Aaargh: Orville MIJ pickup screws!?

scarry67 · September 2023

Are they likely to be imperial? They measure 34 mm length and a shade under 3 mm width. Heads are knackered which is why I need new ones. Already had 2 replacement sets which are too “narrow” to fit. Or can I use tin foil or something to get more traction on screw head? Yours frustratedly…

Cirrus · September 2023

Metric I think? They're the same as what Gretsch electromatics use for theirs. Thicker than Gibson.

scarry67 · September 2023

Thanks. Looking at a few eBay ads, it does look like metric screws are thicker. I’ll have to take a punt on some.

Cirrus · September 2023

Wait a bit, I've got some Orville pickups I'm selling. I'll see if I can establish screw size once my kid has gone to bed

scarry67 · September 2023

Good man! These look a possible fit:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255061312593?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SJzMuJrPRTO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=h10kTGmYQsu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Cirrus · September 2023

OK, M3 fits my pair.

BillDL · September 2023

I'm sure you wil be able to get the right screws. Assuming yours are the same as the ones that @Cirrus has, you could test this in advance of buying pickup screws by removing an M3 saddle height grub screw from a non-USA Stratocaster and try that for size. M3 screws normally all have the same standard thread pitch.

There are various non-destructive workarounds that allow you to use smaller diameter screws for pickups.

One is finding a piece of rigid material into which a machine screw will make its own thread, for example the red fibrous material that is used for the cable restraint inside older 3-pin mains plugs or a small piece of quite hard but not rock-hard plastic. "Vulcanised Fibre" is commonly used for P90 Dogear shims and for the bottom plate with the mounting holes on some Strat pickups. Drill a fine hole or use an awl and then start screwing the pickup screw through it to make a thread, then cut around it so you have a threaded "nut" that can be stuck to the underside of the leg in line with the existing larger hole with a dab of superglue and it will work just as well as having the right diameter screws. If you have small nuts that fit the screws, stick them to the underside of the legs.

A more "destructive", but not permanent, method is to coat the smaller diameter screws with oil or vaseline, mix up some of the 2-part epoxy "plastic putty" stuff that dries almost as hard as metal, and mould that around the legs while a screw is through them. The vaseline stops the epoxy from adhering to the screws and if you mould it firmly enough around the screw it will leave the thread imprinted so that it will screw in and out. The cured epoxy can always be chipped off at a later date.

thermionic · September 2023

Being Japanese, they might be JIS rather than Phillips heads?

scarry67 · September 2023

Bill - you sound like a man who knows his way around DIY confidently! Right, I’m off to seek out M3 screws online.

scarry67 · September 2023

Thermionic - whatever they were, they’re now unusable alas. It’s particularly annoying as I only strayed out to replace cracked surrounds…

BillDL · September 2023

scarry67 said:

Bill - you sound like a man who knows his way around DIY confidently! Right, I’m off to seek out M3 screws online.

I've spent most of my life improvising solutions and improvising tools

It's quite annoying all the different sizes of screws used by different manufacturers. Even on modern "metric" pickups you still get variations, for example IronGear humbuckers come with really skinny 2.5mm diameter screws that have quite dinky heads and don't fit any other pickups I've had, and consequently they can move around or rattle because the holes through pickup surrounds are made for a larger diameter screw.

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Aaargh: Orville MIJ pickup screws!?

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