Official Luthiers Forum!

I really like drilling these before finish. But hate cleaning them out. (I prefer not to put a finished peghead on the drill press). Open to thoughts on this... but I’ve wondered about putting something like clay in the holes. Anybody have other ideas?

Those foam earplugs that you can buy in hardware stores - they fit that size hole really well. Back when we all used to fly places some airlines would hand them out to help you sleep. I would grab a handful to use for this purpose.

The foam earplugs work and then any finish on the corner of the hole can be removed by hand, gently, with a tapered reamer.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The foam earplugs are a good idea, but what I've done for years is use a sharp Exacto knife in a slow, slicing motion.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's what I've always done too, but to be honest it's because I hadn't thought about the foam ear plugs. Great idea. And I've had a big box of them in my shop for years that I haven't used since getting custom fit plugs for motorcycle riding (that work great in the shop too)...

Dave

I tried once to drill afterwards and while it did make finishing a lot easier it ended up needing touch up after drilling anyway so I will never do that again. I just use a reamer and clean the holes out, no biggie.

Before I heard about the earplug trick I used masking tape (green 3M 233+). Just tear off an inch or so square then use a pencil or something to push it into the hole and seal the tape around the edge of the hole. Then just trim whatever is sticking out of the hole with an Xacto knife or razor blade. It works but takes a bit of time.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I switched to drilling the holes after applying the finish and final buffing of the finish a while back for a couple reasons. To prevent marring the finish, I put blue painters tape on the back side of the headstock covering the locations where the drill bit will come through and rest the headstock on a piece of sacrificial wood while drilling on the drill press. I then remove the tape and then put tape on the front of the headstock over the holes and ream the holes from the back for Gotoh tuners. I just did this a couple days ago for the current instrument and there was no damage to the finish.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I drill before finishing and do a minor cleanup with a hardware store tapered reamer before installing the tuners. (When I drill, I start with a small diameter pilot hole all the way through. Then, I drill the final diameter halfway through from each side so there is no breakout.)

Warning: Some of the blue tape adhesive is incompatible with Nitro lacquer. It has the ability to soften it and peel it off.

I prefer the opposite.

I got tired of compound buildup and burnthroughs on the tuner holes.

So now I use sharp brads with a protective layer of tape.

Gotohs normally, drill 8 mm with a brad point first from the front, then use a stepped drill bit to open up the back to 10 mm.
Clear out the epoxy pore fill and finish as I go with a Great Planes prop reamer.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I use teflon rod.

_________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Wow! Earplugs. What a great idea! And I can use some of them when riding my hog!

My holes are "stepped" Reamer not a good idea. In the past I would hand twist the stepped bit in the hole to clean out. It's ok, but I still do not like doing it. I also like the idea of gently reaming the corner edges. Thank you!

Anybody try mini-marshmallows ?? You can get a big bag for a couple of bucks !!!
I'm still in Halloween mode, LOL !