Guitar Repair #1- Loose Strap Pin

I decided that I would start writing about guitar repairs and a couple tricks. Most, if not all of these tricks I learned from my guitar teacher Dan. He taught me everything I know about repair and quick fixes.

This first post will discuss the strap pin. I use strap locks and I find that every eight months to a year, they come loose, and have at one point, fallen out. I have had this happen to a couple of my other guitars and I felt I should show how I fix it.

A little dusty

The only things you'll need for this repair will be a toothpick, a pair of scissors, a tissue or a cloth to wipe away saw dust, and a Phillips head screw driver

Here's the excess toothpick

Firstly, unscrew the strap pin completely and wipe away the saw dust. The reason the pin came loose is because the screw has nothing to grip inside the guitar. Because of this, the screw spins inside of the hole, and eventually, falls out.

Bent outta shape

Then put the toothpick inside of the hole and bend the toothpick so that the part sticking out snaps off. The alternative to this would be to use scissors to cut off the excess. In doing this, only the part of the toothpick that's inside the guitar stays, you can discard the rest. The toothpick will now let the screw in the strap pin grab the toothpick and the original hole.

Strap Pin grips the toothpick nicely.

Line the screw back into the guitar body and use the Phillips screwdriver to drill the screw into the guitar. If the strap pin had any felt in-between the screw and the guitar, please make sure to put it back so it doesn't damage the body

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Voilà, your strap pin is now fixed and it only took five or ten minutes. Hope this helped some of you out.

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