Drilling Tuner Holes
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:45 am
For drilling the headstock tuner holes, I use the 6 in line tuner jig from Stewart MacDonald. You could use a drill press and some precise measurements to get your holes all lined up, but by drilling through a solid block of steel it really helps to keep everything accurate and neat.
I start by clamping the outer edges of the jig so that the long edge is flush up against the headstock. I also put a clamp on the neck itself to keep the neck resting level while I drill. The jig is clamped to the back side of the headstock, to prevent the wood from tearing out on this side. It will tear out a bit on the front, but that doesn't matter as we'll plane the headstock down a bit later, which will clean it up. If you don't want the wood to tear out so much, you can clamp a flat piece of wood on the headstock face, so that the jig, headstock, and piece of wood are all clamped together. I use a 1/4" brad point bit on the drill press, but you could use a handheld drill if that's all you have. The first two holes I drill are the middle two holes on the headstock.
Once I have those holes drilled all the way through, I place the two metal pins included with the jig through the holes, so that they hold the jig to the headstock. It should be a fairly tight fit, which allows us to remove the clamps. I then drill the remaining holes.
This is what we end up with. Perfectly spaced holes, which we will ream out or counterbore to fit whatever tuners we'll be using.
I start by clamping the outer edges of the jig so that the long edge is flush up against the headstock. I also put a clamp on the neck itself to keep the neck resting level while I drill. The jig is clamped to the back side of the headstock, to prevent the wood from tearing out on this side. It will tear out a bit on the front, but that doesn't matter as we'll plane the headstock down a bit later, which will clean it up. If you don't want the wood to tear out so much, you can clamp a flat piece of wood on the headstock face, so that the jig, headstock, and piece of wood are all clamped together. I use a 1/4" brad point bit on the drill press, but you could use a handheld drill if that's all you have. The first two holes I drill are the middle two holes on the headstock.
Once I have those holes drilled all the way through, I place the two metal pins included with the jig through the holes, so that they hold the jig to the headstock. It should be a fairly tight fit, which allows us to remove the clamps. I then drill the remaining holes.
This is what we end up with. Perfectly spaced holes, which we will ream out or counterbore to fit whatever tuners we'll be using.