Stuck screws on a Carter

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 8 Jan 2013 4:52 am

I picked up a very nice Carter D-10 from Bill Terry last month. I have it dialed in just about where I want it, but I've hit a snag with pedal travel. The pedal stops are set screws that take a 5/64 hex wrench at the adjusting end (not the torx type screw that is used on the bellcranks). All of these are too tight to budge with a standard Allen wrench; I may already have stripped the first pedal by trying. I have a hex driver set on order, but would love to get these things moving in the meantime. And, given how stiff they are, I'm not entirely confident the driver will be able to budge them anyway.

Any thoughts on loosening these up? A little WD-40 or liquid wrench (although the hole they sit in might be too tiny to get any substance in there)? I know these are anathema to the underside of a steel, but so are pedals whose travel can't be adjusted.

Dan

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 8 Jan 2013 6:19 am

Dan, are those screws held fast with a lock nut? If not, they are held fast by other means to avoid unwanted turning. This is sometimes achieved by the builder using something akin to loctite. The red kind which locks up a screw completely, or the blue kind which makes the threads gummy enough for the screw to stay put.
With a little tlc, the screw will break loose. Making sure you have the right size allen key that is bottoming out in the hole, and working the screw gently back and forth usually does the trick.

Maybe a Carter expert will tune in and be able to give you a more definite answer.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 8 Jan 2013 7:34 am

Sometimes they will let loose with some heat.
Try holding the tip of a soldering iron to them for a while before trying to turn them.

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 8 Jan 2013 8:09 am

If you happen to have a little piece of brass and a hammer,,just give them a little tap and they should start...The heat should help too....Carson

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 8 Jan 2013 8:38 am

There's no lock nut. I remember them being tight, but not impossible. I think they tapped for unplated screws, then used plated ones in there.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 8 Jan 2013 11:45 am

Just don't use a ball-end driver. You break the ball off,,,,,,, I'd try some good penetrating oil, or JB Break Free. Then heat. Too bad you can't heat the part the allen screw is threaded into. Old plumber trick. If you have to get a pipe out of a fitting, hand a wet cold rag on the pipe, and heat the fitting, not the pipe. As the heat causes the fitting to expand slightly, the cold wet rag keeps the pipe from expanding. Voila! Easy pipe removal.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 Jan 2013 12:05 pm

On my Carter, they just took some kind of a punch and took a hammer or something and put a dimple in the aluminum bar that the set screws go into at the spot where the hole is drilled through. This compresses the wall of the threaded hole to give a gripping action on the set screw. No loctite. They are tight, but I have been able to adjust the screws on my guitar. I use a hex wrench but used the shorter end in the hole so I have more of the wrench for leverage. Not saying the previous owner didn't use loctite.

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 8 Jan 2013 12:27 pm

I doubt any previous owners used locktite (although that was the case on a Dekley I refurbed last year); I think they just haven't been moved in a long time. Fortunately there's nothing unplayable about it.

Don Brown, Sr. · Post by **Don Brown, Sr.** » 8 Jan 2013 12:37 pm

As Richard Said,

They have a punched in dimple to prevent them from self turning.

The trick is, to take a Hair Dryer, and place a funnel over the end, in order to concentrate the heat on the Aluminum right over the dimple. The aluminum will then expand (before the pedal adjusting screw does) making it easier to turn.

After the aluminum cools back down, it will once again retain the tension on the pedal adjusting screw.

Hope that helps.......... Don

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 8 Jan 2013 12:40 pm

Thanks, Don. I'm going to give that a shot.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 8 Jan 2013 3:23 pm

Pretty much the "old plumber's trick." Course we used a torch for that stuff. Would a soldering iron on the dimple work? Or would that scar/scorch the aluminum?
Edited to add; I'd put the hex driver, even with the handle attached, in the screw. Heat sink effect and all that. It may keep the screw cooler. Cooler means it won't expand much, when the aluminum does. Me? I think I'd even add the cold wet rag to the hex driver. The cooler the screw stays, the better.