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Screw-in buttons may be metal or plastic, which are equally strong.
Metal buttons won't deteriorate with age, so that's what I use. It try to match the
plating of the tuners.
By far the most popular location for a strap button is in the treble side heel of
the neck, down where the player doesn't see it, in what Richard Hoover calls the
"passenger side" of the neck. Here, the strap draws perpendicular to the
button and it's very secure indeed.
When I screw a button in this location, I use a thin leather washer underneath to
cushion it against the finish. We don't want to blister or chip the finish. For instruments
made with a conventional dovetail joint, the location of the button doesn't matter
much except for the visual appeal.
Taylor guitars have bolted necks and the company provides a
measurement so the strap button screw won't hit a bolt or crack the heel:
Very thoughtful and typical of Taylor, who likes to nail down all the details.
Other makers bolt their necks, and sometimes it's easy to see inside the body where
the bolts come through the neck block. If I'm unsure of the bolt location, I'll get
out my super-strong rare earth magnet and stick it right on the heel. It's a snap
to locate the bolts this way:
Now I can drill a pilot hole midway between the two bolts for my strap button screw.
Jazz guitars and others with flat heels make the choice pretty obvious:
You can place the strap button in the bass side of the guitar next to the neck, screwing
through the side and into the thick neck block.
You really don't want to miss that block! A thin guitar side is not able to support
a strap button under load.
Just like drilling into a plaster wall, you want to hit a stud. It's easy to find
the neck block by tapping gently on the side. The tone difference is striking when
you tap over the solid block:
Some guitars, such as Taylor and Santa Cruz, have such narrow neck blocks that it's
nearly impossible to place a strap button there.
What if you want a strap button in the side and can't hit (or you drill and miss)
the neck block. Just glue a 1/4" thick wood reinforcement block inside to hold
the screw and all will be fine. Make the block large enough, say an inch wide by
two inches high to carry the load. Taper the edges nicely and it'll pass inspection
if someone looks way up inside there.
I've noticed that some of the Montana-made Gibson flat top guitars have that sort
of reinforcement already built in. Nice idea.
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