Redrilling floyd rose mount holes query

Hullboy

Hi there, 

As per the image attached, the mounting holes on my guitar have been previously drilled incorrectly. They are out of alignment with one another and too far away from the nut. They need to be centred and drilled closer towards the bridge pickup to allow clearance for the floyd rose and ensure the correct distance between the nut and bridge. 

I've read that the procedure is to drill out the holes larger, plug a dowel and then re drill new holes. The part i'm confused about is why i need to drill out a larger hole to fit the dowel. Can i not simply fit a 10mm dowel into the existing holes and then re drill a new hole in the correct position? I've got little clearance at the south side of the existing hole and I worry that if i drill a larger hole, say 12mm for example, i'll risk drilling out the edge of the cavity. 

Funkfingers

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WezV

You usually drill larger to ensure a good clean join with the new wood.

 Since the holes look pretty clean you may get away with redrilling to 10mm and cutting a 10mm plug to match (buy a 10mm straight plug cutter, not tapered). If it is loose, a drop or two of water in the hole should swell any compressed wood

You want plugs, not dowels.   They are different things.  The grain goes the length of a dowel, across on a plug, which will match the body wood better and be easier to drill.

Hullboy

WezV said:

You usually drill larger to ensure a good clean join with the new wood.

 Since the holes look pretty clean you may get away with redrilling to 10mm and cutting a 10mm plug to match (buy a 10mm straight plug cutter, not tapered). If it is loose, a drop or two of water in the hole should swell any compressed wood

You want plugs, not dowels.   They are different things.  The grain goes the length of a dowel, across on a plug, which will match the body wood better and be easier to drill.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, you’re correct, the holes look pretty clean to me bar a few impressions inside caused previously by the grooves in the floyd rose posts. 

The holes do measure 10mm as it stands, so when you say to re drill to 10mm, do you mean to ensure a smooth surface inside the hole, as in remove the impressions caused previously by the floyd rose posts as I just mentioned? I can’t help but think me redrilling the holes, even with a 10mm drill bit, may open up the holes slightly and therefore 10mm plugs may then be too small. 

I’m tempted to make some 10mm plugs and just plug the existing holes since the inside of the holes look pretty smooth already. 

Thoughts?

andy_k

The notoriously weak point with FR posts, is the space between them and the pickup rout, I would be wary of moving any holes closer to the pickup.
If you go down the dowel and re-drill route, you should make sure that the dowels are very well fitted, and then that the new holes are drilled accurately.
I prefer to use the old style posts on a FR, ie, the woodscrew type, rather than the bushes, as if they are done during a fresh install there is less wood removed.
I have also used epoxy on the bushes of a Kramer 1984, rather than try to improve the original holes, it worked for me.
YMMV.

Hirajosji

Hullboy said:

WezV said:

You usually drill larger to ensure a good clean join with the new wood.

 Since the holes look pretty clean you may get away with redrilling to 10mm and cutting a 10mm plug to match (buy a 10mm straight plug cutter, not tapered). If it is loose, a drop or two of water in the hole should swell any compressed wood

You want plugs, not dowels.   They are different things.  The grain goes the length of a dowel, across on a plug, which will match the body wood better and be easier to drill.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, you’re correct, the holes look pretty clean to me bar a few impressions inside caused previously by the grooves in the floyd rose posts. 

The holes do measure 10mm as it stands, so when you say to re drill to 10mm, do you mean to ensure a smooth surface inside the hole, as in remove the impressions caused previously by the floyd rose posts as I just mentioned? I can’t help but think me redrilling the holes, even with a 10mm drill bit, may open up the holes slightly and therefore 10mm plugs may then be too small. 

I’m tempted to make some 10mm plugs and just plug the existing holes since the inside of the holes look pretty smooth already. 

Thoughts?

Check dm please

Funkfingers

Think of any grooves pressed into the walls of the 10mm holes by the metal inserts as somewhere for the glue to go when the empty holes are plugged.

ICBM

I would see whether there’s enough room to lengthen the neck pocket slightly instead - that will effectively move the bridge closer to the neck. It’s going to be easier to do a clean and strong job of that than trying to move the post holes.

You may also be able to correct the alignment slightly as well by shaving a bit off one side of the pocket or shimming the other one. You can usually go 2-3mm before you need to enlarge the screw holes in the body, they will usually force their way into the old holes in the neck if it’s only about that much movement.

Gizmo

You'll also need to remove some of the front of the route incase you need to allow the saddles to intonate over the front of the floyd plate.

I've done this on a few guitars and the main issue you can run into it that there is just not enough of the plug left filling the hole once you redrill si it gets ripped away with the re-drilling,it's better if you can use a smaller drill at the center then use a router and template to remove the rest upto the 10mm.

the other thing ive used to help with this problem is a stud plate like this

they help take some of the stress off the wood around the inserts, only issue is you need to take the shelf down a few extra mm so you can get the floyds plate low enough into the route to get a good action.