How to remove stuck tine?

[JanustheManus]

Hello all,

I just cut a tine for the second lowest c on my 1977 73 (and managed to get the tuning spring on there {double ugh}) but I am not able to get the original tine separated from the tone bar. I put all of my force into my 5/16 nut driver and no luck, no budge. What would be a good method of separation?

Thanks!

[sean]

Put on black pants, black long-sleeved shirt, and a black woolen cap.  Put the tine and tonebar into your pocket.

Go to Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight, or Ace Hardware.    Sneak into the hand tools section, and grab a socket wrench set.  Casually bring it over to the section of tools where they have a vise for sale, with one set up as a display model.  Admire the vise, pretending to consider its purchase.  (If they don't have a vise set up, go to the plumbing aisle, where they might have a vise set up for cutting pipe.) 

Casually mount the tine block into the vise.   Look over your shoulder to make sure the coast is clear.  Remove the socket wrench set from the package.  Carefully mount a 5/16" socket onto a wrench (if the kit has a six-point socket, use that).  Put the socket onto the screw, and pull.  Lefty loosey.

If it doesn't pop free, go to the aisle where they keep the propane torches and welding equipment....

[sean]

Put on white dress shirt, polyester tie, pleated khaki pants, and brown dress shoes.  Get a clipboard, and a large paperback book.  Put the tine and tonebar into your pocket.

Go to the part of town where the houses have white picket fences, large shade trees, and two-car garages.  Start ringing doorbells until someone answers the door.  Before they speak, say "Do you have a wrench?  Can you help me?"  Explain that you can't loosen a screw.   Within the first twenty houses, you will find an older grey-haired man that will act disgusted and caring at the same time.  He will walk you out to the garage, and show you all his tools.  He will loosen the tine mounting screw.

[sean]

Go to Jiffy Lube, a local gas station, or a pawn shop.  Offer them a dollar to loosen the tine mounting screw without damaging the screw head and the tonebar.  Don't trust your tonebar with anybody under the age of 29. 

[Alan Lenhoff]

Sean, I'm LOL.  Too funny.

But what's not funny is how there used to be three old-fashioned hardware stores within a mile of my house. Each of them always had a guy at the service counter who would handle something like this instantly, free and with a smile. And they always had just the missing screw, bolt or nut I needed. (I was so grateful that I'd buy stuff from them I didn't need just to show my appreciation.)  They're all gone today. I hate the big box hardware stores, where you can't get any help, the goods are of throwaway quality, and you have to buy a box of 100 screws to replace the one you're missing.

I now happily drive 15 miles roundtrip to shop at one of the remaining old-style hardware stores in my area, where they always seem to have what I need -- or can help me find a clever solution to a sticky problem.

(We now return you to helpful comments on the OP's problem...)

Alan

[Tim Hodges]

Bench vice and a t-handle drive will do the job.

This worked a treat on a ridiculously tight tonebar which wouldn't budge for anything.

[pnoboy]

I had success with holding the block at the rear of the tine in a vise, and then putting torque in the same direction on both the screw and the tone bar at the same time.  Although it's not stock, a socket-head cap screw is much better for securing the tine to the tone bar than the hex-head screws that Fender used. 

[JanustheManus]

Thank you everyone! Sean you gave me a real laugh 

[Ben Bove]

Hysterical.

If the screw head strips off, or if you don't have a vise handy, a decently long adjustable wrench can be fit over the tine block (because it's square), and a big pair of crescent tongue and groove pliers to grip onto the tonebar (with a towel etc. to prevent marring the finish).  You basically twist the tine block and tonebar against each other to loosen the screw.

[Ghost Horses]

Hysterical.

If the screw head strips off, or if you don't have a vise handy, a decently long adjustable wrench can be fit over the tine block (because it's square), and a big pair of crescent tongue and groove pliers to grip onto the tonebar (with a towel etc. to prevent marring the finish).  You basically twist the tine block and tonebar against each other to loosen the screw.

This is exactly what I have been doing and it works really well! A cloth over the tine block is critical.