Axe Care: Avoid Rusty Screws

There are times when you simply hate it.  You want to remove your guitar’s backplate or some other part but you can’t because rust has eroded a screw or two — or more — and your screwdriver doesn’t have anything to latch on to.  You don’t want this to happen to your priceless guitar, do you?

Here’s a tip.  Head off to your nearest aluminum and glass shop and bring a sample screw along with you.  If your guitar uses more than one size, then bring one of each.  Go ask if they sell aluminum screws — which is very likely owing to the nature of their business — make sure you ask for a screw that has the same diameter and thread.  Buy more than enough for spare, just in case you might need more.  If you’re lucky, then you’ll go home with the right screws.  The screws are likely to be wood screws because they are often used to bind aluminum screen frames to wood; besides, if you end up with metal screws, you can use those for wood, but not the other way around.

The ones I got are round-head screws, which match the ones on my guitars.  It’s up to you if you prefer Phillips over slotted, but I guess it won’t really matter as long as you have the right sized screwdriver and you’re well aware that you’re not tightening screws or bolts of a motor engine or some metal or concrete installation that requires brute force.  Common sense will tell you that overtightening your guitar’s screws can damage the wood and you’ll end up ripping out your screw instead.

Remove your original, shiny screws and replace them with the aluminum ones that you just bought.  Now, if and when you ever decide to sell your guitar, put the original screws back to give your guitar a little more resale value.  Oh, and don’t replace those four large screws that hold your neck in place with aluminum ones.  I won’t even replace the ones that hold the tuning pegs because I believe the original ones do a better job of securing the pegs in place.  Obviously, the screws that usually catch your sweat are the ones that rust pretty quickly, so those are the ones that you’d want to replace.