Neck bolt screw head broke off! What to do now?

[fourstringbliss]

I have a G&L L2000 Tribute bass and I was unscrewing the neck screws to shim the neck when one of the screws broke off at the head. The rest of the screw is still in the hole and screwed into the neck, and the threads are into the wood of the holes, so I can't remove the neck even with all of the other screws out. There also isn't any length of screw where I could grab it and try and turn it out.

What should I do?

 

[fourstringbliss]

 

[StereoPlayer]

I would, very carefully drill it out, at least the part of the screw in the body.
Use a small bit at first and progressively use a slightly larger bit. Until the neck comes off.
Then use pliers or vice grips to turn the rest of it out.

Take your time.

Edit....changed the word neck to body in first sentence.

 

[tjh]

... are you sure that the screw is actually threaded 'through' the body? ... I like to have the screws pass through the body 'cleanly' and then just start 'biting' once they hit the neck ... if that is the case here, once the rest of the screws are removed, the two should seperate ... then you can remove the broken shank with a vise grip ...

 

[fourstringbliss]

I would, very carefully drill it out, at least the part of the screw in the neck.
Use a small bit at first and progressively use a slightly larger bit. Until the neck comes off.
Then use pliers or vice grips to turn the rest of it out.

Take your time.

Yikes. I guess that's what I've got to do. I sure don't want to pay whatever it sour cost to have a guitar tech do it.

 

[fourstringbliss]

... are you sure that the screw is actually threaded 'through' the body? ... I like to have the screws pass through the body 'cleanly' and then just start 'biting' once they hit the neck ... if that is the case here, once the rest of the screws are removed, the two should seperate ... then you can remove the broken shank with a vise grip ...

Yup, it's in there good. I took the other 5 screws out and the neck ain't budging.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I would take the other screws out first. Then support the body up on some books and some padding, face down, with about 2" clearance between the neck and the bench. Use a round punch and a hammer to drive the broken screw down through the hole in the body. That will separate the neck, and do the least amount of damage to anything. Finally use the vise-grips to carefully turn out the broken stub from the neck.

 

[walterw]

... are you sure that the screw is actually threaded 'through' the body? ... I like to have the screws pass through the body 'cleanly' and then just start 'biting' once they hit the neck ... if that is the case here, once the rest of the screws are removed, the two should seperate ... then you can remove the broken shank with a vise grip ...

that screw should be able to slide through the body, but sadly all too many budget bolt-on makers just drill one hole through neck and body, then run the screws through both so they're threaded into both.

@Bruce Johnson's trick will work if the screw remains are just sort of threaded into the body, by punching it through like that you can break through the hopefully minimal grabbing of the threads in the body hole.

the fact that it sheared off makes me worry that it's really tightly threaded into both, though. in that case, you may need to do the trick with the brass tubing, where you take a bit of tubing that's just bigger than the screw shaft, file some teeth into the end, chuck it into your drill and basically "core out" the screw shaft with it.

the key is to set the drill to unscrew, you might get lucky and actually grab the remains and back them right out of there without having to drill all the way down.

 

[GBassNorth]

Just run down to the nearest Home Depot or Harbor Freight and buy an Easy Out screw extractor set....
12 Piece Screw Extractor Set
You'll find that using the right tool for the job can make the difference between getting it done with minimal effort or mucking it up even worse.

Also, once you have the screw out and can remove the neck you should carefully take a drill bit to the body holes and enlarge them ever so slightly. If done right the screw shafts should just slip through the body with no thread bite. The threads should only bite into the neck. This allows the screw to freely turn in the body while pulling the neck firmly into the pocket. With your current incorrect situation both the body and neck are catching threads which will make it very difficult to fully seat the neck into the pocket correctly without clamping the neck to the body first.

Lastly, before reinstalling the screws, slide the threads across a dry bar of soap first. The soap acts as a lubricator and makes it easier to install the screws with much less force thereby reducing the potential for stripping the Phillips head or shearing off another screw. It also makes it easier to remove them in the future and will not harm the wood.

You can probably find YouTube videos for how to use the screw extractors and how to properly soap up the screws if you need to.

Good luck!

 

[Qlanq]

There is a hand tool called "Easy Out". Use a punch and make a guide for a small drill bit. Drill a hole in the centre-very carefully. Screw the Easy Out into the screw anti clockwise, the idea is that the tool threads its way into the screw and you can unscrew the screw out of the neck.

