Filling a routing ?

baldy

I want to fill a single coil routing, what is the best way to do it, completely fill it with filler or shape & fit a piece of timber then a bit of filler to finish ?
What filler is recommended please ?

HarrySeven

baldy said:

I want to fill a single coil routing, what is the best way to do it, completely fill it with filler or shape & fit a piece of timber then a bit of filler to finish ?
What filler is recommended please ?

Don't completely fill it with filler!

HarrySeven

When I was working on this, I shaped a block of hardwood and glued it in. This pic is prior to any further shaping, grain-filling, etc,

baldy

So shape & glue in a piece of hardwood close to the size of the route & finish off with a bit of filler ?
What filler would be best ?

Elwood

Here is how a pro does it:

https://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Trade_Secrets/Patching_a_hole_in_a_1953_Telecaster.html

baldy

Thanks H7 & Elwood.
I have some hardwood that I can shape to size although I doubt I will get such a seamless fit as in that video so as not to need a bit of filler.
It is a cheap guitar that I am changing the pickup configuration on & then swapping pups & all hardware as I have enough parts lying around.
Also going to try swapping it from a six point trem to a string thru/T-O-M bridge set up.

ESBlonde

Save the sawdust/sanding dust from the piece you are using to fill. Mix with your PVA glue to form a filler that matches and apply that. If the gaps are quite large, make small wedge shaped shims and glue them in the cracks first (getting the grain direction correct helps a lot).

baldy

Thanks for all the advice.
I have swapped a lot of hardware & am fine doing that but have never touched a body, you may have guessed.
This is the guitar at present, an old Yamaha ERG 121 that I gave £20 for


It has a bridge pick up that doesn"t work, crackly pots & an unstable trem (presently blocked off) but is not in bad condition body wise, neck & frets are fine & I quite like the neck.
I have a few sets of HB"s laying around, plus locking tuners, pots, knobs, selector switches, a roller T-O-M, & output jack sockets. 
The only thing I would need to buy really are some string thru body ferrules.
Just have to decide on hardware colour as I might change the guitars colour being as I will have to spray it.
Any suggestions on body/headstock colour & hardware colour greatly appreciated.

baldy

For reference I have black uncovered HB"s, gold covered HB"s, gold or chrome tuners, a chrome roller bridge, black or chrome knobs.

baldy

The bridge is going to be a problem as the current Sun Il trem has the strings about 12mm off the body where as ABR1/T-O-M/Wraparounds sem to have the strings about 15-16mm off the body at their lowest setting.
Any suggestions of a fixed bridge that will bring the strings around 12mm off the body ?
String spacing is 10.5mm or 52.5mm overall.

Funkfingers

IMHO, there would be no shame in leaving the pickup cavity empty. 

Apart from anything else, I suspect that the drilled hole, through which the output cable from the neck position pickup passes, connects all three pickup cavities.

baldy

Yes it does but I could machine a hole in the infill block running between the holes.
I don"t really want to leave the cavity empty TBH purely for aesthetics.

Elwood

You can buy single coil pick blanks looks like a single coil with no pole piece holes. There is nothing in it, so you can screw it down, out of the way of your picking hand. Could be a simple fix?

baldy

Got a link please ?
Oh I see.
Although a lot more work I think I would prefer to fill the hole with wood.
I have to decide what I am going to do bridge wise next.
I have found a bridge that I think will give me the correct height off the body I need but not sure if it will give much sustain.


I fitted a steel block to the same trem on my Yamaha RGX as the original didn"t have much sustain & that greatly improved sustain over the standard zinc? one.
The fixed bridge above, I would imagine, will have as little or even less sustain than the stock Sun Il that is on the guitar at present.
EDIT: Thinking about it there is nothing to stop me using the above bridge string thru style, is there ?