[Sonicreducer]

I know it's no Gretsch, but I've got a '68 Guild Starfire V, and the Dunlop Straploks won't fit through the original end pin hole. Any suggestions or known straplocks that would fit?

[jbcallender]

Drill, baby, drill

[Lizardkinged]

^^^ what he said. remove the bigsby first. dont wanna bore into your body.

[GADify]

I've owned many Guilds, and love them all.

What I did to solve this problem was to go buy a piece of dowel of about the same size as the hole in the Guildsby. I drilled a hole in the middle, cut off about about a 1/8" thick slice, then carefully sanded it so that it fit into the hole. then I simply installed the straplock on top of that. The small slice of dowel compressed into the hole and provided support for the bottom of the straplock peg. I might have pics somewhere, but it will take me a while to find them if I do.

If that's confusing, I used a slice of dowel to fill the tapered hole in the Guildsby so that the straplock peg would sit flush when screwed in.

[Sonicreducer]

Thanks GAD! At the Guild forum they suggested Grolsch rubber rings, but that wasn't practical for me when I already have a nice strap with locks on it, and tend to play more than one guitar per set. Do you glue the dowel in, or worry about it popping out and pulling the screw out of the body?

[Lizardkinged]

Honestly I dont know how people do it without more than 1 strap. Never had a problem owning a few different ones.

[GADify]

Originally Posted by Sonicreducer

Thanks GAD! At the Guild forum they suggested Grolsch rubber rings, but that wasn't practical for me when I already have a nice strap with locks on it, and tend to play more than one guitar per set. Do you glue the dowel in, or worry about it popping out and pulling the screw out of the body?

I don't glue it. No need to IMO. The pressure from the strap peg holds it in, and if you sand it well enough, it will never move. You can't even see it once it's done because the peg covers it almost perfectly. That screw goes in a good inch and a half - it's not going anywhere. I've done this on three Guilds now over the course of five years and I've never had an issue. Sure, the screw might walk over the next decade, but that would be true with or without my mod. And my mod is totally reversible.

[LittleRedRooster]

Didn't have this problem with the Guildsby on my 66' Starfire V. I wonder if they changed the design of the end pin hole.

[Sonicreducer]

Hm. I guess they did more than join the neck at the 18th fret between '66 and '68. One more thing GAD, did you use the original endpin screws or the ones that came with your straplocks?

[GADify]

Originally Posted by Sonicreducer

Hm. I guess they did more than join the neck at the 18th fret between '66 and '68. One more thing GAD, did you use the original endpin screws or the ones that came with your straplocks?

I drilled for the larger replacement screw. Nothing gets your heart pounding like taking a drill you a beautiful vintage guitar!