Filling up tuner screw holes.

[honeyiscool]

So over the weekend, I put some Hipshot Ultralights on my Mustang Bass and tried out yet another way of filling up tuner screw holes. I've used glue + sawdust, wood filler, etc., and never really liked the results. However, this time I think I got it right. Here's my procedure:

 

1. Drop some wood glue in the hole.

2. Cut the very tip of a toothpick off such that there's a bit of a taper but it's mostly a straight piece.

3. Put the toothpick in, then gently tap it into the hole with a mallet.

4. Use a razor blade to score the toothpick, then break it off.

5. Clean up the frazzled ends with a razor blade.

6. Put a drop of superglue on top of the inserted toothpick.

7. After drying, clean up with sandpaper.

 

This worked perfectly for me. It's not quite as hideous as other methods, though pretty ugly, and it was stable enough that I was able to drill a nice new pilot hole going halfway into a filled screw hole.

 

One last thing: Get a corded drill if you ain't got one. My Bosch was cheap and handles any job I need it to do. My friend's cordless Milwaukee doesn't like drilling into hard maple.

[cephus]

Dude, I have an old strat copy that has had about 4 sets of tuners on it. I recently put it back together again and used a set of GFS tuners of some sort. But I did pretty much what you did. Since I was going to sand, I wasn't as careful about scoring the toothpick. I used wood glue and then sanded them flush.

 

For that guitar I had to fill screw holes from 2 different pickguards, I dowelled and redrilled for a usa vintage style trem, dowelled and redrilled all the neck bolt holes. and filled 4 holes on the front of the headstock where I had at one time screwed a locking nut of some sort. I bet it was 60 holes I filled

[cephus]

Oh, yeah. The strap buttons, too!

 

[honeyiscool]

You fill a lot of holes, sailor.