Broken screw

[jezzaboy]

I recently bought a badass bridge and whilst fitting it to my Jazz the top of the screw sheared off. It was fault, I maybe tightened it too much whilst fitting. I have looked at various YT vids but has anyone got any experience of removing said screw? It has broken flush with the body so I can`t get a grip.

I`m guessing it will need to be plugged after removing but any advice is appreciated.

Edited Saturday at 13:03 by jezzaboy

[snorkie635]

Type 'damaged screw extractor' into Amazon (other Googles are available) and there's a range of tools for this very job. Best of luck.

[Aidan63]

or you could use a plug cutter to cut the wood around the screw and then dowel the hole once you have broken off the plug with the screw still inside, cheap set about £12, smallest diameter 6mm can cut something like 25-30mm deep

Last weeks twoodford yt video showed him using a home made plug cutter to extract a headless 3" screw from a previously 'repaired' guitar neck joint

[JPJ]

You ‘could’ try burning it out with a soldering iron, but bear in mind you will still need to drill out the wood and fit a dowel. I had this happen to me once and I drilled a parallel hole up against the screw then pushed it over into the new hole with a punch, then redrilled a bigger hole and fitted a plug. BUT you need a drill press to drill the plug hole otherwise the drill bit wanders about. 
Having said all of that, a plug cutter is probably the safest and easiest answer.

[Reggaebass]

Hi jezza, Could you open up some of the wood around the broken bit with a small screwdriver enough to maybe get some long nose pliers on it to unscrew 

[PaulThePlug]

Any engineering type workshops near you, Classic Car enthusiast down the pub? Center Pop Drill then maybe a reverse bit in a pillar drill?

 

Or just go with the remaining 4...

Edited Sunday at 10:23 by PaulThePlug

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, Aidan63 said:

or you could use a plug cutter to cut the wood around the screw and then dowel the hole once you have broken off the plug with the screw still inside, cheap set about £12, smallest diameter 6mm can cut something like 25-30mm deep

Last weeks twoodford yt video showed him using a home made plug cutter to extract a headless 3" screw from a previously 'repaired' guitar neck joint

 

I repaired sheared off neck screws on my 1976 Epiphone acoustic this way. An inexpensive set of plug cutters included one suitable to remove the screw and one that produced a mahogany plug that was a tight fit.

[jezzaboy]

7 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Hi jezza, Could you open up some of the wood around the broken bit with a small screwdriver enough to maybe get some long nose pliers on it to unscrew 

Don`t know as it`s in pretty tight. When I was putting the screws in they were a tighter fit than the ones that came out of the original bridge. Ever wish you should just have left the original one on? 

[jezzaboy]

10 hours ago, Aidan63 said:

or you could use a plug cutter to cut the wood around the screw and then dowel the hole once you have broken off the plug with the screw still inside, cheap set about £12, smallest diameter 6mm can cut something like 25-30mm deep

Last weeks twoodford yt video showed him using a home made plug cutter to extract a headless 3" screw from a previously 'repaired' guitar neck joint

@Aidan63 I have bought a set of these and they look like they will do the job. Fingers crossed!

[PaulThePlug]

Candle Wax or Hard Soap on the threads for lube...

[stevel]

Personally I'd ignore the broken one (ie leave it where it is) and just use the other 4 screws - I doubt it'll make a lot of difference. 

[Count Bassy]

On 10/05/2025 at 14:06, snorkie635 said:

Type 'damaged screw extractor' into Amazon (other Googles are available) and there's a range of tools for this very job. Best of luck.

However, use with care. These things are very hard and can snap quite easily the smaller ones. If it snaps off in the screw then you have a pice of hard steel down the hole that will not drill out!

Try is in conjuction with some heat from a soldering iron.