How do I re-seat bridge posts??

It's probably best to pull out the inserts; enlarge the holes somewhat to accept snuggly-fitting wooden dowel segments to fill the holes completely; glue in these dowel plugs with wood glue; let dry completely; redrill the holes to the correct diameter for the bridge post inserts; install the inserts; paint or otherwise conceal any remaining unfinished plug wood; reassemble and play.

I've done this on a Les Paul clone. The most difficult part is correctly redrilling the insert holes. Use a good drill press and take your time. If you can get a drill tempate for your model bridge, even better.

Thanks for the swift help!
I have one more question...

It might be difficult for me to get access to a drill press. Would drilling it by hand or just filling the gap with PC Woody etc be a bad route to go? Any thoughts?

TIA!

I don't know to much about the wood putty, so I have no clue about that. However I would recommend against drilling it by hand unless you have some kind of jig that could keep the hole perpendicular to the body. also you would need to make sure that you only drill the hole as deep as it needs to be.
I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with woodworking, and if you are sure that you can drill the hole strait. If it were me I'd be asking around to see if any of my friends would let me come over and use thier tools.

Before I would go to all that, I would try wrapping paper or teflon tape around the bottom of the posts. Nobody will see it, and it is easy to remove if it didn't work. But it probably will.

Floorten & Wes- If this were a guitar with a separate tailpiece (like the LP I described), then Wes's idea might be worth a try, as the main force on the bridge would be downward "into" the body, and not very high -- maybe a few pounds. However, this is a two-point floating bridge, so the studs experience forces mainly parallel to the body (toward the neck), and equal to the full tension of the strings + springs (roughly 100 lb per post). This is why the holes enlarged and loosen in the first place. Halfway measures are not going to last very long here -- no tape or paper or plastic wood. A real fix is required, or the problem will recurr and even worsen.

If you are not able to drill out the hole and plug it, you could try re-seating the the bushing in an epoxy product like JB WELD. This isn't the two-part clear product you can buy at the supermarket, it is a metal filling product that sets up hard and can even be machined like metal. If you use a product like this, you have to make sure the wood around the hole is solid or your repair will start to wobble at some point, you also have to realize that the bushing is going to be bonded permanently, so it has to be set correctly before the epoxy cures.
The best fix would be following gnease's advice, try JB WELD if the best fix isn't possible.

Thanks for the advice one and all! You've been most helpful!

good luck, and keep us posted on how it turns out dude :D

Glad i found this via search. Saved me making a new thread :)

How did you solve this in the end? As i'm in the same situation right now with some posts on my Les Paul copy.
I took the old posts out from my bridge and tailpiece, as they were old and looked crappy (all pitted and the gold plate had come off and the metal was just in bad shape, it'd survived there since the 70's). The new ones i got are slightly too small and don't fit snugly into the existing holes.

So i'm now trying to work out the best way to make the new posts fit snugly into the holes, so i can screw in the tailpiece and bridge properly.

Thanks

Well, i resolved this one on my own.

I wasn't willing to glue the mounts in permanently. So i looked at other options. One of those was to take some tissue paper/toilet paper and line the holes in the body with it.
Adding this was just what the doctor ordered. The mountings went in tightly, without any give or play. It worked out perfectly and if i need to remove them, i can do so too.

I'd highly recommend against this method.

Go to home depot and buy a couple of dowels that are about the same diameter, you can guesstimate. Get one smaller and one larger. They are cheap. Now see what one fits in the existing holes. You might just luck out and get one that fits perfectly, just a little tight. Glue that puppy in place.

If you have a dremel, you can get a drill press guide for it.

If you have a drill you can do the same with something like this.

Re-drill to the proper size for the inserts and you are good to go.

A little off topic here, as I look at that gadget Nick I realise I bought one years ago and never used it. I even believe I know where it is. I fortunately do not have any guitars to drill. I do however agree that a press or guide is the way to go and that the TP method may have worked I don't think it will last. I have drilled a screw hole, dowelled and rescrewed on a guitar but never something like this. The bridge on my sons Warlock Platinum Bass did not line up and it was the 3rd one we had gotten. I didn't tell him, did it while he was at school. Oh the pressure. Turned out great, that was years ago. Best of luck!

I'd highly recommend against this method.

Go to home depot and buy a couple of dowels that are about the same diameter, you can guesstimate. Get one smaller and one larger. They are cheap. Now see what one fits in the existing holes. You might just luck out and get one that fits perfectly, just a little tight. Glue that puppy in place.

Well, that was something i was thinking of doing originally. However, no one offered any sort of response to the post i made on this thread almost a month ago. So i had to find my own resolution. I'm not a handy person with drills, etc by any means. So i wanted to get it done with the least possible risk to myself or my guitar :)
If the method i used doesn't hold out, then there's the option you mentioned. But that means..
1) i need to buy a dremel
2) i need to buy the drill press guide
3) i need to pray i don't mess it up :)

So until the current method fails, which i'm sure it will eventually (although i may of sold the guitar by then to get a better one, hehe), i'll let it stay as is.

Well how about this one then?

If your current approach fails get yourself a small piece of maple. Scrap will do. Whittle off some shavings using a pocket knife. Remove the tp or whatever you have in there and glue in the shavings around the hole, making the dimensions a little smaller. Use Titebond to glue it. That should be a much more permanent fix.