Filling Pup Cavities... Need Help

[Aussiephoenix]

Hi,

Please lend a hand with this...

I'm changing pups on this old body that I'm Using for a Frankenstein project...

Thing is, if you look at the full-size plan, the Green part is the existing holes in the body, the blue lines define the space I need for the new pickups...

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so, since I didnt want to add a pickguard, I want to be able to close up the green area, so that, painted over, later, it'll look as if the holes were never there... get me?

The obvious way to me, is to use wood glue and cut out the shapes I need to fill off of some plank of wood so that I can put it in there...

Though, I dont know if thats the best way to do this...

What would you do and how?

ps.: I'm no luthier, though I do have better than average wood working skills... though only just.

 

[Mon Rominee]

If you want to plug and then re-rout, find a like-species wood, and make a 1:1 plug and glue it securely on all sides with a type of glue that is strong, and for all intents and purposes, gap filling. Try and make grain orientation similar if possible...Same idea if you need to make small plugs to fill areas not required by the new pups.

Thing is, no matter how good you plug and level and all that, you'll never fully get away from seeing where the plugs are, under the paint. Reason being is wood expands and contracts differently, even like species residing in the same body... I've tried and tried to get these things to mask out completely, but somehow there's always a very faint telltale sign. But nothing you'd ever notice from 10 feet.

Do all the paint prep as you normally would, and then I get some red automotive body putty (like bondo but thinner and easier to apply, one part paste) and spread that over any areas where seams are. then level that and repeat with a skim coat. re-level without stripping it all away. This usually hids the majority of it very well.

Good luck.

 

[Aussiephoenix]

Thing is, no matter how good you plug and level and all that, you'll never fully get away from seeing where the plugs are, under the paint. Reason being is wood expands and contracts differently, even like species residing in the same body... I've tried and tried to get these things to mask out completely, but somehow there's always a very faint telltale sign. But nothing you'd ever notice from 10 feet.

How do you mean? if the filler wood expands or contracts, wouldnt that crack the paint?

Do all the paint prep as you normally would, and then I get some red automotive body putty (like bondo but thinner and easier to apply, one part paste) and spread that over any areas where seams are. then level that and repeat with a skim coat. re-level without stripping it all away. This usually hids the majority of it very well.

I have no idea what bondo is, as I dont think I can get that out here, but I do have this wood-paste that is specific for plugging holes and cracks, supposedly once dry, the consistency is the same as wood, so it can be sanded, drilled, painted on, etc.
I might use that to level out the finish.

 

[msherman]

I couldn`t see a picture in your first post. Since you are going to repaint the body anyway, you might consider this.

Fill the exsisting pup cavities with the same wood as best you can. Make sure the fillet you are plugging the holes is the same moisture content as the body. Then surface sand the top and veneer it. You can give it a facelift so to speak in the process.

 

[Aussiephoenix]

I couldn`t see a picture in your first post. Since you are going to repaint the body anyway, you might consider this.

Fill the exsisting pup cavities with the same wood as best you can. Then surface sand the top and veneer it. You can give it a facelift so to speak in the process.

Silly me... forgot to paste the shortcut.

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As for a Veneer, that's pretty hard to find out here, and it gets expensive. lol.

I've been googling about this, and everywhere I look, the same kind of suggestion pops up...

So, I'm going to shape some wood so as to fit snuggly in, and then smooth it over with wood filler putty, sand it all back and see how it turns out.

If any of you guys have already done something of the kind, hopefully you've documented it somewhere... maybe a thread with pics somewhere? post some links here, might save me from making some mistakes along the way.

Cheers!

 

[msherman]

I would imagine any cabinet maker over there would have a cutoff of veneer that they cant use, and would be willing to part with it.
Just a thought

Good luck with your project

 

[Mon Rominee]

Bondo is autobody filler. Usually a resin and catalyst that are mixed. the stuff I refer to is a red paste you skim coat over bondo with. You see many repaired cars on the road with cracks where they were bondoed? Not likely...it's strong.

No, the wood joint between the mating sufraces would crack the paint...potentially, hence the comment about moisture contents and like woods being a deciding factor in the success of the repair. The skim coat over the joined pieces of wood is a last defense against the cracking and screwing up of the paintjob. At EAW, we used to use a bondo / skimcoat process when customers would ask to change a roadcab to a flown cab and we had to patch / fill / repaint handle holes. I know of what I speak.

Good luck.

Mon

 

[Greenman]

the stuff I refer to is a red paste you skim coat over bondo with.

Mon

Glazing putty I believe.

 

[Bryan316]

Thing is, no matter how good you plug and level and all that, you'll never fully get away from seeing where the plugs are, under the paint. Reason being is wood expands and contracts differently, even like species residing in the same body... I've tried and tried to get these things to mask out completely, but somehow there's always a very faint telltale sign. But nothing you'd ever notice from 10 feet.

My brother currently has a Jackson Randy flying V that he got from eBay, and it has this exact problem. Somebody built a 7-string version of a replica of Randy Rhoads' white pinstriped V. But it was a chinsy Korean made body with the electronics on top and it used to have a cover plate. They plugged the cavity and redid everything, but we can distinctly see the halo of the joint lines, and the wood sank into the body. So did the paint, as it's recessed lower where that pocket once was.

I'd recommend you make a big pickup bezel from a large piece of really nice wood, and have some fun designing a cool shape for it.