I just made a hole in my guitar… to install the strap pin. And I love it!
Well, first of all, drilling was a conscious decision :). I got myself a simple classical Salvador Cortez CC-10 guitar, but like many “pure classical” guitars it does not have a strap pin. I ask for some forgiveness here, as I am definitely not a classical guitar player, but I do like the sound of the nylon strings and in this case I was looking for something I can easily take along to vacations, etc without holding my breath every time I put it in the trunk of the car. So no wooden top (full laminate), low price (actually I’ve got it second hand), etc.
So here we go, when packing for vacation I saw the strap in my “takeaway” box, but realized I can’t use it on the Cortez. So while being away I have ordered the nice looking, golden elliptical pins by D’Addario (see Thomann, a the moment of writing they only have chromed ones or MusicStore for golden ones), which nicely matched (except being nice and shiny :)) the original golden hardware on the guitar.
So there we go, the strap pins are in. Drilling time!
Prep and drill
So first I tried to match the drilling bit to the provided screws. I took the one of 3 mm (1/8 inch), which looked reasonable, but before making a hole in the actual instrument it is always good to make a test drill :).
So now it was time to prepare the actual guitar. I have to say I did some homework before. I borrowed a small mirror from my daughter (she was intrigued to say the least :)) and used it in combination with the phone camera and flashlight to inspect the inners of the guitar.
Tip: set camera to video mode and force having flash light on so the light can get reflected from the mirror and highlight the inners fo teh guitar 🙂
Since I am lazy, I apparently preferred to drop the mirror into the guitar three times instead of losing the strings a bit and getting there with the phone alone. Anyway, it was done after some swearing and rumbling of the mirror in the guitar’s body (glad I didn’t do this on an expensive instrument). All that effort was needed to ensure there is actually something to drill into and to put the screw in. Cortez has a small block of wood at the bottom, so if you drill in the middle you will get right in there.
So knowing I will drill into the wood, not just the cavity :), I put some marking tape and marked the place for drilling.
Tip: always use marking tape to have a nice hole without chips)
Phew, and now the drilling itself. Make sure it does not go too far (well, there is not much to go into) and… just a couple of seconds.
The resulting hole… (ok, a bit off-center, but good enough for the first attempt :)).
Then screw the pin in!
So now I can put a strap and use the guitar while standing, moving, etc. I deliberately put only one pin – most straps come with a cord which can be put around the neck of the guitar just behind the nut under the strings. Otherwise the second pin can go to the neck “shoe”, but I found that to be too much. By the way, sometimes to prefer to have the strap on (mostly on electrical guitars) to make sure it won’t fall while I am reaching to my computer/amp/pedals, etc even when sitting.
Time to play!
