Official Luthiers Forum!

A couple of questions about drilling for the tuners:

1) How do you drill, Starting the bit through the faceplate and ending out through the back of the neck, or starting at the back of the neck and drilling out through the faceplate? (Hope that makes sense)

2) Do you drill by just lining up pre-marked spots or do you use guide bushings? (And if you use guide bushings are they in a special jig or do you somehow place them otherwise?) Any photos to help clarify would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Blain...I mark the spots with a scribe or nail punch on the headplate. Clamp a piece of scrap on the back to prevent chipout. Using a brad pointed bit in a drill press, I drill each hole so that it is straight and true. If you use Waverlies or Grovers, Stewmac has a reamer that is perfect for creating the bushing opening...a must have tool. It uses the pre-drilled 1/4" hole as a locater.

Occasionally, I still get chipout so I've been drilling before the headstock is final thicknessed. Sanding the back erases any chipout.

Hope this helps.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Simultaneous post!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Remember, not all tuners use the same size holes! Ask me how I know.

Kurt

I have a headstock drill/shaping jig that uses 1/4"ID bushings. I drill from the front through to the back, with a backup scrap of wood where the drill bit will exit (to reduce/eliminate blowout as the bit exits the back.
Then I ream the tuner holes to size with a 1/4" piloted carbide reamer, half way in from the front, then turned over and finish reamed from the back.
This gives extremely clean tuner holes with virtually no chip out of wood...especially important if you are using press-in shaft bushings, a la Waverly tuners.

I don't have a photo available at this time, but I'll take a couple tomorrow and post them.

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Hank Mauel

Hesh...That reamer and the fret tang nipper are my favorite tools. Also...I think that brad point bits would allow for better alignment and allow you to drill in one pass. The brad locates in the punch hole and drills through straight and true.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I do it the same way Sylvan Wells illustrates on his website.

Works like a champ!

Wow, I go away for just a few minutes and come back to a wealth of information. Thanks to all for the in depth descriptions!

This helps a lot!

I drilled my practice neck made of Pine (mostly because I wanted to check the drill size for my tuners), and as you said Hesh, it was difficult to drill in the correct spot by just trying to eyeball the large bit on the mark. The end result was off enough to notice, which is what prompted this post.

I'll take another practice shot, and after hearing all of your methods I'm confident that they'll help me get it right the next time around.

Thanks again!

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

I drill a pilot hole of 3/32" to mark the 6 sites before finishing the neck. After finish and buffing I drill with Brad point 10mm (or 3/8" depending in tuner size) but only half way through the head stock. Then I flip it over and drill the other side. I find this gives me a clean hole on each side. The pilot hole ensures a dead on connection from each side. reamer adjusts any discrepency in diameter .

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

I drill 3mm (or 2.5mm, whatever drill bit I find first) pilot holes, and open it up fully with a sharp, dedicated 10mm drill bit (only sealed tuners to date), from front to back, with scrap clamped to the back. The small pilot hole helps the brad point track a little better.

I agree with Anthony. I use the Sylvan Wells jig and it is perfect everytime, with little preparation, no measuring, no drawing. Wonderful jig.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Here are some photos promised in earlier post. Hope it helps.



This is the back side of the headstock drill/contour jig showing the rabbet used to guide the jig to shape the headstock.




Here is the jig, ready to be clamped, on the face of the headstock prior to drilling 1/4" pilot holes. Drill bushings are 1/4" diameter. You can see the outline of where the slots will be cut if this were to be a slotted headstock. This way the jig can perform multiple job processes.



Here are a couple of the 1/4" piloted reamers used to finish the hole diameter...Waverly and Grover shown here...and the 1/4" pins used to locate the jig after tuner pilots are drilled, prior to final outline shaping.



Outline of jig on ebony so you can see the relationship. White line is final headstock outline.



This is how the alignment pins would be set prior to the final shaping of the headstock. They push in flush to jig and secure the headstock to the jig quite adequately.



Here is a final shaped headstock, this time a slothead. But the jig is designed to allow for either a paddle or slothead execution. Just imagine six reamed tuner holes instead of the slots.

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Hank Mauel