I have a few screws loose..

[Mr.Grumpy]

I haven't been playing my fake red EVH S-U-B guitar for a few months because the tuning has been unstable. I chalked it up to worn out strings, so I finally got around to changing them last night. As I was changing them, I noticed the high E is just about lined up with the edge of the neck...WTF? I pull on the neck sideways and it's loose as hell...double WTF? OH, my neck screws are loose!! Cr@p!

 

I tuned my strings down until they were slack, and then removed all the neck screws (mine has 5). I thought maybe the body was cracked, but it isn't. One screw hole in the neck was stripped out, and the rest were loose. I did the ol' toothpick trick on that one. Lined the neck back up, and re-tightened the screws. Went back to changing the rest of my strings. Hey, it works! Guitar stays in tune and plays normally. We have a gig Friday night and this is my go-to guitar because it's light, cheap and plays decently, when it's not falling apart, that is.

 

I've never had this problem with any other bolt-neck guitar, it never occurred to me to even check. It was almost by chance that I discovered it. I wonder if my S-U-B is a genuine or a particularly shoddy Chinese knock-off. The body wood is just so SOFT. I'm expecting the trem spring claw to just pull itself out someday. I can dent this wood with my fingernail.

[mrbrown49]

Alot of the SUB guitars are made of jabon, which is slightly harder than basswood. So yeah, pretty soft stuff. That said, I've had basswood guitars and have had no issues of screw retention.

 

The neck screws don't engage the body anyway, they just pass through so it shouldn't cause an issue there anyway.

[DeepEnd]

Sorry to hear about your guitar but I'm glad you found the issue and that it was a fairly simple fix. Given the price point, $300 new if I'm thinking of the right guitar, I doubt anyone would go to the trouble to fake your guitar. It's probably just a case of particularly soft wood.

[Freeman Keller]

 

I've never had this problem with any other bolt-neck guitar, it never occurred to me to even check. It was almost by chance that I discovered it. I wonder if my S-U-B is a genuine or a particularly shoddy Chinese knock-off. The body wood is just so SOFT. I'm expecting the trem spring claw to just pull itself out someday. I can dent this wood with my fingernail.

 

Its one of the first things I always check. As MrBrown points out the screws do not actually thread into the body (at least they shouldn't, there should be clearance) all of the thread engagement is into the neck. As long as you have a plate or washers under the screw heads they shouldn't be pulled into the body wood.

 

Basswood, if that is what your guitar is made out of is lightweight, cheap and really soft. Ibanez used it on a couple of models - I think they coated it with epoxy to make it more durable.

[WRGKMC]

I check my Bolt on necks every so often. You can have the wood expand and contract differently then the metal screws and the wood shrinks as it ages and looses moisture. Typically they settle down eventually and stop doing it on their own.

 

You can also have then loosen up from bumps and dings. carrying them in a case can shift the neck allot too, especially if the case isn't a good fit and the guitar moves allot. I've wound up at many a gig with half the strings sharp and the other half flat which is an indication of neck shift.

 

I eventually got tired of dealing with it and I'd take a single drop of crazy glue and dab it in the center between all 4 screws. Its enough to prevent neck shift but can still be easily be easily removed when the screws are out and giving it a light tap to crack the bond.

 

I've seen double sided tape, light sandpaper and beach sand mixed with paint or glue applied to the pocket to increase the friction so the beck wont move too.

 

I have one guitar where decided to simply glue it in. This was more for increasing sustain and getting a warmer tone then a tuning issue. The screws simply acted as clamps which were left in place. It sure fixed the neck shift issue permanently too. Tone was warmer and the thicker neck maintains its tuning extremely well.

 

Its obvious when you pick it up how solid it feels. I wasn't concerned about neck replacement or re-fretting on this one. . Its got stainless steel frets which will outlive me. The neck could be removed simply driving a thin wedge between the body and neck, but there really wouldn't be a need too. You could simply re-fret it like any other set neck

 

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