Fixing a hole.

Pics?

 

Ugh, feel your pain. At some point, this same snafu gets a lot of us.

Many hardware stores carry extra long drill bits - often called an "aircraft" bit. They can be up to 12" or more in length. This is what you need; the extra shaft length lets you lower your angle when drilling, and you can avoid marring the surface with the drill chuck. I have one that's 3/16"x 12" (cut down to 10"), and it's usually plenty wide enough for a couple of cloth wires (thicker than regular wires).

 

What kind of bit were you using? Typically, those channels are done with what’s called an aircraft bit, a really long drill bit. Home Depot, Lowe’s or your local hardware store should have them.

Not sure where or how the incorrect holes lie. I did the same thing on a single coil P bass body and was able to figure out the correct angle from the other direction and drill carefully and met up with the existing wire channel.

Keep us posted.

 

Yeah, you can't even tell on that bass cuz of the relicing. Looks great BTW, love the green colour.

I always drill from the pickup cavity to the control cavity. The location of the hole in the control cavity is less important to me than the location of the hole in the pickup cavity.

 

Yes. Always (almost always) drill from the pickup cavity. The exception would be if I’m connecting pickup cavities I’d drill from the neck pocket through.

Fill it in with a little wood glue and sawdust and it will look like it’s supposed to be there. Funny note, I read that on the replicas of the Tractor bass that Fender made they did the same thing on the back because Berry drilled through on the original when he made it. So, you’re in good company!

 

I agree, and on this body it looks fine. If it helps make a story about an angry girlfriend shooting it with a bb gun during a gig and if it wasn't for a long strap it would have hit your sensitive bits.

 

Just tell people that's where your fingernails dig into the instrument when you're doing your best Victor Wooten impression.

 

Yeah,
If you hadn't told us how it happened, I'd have assumed it was honest road wear. Fugeddaboudit. I'm OCD, so I consrtucted a drawing of the body thickness, pickup depth, and figured out the angle the drill had to go in. I cut a little "ramp" to that angle as a guide for an aircraft style bit. It worked, but most people just wing it, with occasional unfortunate results. I couldn't afford to eff it up on a Tru-Oil finish blinged-out bass.

 

I've had cases where even when you get the "right" angle going in on a long hole like this, the bit wanders and breaks out anyways because it follows the hard/soft grain patterns in the wood. I hate doing holes like this. I would be tempted to route a channel under the pick guard, from the controls upwards, and then drill a much shorter hole from the side of the pickup cavity to that channel.