Pickup ring screw hole stripped help.

[Fret-Shredder]

Anyone have a remedy for when the tiny screw hole for the pickup ring gets stripped out? Thanks in advance.

[toejam]

Fill it with wood glue and a piece of toothpick, put screw back in.

[Fret-Shredder]

Put screw back in after glue dries? Thanks

[toejam]

Before or after. Doesn't matter too much, just the screw needs to catch into the toothpick wood.

[Fret-Shredder]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it.

[Number Of The Priest]

I've performed this repair a few times on several used guitars I've purchased within the past year. I wanted to install strap pins but the existing holes were stripped or too wide, so the strap pins weren't correctly biting the wood.

Toejam's method is classic. Matchsticks are also another alternative to toothpicks, but in my situation I used toothpicks. I don't have wood glue, but I found that normal white glue worked fine for me, and my strap pins hold securely.

1) I filled the hole with as much white glue as possible, using a toothpick to "ram" the glue into the hole as far down as possible.

2) I jammed in as many toothpick pieces as possible around the perimeter of the hole, leaving a small center "pilot hole" for the screw that would later go there. I have those toothpicks that are narrow at one end and broad on the other, so I alternated the orientation (50% narrow pieces, 50% broad pieces) so that there would be a more complimentary fit of pieces within the hole.

3) I trimmed any excess wood sticking up above the surface of the guitar body to an approximate degree with a hobby knife (the action resembled shaving). It didn't need to get a super close shave since the screw would cover (and partially flatten) any tiny protruding excess.

4) I wiped away excess glue that spilled out of the hole from the jammed-in toothpick pieces.

5) I let everything sit 24h. Probably excessive, but I don't mind waiting.

6) I inserted the screw, which now had plenty of wood on which to "bite".

['84RR]

matchsticks are a bad idea as the wood is very soft

another idea is to buy the smallest dowel you can find that works, drill out the hole with the same sized drill bit and plug it with the dowel, then of course drill a pilot hole of appropriate size for the screw and reinstall the screw

one can also just simply find the same diameter screw in a longer version