The strap button screw on the base of my Strat keeps loosening. I am using Schaller strap locks. I was able to tighten it up and get two or three sessions out of it, now it lasts about half an hour and is loose again. I considered getting a longer screw, but am worried that I won't be able to match the unique screw head shape where it mates with the machined face of the strap button. Am I over-thinking this? My other thought would be a thread-lock adhesive. Any suggestions?

Finally, how is this going to affect my tone

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“All music is folk music, I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.” Louis Armstrong

Sounds like you've stripped the wood where the screw goes in, but this is easy to fix. Pull out the screw and push some toothpicks or wooden matchsticks into the hole and secure them with some wood glue or even white glue. Once it sets up (after about a day), just reinsert the screw. You can drill a little pilot hole to get it started. I cannot imagine this would harm your tone in any way.

Good luck!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

I used the toothpick fix on a old Les Paul copy about a decade ago (wow...has it been that long?), and it's still strong. Pack the hole with the toothpicks or matches then re-install the the button. Dont leave an room for the screw. I never thought about filling the hole with wood glue as well. Seems like a good idea.

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As long as you use alder or ash your tone should be fine.

Thanks for the responses. The screw is not entirely stripped, I can still snug it up, so I was hoping to avoid drilling, toothpicks, dowels, etc. Plus, where can I find alder toothpicks?

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“All music is folk music, I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.” Louis Armstrong

Use the cinnamon-flavored toothpicks. They'll give your tone some spice.

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Alder toothpicks are usually right next to the blinker fluid. You might try mint toothpicks for a good clean sound.

One other option would be to swap out your OEM strap button for a Dunlop Straplock. For $15.00 you get one of the most secure locking system, retain the ability to use straps that are not equipped with a Straplock due to it's Dual Purpose design and the screws are almost twice as long as Fender OEM/Schaller Strap Lock. Then you can fling your axe around like Yngwei!

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"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

I know for a fact because I read it on an internet site (so guaranteed, it's true) that if one uses mint toothpicks with a mint green pickguard, there is something in the green dye which overrides all other tone shaping factors. What happens is, not only is the player's sound good and clean but said player will automatically have a good and clean picking/fingering technique as well. Furthermore, this is the real meaning of a guitar being in, "mint condition", regardless of what many have been lead to believe in the past.

There is a 'catch' to all of this though: One must put at least one mint toothpick into the uppermost left screw hole and one in either of the bottommost screw holes of the mint green pickguard. What this does is it will ground by way of the shortest distance/path through the body's wood, the strap button screws' mint toothpicks to these of the mint pickguard, thereby linking these appliances forevermore. Without these essential installations, the guitar and the player will sound and play identically as before just as if no toothpicks were ever used. Of course, no one in their right mind would ever want to defeat such a purpose!

One more thing (same internet article): The overall speed and audible resonance of one's playing and the guitar itself can be unilaterally slowed down (if required) by installing a tortoise back plate. The best part here is, no screw hole grounding is necessary.

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The screw hole has just been stripped no big deal.
A longer screw will only help for a little while, the damage is done.

Several fixes some easier than others:

Fill the hole with wood filler and re-drill, rock on.
Put white household glue on the screw threads, screw it in, let it dry, rock on.
Relocate the strap button a bit lower, rock on.

DON'T hammer on your strap so much and you won't tear the screw out.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

And finally, Dude how will this affect your TONE?! Are you kidding?!
Alder tooth picks . . . . are you kidding?!

Lord I hope so.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

On a guitar where the damage was bad enough the toothpick method would not hold I once went to fairly extreme measures but it worked so well that it affected all my future strap lock installations. I couldn't find a longer screw that would fit in the hole so I redrilled the Schaller button so it would accept a #6 wood screw. Then I took a 2½" long #6 wood screw and used the fine stone on the bench grinder to gently decrease the diameter of the screw head so it would fit inside the button. Used a 5/64" pilot hole to prevent the screw from splitting the body wood. That button has never loosened off since, after about 7 or 8 years. Now I always use longer screws. It was a little work to find a supplier of screws but the effort was worth it.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

...

Make that a big +2.

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