer ($0.33), 6 x 2” wood screw ($0.18). No drilling or structural modifications.
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The nylon spacer used measures: height 1 inch, outer diameter 1/2 inch, inner diameter .194 inch. The original factory screw is 6 x 1”; the replacement screw is 6 x 2”; same thread just longer.
The store had another spacer with a smaller .140 inch inner diameter but I didn’t use that one because I didn’t want to restrict the angle of the screw as it was tightened.
The store also had a threaded insert seen in the attached photo but I don’t think it’s long enough and that’s all they had so I didn’t use it. (The hole in the bass horn is > 1”)
I should mention that the bass body is poplar. The neck dive prior to the install of the spacer was not significant...if I released my hands from the bass, the neck would dive to about 2-3 o’clock... it doesn’t dive at all now and it’s much more comfortable to play. It seems solid but I’m going to try the 1/2 inch spacer to see if I get similar results with less leverage on the screw.
paging @Ric5
not with a #6 wood screw. Not even with a #10. Maybe with a #12, but #14 is where my confidence would start with just spacers on the outside... but then you probably have to both drill out the button and grind down the screw head. Ric5 has a pretty solid looking thing he uses for really divey basses.
I once had 7 basses. I did a fret job on one of them, and now with this mod I’ll probably get it down to 5 real soon.
Back in the 70s I really fancied a Shergold Marathon. The only one I could find locally was left handed (I'm right handed) but was going cheaply enough second hand so bought it and learned to play on it actually (my first bass), with it flipped upside down. Then one day decided to 'convert' it to right handed and this was the monstrous result.
Longer horn removed with a handsaw and reshaped with files and sandpaper. Pickup directly wired to output jack and I cut a scratchplate to cover the control cavity from acrylic sheet with a jewellers saw. If held in the playing position it's meant to be a side view of an eagle landing on the pickup. The body was stained with ordinary ink and sprayed with a can of clear automotive lacquer.
And the whole point of inflicting this hideous sight upon you? My ad hoc solution to extend the 'top horn' was a piece of plumbing pipe painted black and plugged at the end with dowel to screw the strap button into.
Yeah... looking back, it's one of those, what the hell was I thinking?
Actually the bass still exists today. I gave it to a friend in Austria who still gigs with it and he even gave it a name - 'Mutilated'.
Longer horn removed with a handsaw and reshaped with files and sandpaper. Pickup directly wired to output jack and I cut a scratchplate to cover the control cavity from acrylic sheet with a jewellers saw. If held in the playing position it's meant to be a side view of an eagle landing on the pickup. The body was stained with ordinary ink and sprayed with a can of clear automotive lacquer.
And the whole point of inflicting this hideous sight upon you? My ad hoc solution to extend the 'top horn' was a piece of plumbing pipe painted black and plugged at the end with dowel to screw the strap button into.
Yeah... looking back, it's one of those, what the hell was I thinking?
Actually the bass still exists today. I gave it to a friend in Austria who still gigs with it and he even gave it a name - 'Mutilated'.
I think so.. I tried with 6x2 screw but it does not seem a very solid solution .. It seems soft
What do you think? It's a 6x2 screw.. But it does not seem very solid.. I don't know why..
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Turnaround
Commercial User
One of the old-time rules for the use of a wood screw was called the Rule of 3. Imagine the screw divided into 3 equal sections. One third would be in the piece being held, and two thirds being in the part that is doing the holding. So if you were going to add a 1 inch extension, you would need a 3-inch screw. A 2 inch extension requires a 6 inch screw. That rule was built on centuries of experience and was considered to be a fundamental rule.
Now think about some of the suggestions put forth here.
Now think about some of the suggestions put forth here.
Remember, too, that all of you are screwing into endgrain, which woodworkers who work on things other than solidbody electric intruments almost universally think of as a no-no without very specialized hardware. Endgrain has far lower screw-holding ability than side grain.
Not sure what that does to anyone's ideas, but just thought I'd bring it up. Without spacers, strap button screws fail or get stripped out all the time. And that's when they're flush with the surface. You're adding strain onto a piece of hardware screwed into the weakest aspect of any piece of wood.
Not sure what that does to anyone's ideas, but just thought I'd bring it up. Without spacers, strap button screws fail or get stripped out all the time. And that's when they're flush with the surface. You're adding strain onto a piece of hardware screwed into the weakest aspect of any piece of wood.
Turnaround
Commercial User
Threaded inserts hold no better in end grain than screws do. After all they are screws too.
One minor improvement to what you've already done:
Wood Screws are made of a relatively soft steel which, as you've seen, bends pretty easily.
Try using a #6 x 2" Oval Head Sheet Metal Screw instead. A Sheet Metal Screw is different from a Wood Screw. It's made of a harder steel, and the root diameter (the core inside the threads) is larger. The threads are coarser and run all the way up the screw.
I always use Sheet Metal Screws for attaching strap buttons, even without extensions like this. They are stronger and more reliable than Wood Screws. And, it's much harder to strip out the Phillips heads.
Wood Screws are made of a relatively soft steel which, as you've seen, bends pretty easily.
Try using a #6 x 2" Oval Head Sheet Metal Screw instead. A Sheet Metal Screw is different from a Wood Screw. It's made of a harder steel, and the root diameter (the core inside the threads) is larger. The threads are coarser and run all the way up the screw.
I always use Sheet Metal Screws for attaching strap buttons, even without extensions like this. They are stronger and more reliable than Wood Screws. And, it's much harder to strip out the Phillips heads.
