Looking for a source for maple dowel(s)

[herndonbassist]

While I've done quite a few builds, I went ahead and purchased a kit last year and am just now getting around to finishing it. I have upgraded all of the hardware, and was installing the tuners when I realized how misaligned the tuner holes are. No problem, I've got a drill press, so I figured I would plug and re-drill. The problem is that the holes are too big for any dowels I am able to source locally. They look 'OK' in the attached picture (taken before body contouring and painting) but I know myself, and it's going to drive me nuts. My intention now is to plug all of the holes, layout my headstock and re-drill where I want them, I'm then going to paint the headstock to match the 60's (ish) blue that I picked for the body.

So long winded, but does anyone know where I can get maple plugs or dowels that will work for this? I'm also willing to pay if anyone has this on-hand or can make them. The holes are the standard 11/16".

 

[JoeDeF]

I definitely think you should use plugs, not dowels. The reason is that wood shrinks and swells across its grain much more than along its grain, so as humidity cycles, if you use dowels, the endgrain will protrude at certain times of the year (and be visible and/or stress the finish). If you can’t find an 11/16” plug cutter, just enlarge the holes to 3/4”; that’s a common plug cutter size, plus it will strip any finish from the holes, yielding a better glue joint.

The only downsides are that you need a drill press to make the plugs, and you temporarily make the headstock slightly weaker with the larger holes. If that bothers you, you could take a small piece of scrap and drill a 3/4” hole with a forstner, then clamp the scrap over each headstock hole in such a way that the enlarged hole is going to be mostly further from the headstock edge and the other tuner holes. That scrap will then guide the forstner as you enlarge the holes.

Use a piece of maple with similar grain orientation to the headstock (look at the annular rings at the top edge of the headstock to gauge) to make the plugs. And use a piece of seasoned wood if possible; “green” wood often shrinks and may be visibly sunken after some time passes and the wood stabilizes into a smaller dimension.

One more thing: make the plugs thicker than the headstock and leave them protruding a bit from both sides. After gluing them in, leave them for at least a few days before trimming; if you don’t wait and trim them immediately, the edges will have swelled from the water in the glue, and you will see a pucker line around the perimeter a few days later when the perimeter wood sheds its moisture. And of course, orient the plugs so that their fibers align with the fibers in the headstock.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Yep, I agree with what JoeDeF says. To fill tuner holes, what you want are cross-grain maple plugs. That is, plugs cut from hard maple, with the grain going sideways. When you put them in, the grain should be going in the same direction as the grain in the headstock. Common dowels that they sell are end-grain; the grain runs down the length of the dowel.

The standard way to make cross-grain plugs is to use a plug cutter and a board. A plug cutter is a special hollow drill bit that you put in a drill press and cut plugs from a board of hard maple. Sounds great, but....you'll have a hard time finding an 11/16" plug cutter bit. I don't know if anyone even sells them. And, to fill tuner holes that have had a bushing pressed into them, you actually want plugs slightly larger than 11/16". The serrations from the bushing chew the hole a little larger.

I have my own machine shop, and I make up custom plug cutter bits for my own uses (like cutting synthetic pearl dots) and for other Luthiers. That's one approach.

But cross-grain wood plugs are a very common need from my Luthier clients, and they want them in all different precise sizes and woods. So, I keep a machine set up specifically for machining wood plugs and pegs. It's a big old metal lathe with a small router head mounted on the tool post. With it, in minutes, I can make up plugs of any size, in any wood. Straight or tapered. These plugs are very easy to make...if you have the right machine.

Contact me if you'd like me to make up a few for you. Cheap, not much more than the postage. This problem of plugging Fender-size tuner holes is common enough that I really should just run off a batch of them to keep around.

 

[herndonbassist]

Thanks so much to you both for all of the info! You're confirming my thoughts about cross grain plugs vs. dowels. Bruce, I'll send you a PM in a moment.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Here's the machine for making up the plugs, if you are curious. A big old 1947 LeBlond metal lathe that I rescued from the scrap yard, with a Rotozip head mounted to the tool post. I can cut plugs and dowels accurately to about +/- 0.002". Straight or tapered, up to about 8" diameter, up to 30" long. I set up this rig about 4 years ago, and I've found that I use it often enough that this lathe has become my dedicated precision wood lathe.

This afternoon, I've got to cut a batch of leg pegs for my buddy Jon Wilson's GuitarViols. Flame maple, 5/8" diameter x 14" long.

 

[herndonbassist]

@Bruce Johnson that's incredible! I could look at tools all day long!

 

[megafiddle]

I agree about the cross grain plugs.

Just for future reference, McMaster Carr (McMaster.com) has maple dowel ranging from 1/4" to 2".

-

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Here's the process of making up these plugs for Robert:

I found a cut-off scrap of hard maple in my stash, 1" thick x about 6" wide. I drew a line 1" from the edge, going across the grain. Plus a spare line, in case I screw up the first piece.

I sawed it off on the bandsaw, giving me a rough 1" x 1" square piece, with the grain going cross-wise.

I chucked it up in the old LeBlond, clamping on one end. Note that I keep a 4-jaw chuck on this lathe, because I'm mainly using it to hold square or rectangular blocks. I center it just by eye; it doesn't have to be perfect.

I cut it to 0.695" diameter in four passes. The little Rotozip head has a 1/4" diameter router bit, and is capable of taking off 0.100" per pass. In this case, I took it easy, because I was getting a bit of chatter at the outer end went I went over 0.050" per pass. If the wood strip is much longer than this, I'll center drill the end and support it with a live center in the tailstock. I checked it carefully with calipers, and took off about 0.010" in the last pass. Wood springs and moves around some, but with a little care, I can get the diameter to within +/- 0.002".

I marked off the lengths of the plugs and sawed them off on the bandsaw.

And there they are! A set of precise cross-grain hard maple plugs.

It took me about 15 minutes to make them. I charged Robert $10 plus postage.

If you don't have a lathe rig like this, you can make plugs with a belt sander and a drill press. Same basic process. Saw the square strip across the grain of the board. Work it on the belt sander to get it roughly into a round shape. Chuck it in the drill press and, with it spinning, hold a Dremel with a sanding drum against it. Work it down to the right diameter.

 

[herndonbassist]

I somehow missed this post by Bruce. Thanks so much, they're perfect! Please ignore all of the design lines, and the dirty tops due to my gluey fingers.

 

[Mcboomport]

I somehow missed this post by Bruce. Thanks so much, they're perfect! Please ignore all of the design lines, and the dirty tops due to my gluey fingers.

View attachment 3097278

Old Post, but any updates on this? I am trying to fill a hole in a neck like this. Haven't found a finished product.

 

[herndonbassist]

The hole fill went perfectly. I had other issues with the kit and had to scrap most of it.