I am about to start sanding some crappy paint off a cheap telecaster body in hopes of finding a good wood grain underneath so I can stain it and give it a nice shiny clear coat. If the grain looks like crap or if there's a giant knot in the face I'll just paint the thing, but my concern isn't with the process of finishing or painting it is with the screw holes for the ash tray. They're stripped, I'm just curious what might be the best thing to fill them with before I re-drill them?
Ash tray?
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Ashtray as in the bridge plate? A few ways you can go with fixing stripped screw holes in wood. Probably the most easy is if the bridge allows it, jump up a screw size. Quick, cheap, and easy. If the holes are REAL buggerd,, the right fix is to drill, plug the holes, and then redrill for the screws. Not that hard, but you will need to make sure the plate is in the correct place before you redrill.
Paul B
I've redone a few guitars like this;
As s1120 mentioned, plug the holes is the best fix.
I drilled them out & glued in 1/4" dowel & they are as good as new. Just make sure none of the screw holes are too close to the edge of the pickguard, or bridge plate so they don't end up showing around the edges.
The damage is not as bad as it seems.
im not stressing the stripped holes its just crap the previous owner didn't take care of it. ash tray is the style of…. yes the bridge plate. anyone have and suggestions as to what the best filler might be for the holes?
As mentioned before,drill and plug is the best and most secure way,or,if the holes aren't too big,you can either force some steel wool in the holes to give the screws more to bite into,or even use cocktail sticks with wood glue,put glue on the ends of the stick,push them as far into the hole as you can,then either,snap,or cut them flush
I'm only on this earth once,if I can help just one person,then I haven't wasted my time
Depending on the old screw, and how long it is, sometimes just switching to a screw a touch longer will do the trick. As was said, it kind of depends on how hogged out it is.
As for plugging a hole in the edge of a bridge, or pickguard.. its a little harder, but ive offset drilled the hole, and then plugged, and redrilled. Only thing is that it really needs to be done on a drillpress to stop the bit from walking.
Paul B
A piece of a toothpick works every time.
