Best way to fill pickguard holes?

[Dauminator]

I bought a pickguard for my Epi SG to go from humbuckers to p-90s, and of course the holes ALMOST line up. I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn how to work on guitars, and was wondering if anyone has a preferred method. There are two methods of filling that I have heard of so far, the first being to get a stick of the same size and wood glue and hammer it down till it's flush. There is a forum post out there, idk which site but he uses bamboo sticks to fill in the holes of a fender 6 point trem to replace it with a 2 point trem. However the bamboo sticks I have are too large for small pickguard screws, and I doubt they make any small enough for pickguard screws. Second, I've seen you could make a paste using sawdust and wood glue, and filling the cavity with that.

Does anyone have a preferred way of filling wood holes?

 

[ehdwuld]

Dont

The attempt to patch will be more obvious than the holes

On my seafoam Squire
the new brige holes didnt line up
1/8 dowel and drilled them out
Glued in the dowel and the new bridge covered the handiwork

Honestly if i didn't need the holes filled for the new screws
I would have left them

Like if the new bridge was a 2 point
Them middle ones be danged



I hear folk talk about filling pickguard holes under Stratocaster pickguards
if the new one covers it
Who will know?

 

[ErikH]

Toothpicks and some wood glue. Lightly coat the toothpicks, put them in the holes, let it dry, snip the excess so it's flush, redrill new pickguard holes. I've done it that way for years.

 

[Mincer]

Toothpicks and some wood glue. Lightly coat the toothpicks, put them in the holes, let it dry, snip the excess so it's flush, redrill new pickguard holes. I've done it that way for years.

This is what I've always done. I use regular white glue.

 

[alex1fly]

Yeah are you filling them because the new hole will overlap with the old one, and you want a more secure fit? If so, the toothpick method works for me as well on guitars, drywall, cabinets, many things. Otherwise I'd say just leave 'em be. Or, there's also the option of drilling in your pickguard to match the holes in your guitar, if you don't want to add any holes to the body.

 

[St_Genesius]

It reads to me like he wants to do it because the new screws are going to be going in very near where the old holes are, not for cosmetic reasons.

I've done the toothpick thing. It works.

Dont

The attempt to patch will be more obvious than the holes

 

[GuitarDoc]

Toothpicks and wood glue.

 

[ICTGoober]

The usual method is toothpicks because they are the correct size for most screw holes for pickguards and also tuning machines. White glue or yellow glue is fine. I remember one client complained, "I hope you are using something more substantial than a toothpick!" I asked what he might suggest, and he replied a dowel. "What size?" I asked? He looked blank. Then I laid some facts on him.....Most wooden dowels and toothpicks are made of the same wood, birch. And the smallest wooden dowels you can find is 1/8 inch, about the same size as (surprise!) a toothpick. That shut him up.

 

[NegativeEase]

I wanted to post fill them with "Toothpaste". just to watch ICT lose his ****ing mind :lmao:

Like ICT, I've always used toothpicks or a few times old maple remnants left from shimming something -even to tighten up the tension on a button strap hole -no issues.

 

[ICTGoober]

I wanted to post fill them with "Toothpaste". just to watch ICT lose his ****ing mind

Actually, that is what works well on nail holes in sheetrock. Just wipe it off flush, and it will take paint later. Dries hard as a rock.

 

[NegativeEase]

Actually, that is what works well on nail holes in sheetrock. Just wipe it off flush, and it will take paint later. Dries hard as a rock.

That's exactly why I thought it would be funny on a guitar ***high five****

 

[ErikH]

Haha. We used to fill the tack / nail holes of the walls in our college apartments with toothpaste so we wouldn't get dinged on our deposit for them.

 

[ICTGoober]

I learned that trick from a carpenter who was a client.

 

[NegativeEase]

I learned that trick from a carpenter who was a client.

When I was a kid, me and my buddy busted a 10" wide hole in his bedroom wall playing nerf hoops.

So not knowing about hollow walls, or backing -I went home -got a bucket of plaster and we just kept filling the hole for days until built up to the hole.... to keep parents from finding out.

Someone lives in a home right now with a slice of interior wall with 30-36 inches of plaster tall by16 inches wide and maybe weighing 50 pounds built up inside their bedroom wall :lmao:

 

[ErikH]

That's greatness!!! LOL

I got the toothpaste idea for the walls from one of my older sisters who had already been through college.