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How do you go about repairing this? I've got some ideas but they don't include 10mm dowels...can't get those at the BORG.

It's the low E tuner hole.



Here's the body! Just fer show!

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Chris, it looks about 1/16" off &, depending on the tuner, a 10mm dowel repair & redrill would be totally invisible with the tuner & washer in place. (Great contrasts on the wood BTW)

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Dave
Milton, ON

The tuners are a set of Gotoh closed gear. I think they are Rotomatics but I can't remember. I do have some play under the washer. Looking for suggestions as to method...adhesive...so on.

And yes...I think it is somewhere between 1/16 and an 1/8 off.

Thanks Dave.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Make your own dowel by turning it on the drill press if you don't have a lathe. It's really not that hard.

If you only intend to use the guitar for yourself. You can fill the hole with epoxy putty and redrill. The epoxy will look like a tiny crescent moon nest to the new hole and can be stained to look like RW on the top and mahogany on the back. It will be no more noticeable than a dowel plug. If the body of the turner and the nut will cover the patch, no one will ever know.

I did exactly this on my current headstock. I used epoxy mixed about half and half with sanding dust from the cocobolo. Fortunately it is just covered by the washer. (Note to self, always clamp the headstock before drilling ).

Here it is, warts and all.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hey guys...here's $.02 from an old guy.

Take the time, once you have established your headstock shape, to build a tuner drill guide jig. It's not an expensive proposition and it will save you time and heartburn in the long run.
Afterall, if you have the time to ponder the error, post up here for solutions and finally get around to doing the fix, you certainly have "invested" enough time to have built the jig.

As for using varied tuners on different builds, the common element is a 1/4" diameter pilot hole. You can then use piloted reamers with a 1/4" pilot to cut the final hole diameters for whatever tuner you are using. My jig will work for any tuner, from Waverly to Gotoh to Schaller, etc

Here's a photo of mine, which will do several functions in the headstock preparation mode.

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Hank Mauel

10mm is about 3/8 .. and you can likely get those at the BORG ....

I would plug and redrill .... and before making another guitar, like Hank says, make a drill jig.

Too bad hte inlay is already in there .. otherwise plug and reface ... invisible. BTDT.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Chris,

I don't know if anyone sells them, but if you can get a 10 mm plug cutter, and have some waste from the headstock and headplate, you can make a near invisible repair that way.

Joe

I think I do have a 10 mm plug cutter, but then everything is in metric over here...

You can also make a nice plug by whittling one that is slightly oversize, and pound that through a 10 mm hole in a steel plate. After you drill the steel plate, don't remove the burr as it's edge will shave the dowel when it goes through the hole.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

All good suggestions....

I ended up using a 3/8th's oak dowel (it was all I had)...that left just enough wiggle room for some medium viscosity CA to wick in (slow). Re-drilled the hole and now I'm on to other things.

I'll post pics of the repair later on tonight.

Thanks a bunch for the help!!!!!

Chris

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

about a month ago I used a 60's martin template to drill my holes and afterwards decided I would've rather had them 1 5/8's apart rather than 1.5".

I used 1/4" dowels for the back, and a large pencil sharpener to get a tight fit on the front. I glued rosewood to large dowels and made them into cone shapes that fit tightly.









re-drilled...

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

This is a terrible photo but here's the fix. Oak dowel cut short so that I had a shallow 'pan' on both sides of the headstock. Wicked in some CA...and remarked where the hole should have been.

I'll be making one of them drilling jigs fer sure.

Chris

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Me too.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"