Neck bolts, tightening question

[Alexeh]

I recently got a new JEM7VWH from Japan and I've noticed that on rare occasion the neck makes a single click sound when I lift the guitar up by it. This makes me think I should adjust the neck bolts.

How should I adjust them? Loosen them up one by one and then use an electric drill on soft spin and tighten them firm but not overtighten? Stupid question, but I've never had to do it before. I guess it could only make a sound if it wasn't tightened enough?

Also for two smaller questions, I want to replace one knob with another Ibanez one in a different color. Do I just pull the old one straight off? It seems to be in there. Should I add a little glue when putting it on or not?

I've been fiddeling with the string retainer bar and even though the screwdriver was adequatley big for it, one of the screws seems to have rounded a bit and I still need to adjust it. How should I go about removing it?

Thanks!
Alex

[Led_Fingers]

As far as the neck making a noise, I had the same problem when I would use my whammy bar. Simply tightening the neck screws didn't help. What did solve the problem was taking the neck completely off and then putting it back on. So keep that in mind.

[rvai]

the neck screws are the ones that you have to tighten the most, the knob, yes, just pull it out or use a small flat head screwdriver against the p guard but use some cloth to protect it.

[David McCarroll]

Neck screws shouldn't be more than screwdriver tight - use a screwdriver with the right sized bit, tighten up each screw reasonably tight, then go around again and do it again - using a driver bit in a drill you simply run way too much risk of either stripping the head off a screw, or worse still snapping the screw or stripping the thread in the neck - neither being a situation you want to deal with, in fact you shouldn't really use a drill to tighten any screws in a guitar, too much torque - you only need tighten things until they are just beyond snug. As an aside, timber moves with tempreature and humidity - it's worth going around your guitar every three months or so and ensuring that no screws have worked loose.

Knob wise - Rich Harris recommends using a stiff guitar pick as a lever on either side of the knob alternately to shimmy it up the pot shaft. Don't use glue unless you absolutely have to, and even then only use a glue which won't actually adhere to metal, but just add a little binding force to the knob - after all, you DO want to be able to remove it at some future stage when the cheap Ibanez Pot siezes up!

[Alexeh]

Alright guys, thanks for the advice!

Do you have any thoughts of how to remove a small screw that is beginning to round up? It almost won't budge now.. Maybe using a pair of pliers and slowely turn it?

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by Alexeh

Alright guys, thanks for the advice!

Do you have any thoughts of how to remove a small screw that is beginning to round up? It almost won't budge now.. Maybe using a pair of pliers and slowely turn it?

Depending on where it is, a drop of WD40 and a soaking for a while might help budge it, then ease it out with a pair of decent pliers - then THROW IT AWAY, and replace it with a new one!

[ScottB]

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

Depending on where it is, a drop of WD40 and a soaking for a while might help budge it, then ease it out with a pair of decent pliers - then THROW IT AWAY, and replace it with a new one!

WD40 would be the last thing I'd use to loosen a wood screw!

If the head of the string retainer screw is stripped, you're gonna need a new one to replace it. The safest way to remove it is pretty much gonna finish the job of ruining it for good. Rich sells replacements for $2 each.

Remove the strings and let the string retainer bar rest against the headstock. When the retainer bar drops, you should have enough of the screw head exposed to attach a good pair of vise grip pliers. Attach them from the end, not from the side. Once you've got them locked on tight, just slowly turn them counter-clockwise and the screw will come out.

[Silver Sable]

You might not want to go around adjusting things until you know what is really making the noise. I kept hearing a funny clink type noise here and there and wasn't sure what it was. I finally figured out that I just needed to even up the string retainer because it wasn't sitting very even and on one side it wasn't quite touching the strings. Using callipers I can get an exact level on the bar and it stopped making that noise.

It is a good idea to just go around everything to make sure things aren't working their way loose, (like the tuners, they always seem to be working loose) but you don't want to use any type of power drill on the guitar itself. perhaps MAYBE if you were working on mounting a switch or something onto a pickguard... but try not to do so if you are screwing into the guitar itself. Far too many things can go so terribly wrong.

[jb4674]

You definitely don't want to use WD40 on a guitar period. Next string change, wrap a piece of cloth around a couple of 2 liter bottle caps and put them under the trem. Once the trem is held up, take off all the strings and then address the retaining bar issue.

Personally, I would use a small set of pliers to grab the head of the screw and turn it gently until it came loose. Don't shake the screw, otherwise you'll widen the hole and then you have another problem in your hands.

If for whatever reason, you happen to widen the screwhole because of using my method or any other method you've heard of, simply put some wood filler in the hole and let it sit for 2-3 days and then reinstall the screw. I had a problem with a strap button on a strat that wouldn't want to stay tight, so I refilled the hole and let it sit for a couple of days and now that button is solid as a rock.

Tighten the neck with a screwdriver and don go crazy tightening it too much. Remember that you're just tightening a piece of wood to another.

Guitars often have those problems because they're made out of wood and depending on the temperature, the wood can contract or expand.

Jimmy

[Silver Sable]

if you have a slightly larger hole but not enough to bother filling with wood filler you can also wrap your screw in plumber's tape which will help give you just enough extra mass to really get it in there. Worked wonders when installing strap locks.

[Alexeh]

Thanks again for the opinions guys! :-)

Sometimes the screw does twist, so I'm just gonna try that until it falls out and if it doesn't I'll use the pliers counterclockwise.

Does anyone know how big the screws are from the bar retainer? Might need to buy the entire part if it's unsure..

Cheers