Sunburst Strat Project (part 2)

First job was to strip the guitar down completely. All you really need to strip down a strat is a Phillips screwdriver. Apart from the 3 nuts securing the volume and tone controls and a couple of solder joints, the entire guitar is held together with Phillips screws. After only a few minutes the job is done...

...or so I thought. I forgot about the machine head ferrules. Hmmm, no problem I thought, I'll just slip a flathead screwdriver under the rim and just ease them out.


It was only later that I discovered they were not made of metal but thin shiny plastic and split incredibly easily...

After this disaster I used a drill bit with a similar diameter to the hole to tap out the ferrules, thus applying equal pressure around the edges and preventing splitting. These machine heads are the weakest point in the whole guitar and let down what is otherwise a fairly decent instrument.

So if you're removing ferrules from a squier I suggest you...

A) First gently work round the top of the ferrule with a screwdriver to loosen the ferrule.
B) Apply equal pressure from behind with a round piece of metal of similar size as the ferrule and tap it out.