 

[quickfix]

I would take the other screws out first. Then support the body up on some books and some padding, face down, with about 2" clearance between the neck and the bench. Use a round punch and a hammer to drive the broken screw down through the hole in the body. That will separate the neck, and do the least amount of damage to anything. Finally use the vise-grips to carefully turn out the broken stub from the neck.

^^^^
This. And if the body hole isn't clear of threads when you start, it will be when you're done.

 

[Zooberwerx]

that screw should be able to slide through the body, but sadly all too many budget bolt-on makers just drill one hole through neck and body, then run the screws through both so they're threaded into both.

@Bruce Johnson's trick will work if the screw remains are just sort of threaded into the body, by punching it through like that you can break through the hopefully minimal grabbing of the threads in the body hole.

the fact that it sheared off makes me worry that it's really tightly threaded into both, though. in that case, you may need to do the trick with the brass tubing, where you take a bit of tubing that's just bigger than the screw shaft, file some teeth into the end, chuck it into your drill and basically "core out" the screw shaft with it.

the key is to set the drill to unscrew, you might get lucky and actually grab the remains and back them right out of there without having to drill all the way down.

I concur. Try the center punch but don't be too aggressive. The brass tube extractor is your best bet. Do mark the extractor with tape to reflect the distance to the pocket / neck heel, run the drill in reverse, and allow the bit to "follow" the broken screw remnant. Even if the measure doesn't back the screw out, you'll end up "coring out" to the neck heel which will at least allow you to remove the neck. If you chose the correct brass tube diameter, the resulting hole will now be of sufficient pass-thru size...which is where it should have been in the first place.

Riis

 

[96tbird]

The tubing trick is the best bet. It self guides. No slipping around doing damage. No shock on the heel from tapping the screw through. I have done this many times on a variety of wood projects.

As has been said, once you get it off, enlarge the body holes so the screws pass through.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Unfortunately I don't have any tubing like that, but I did see this picture:

Invalid Link Removed

I think this is what I'm going to have to do - similar to the tubing trick. The good news is that each of these screws have a collar, so even though the hole will be bigger I should still be able to get the new one in the right spot, and it'll still clamp down firmly.

I also bought myself a set of these:

and I'm going to be replacing all of the screws when they come in.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Man, I just hate seeing you remove more wood than what's absolutely necessary. You could clean it up, plug with a hunk of dowel, and re-drill if desired. The gluing would not be super critical as the patch would be a semi-compressible spacer and not an anchor for the screw thread.

Riis

 

[fourstringbliss]

Man, I just hate seeing you remove more wood than what's absolutely necessary. You could clean it up, plug with a hunk of dowel, and re-drill if desired. The gluing would not be super critical as the patch would be a semi-compressible spacer and not an anchor for the screw thread.

Riis

I figure I'm going to measure how thick the neck pocket wood is and tape off the drill bit at that point. That way I'm only removing neck pocket wood, not neck heel wood. The screws go into a collar anyway, so there should be enough wood left in the collar-hole to sufficiently support it.

 

[bolophonic]

I'd core it out as tightly as possible and plug the hole if need be. Trying to get a screw extractor to engage a sheared end is a pain in the neck compared to freeing the neck and twisting it out with pliers.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I'd core it out as tightly as possible and plug the hole if need be. Trying to get a screw extractor to engage a sheared end is a pain in the neck compared to freeing the neck and twisting it out with pliers.

I'm definitely going to try and remove just enough wood to grip it with some needle nose pliers and try and twist it out for sure. The fact that this is one of 5 neck screws makes me feel a lot better about it, though.

 

[Hopkins]

What @Bruce Johnson said is the correct way to go about this. There is no way you will be able to drill into the center of a screw and use an easy out without slipping off the screw and drilling into the wood around it.

 

[Hopkins]

I'm definitely going to try and remove just enough wood to grip it with some needle nose pliers and try and twist it out for sure. The fact that this is one of 5 neck screws makes me feel a lot better about it, though.

If it was tight enough to break the screw head off, there is no way you are going to be able to grab it tightly enough with some needle nose pliers and twist it out. You will have to get the neck separated and grab it with vice grips. I would suggest when you get it separated to drill the body holes out to 3/16" so the screws will pass through without engaging the threads.