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Here's my situation. I have a possible repair job involving putting on new machine heads. The problem is the customer has bought machine heads which are the wrong fit (too small). Is it plausible to fill in the original holes and re-drill them the right size for his machine heads? If possible I would really prefer to use the ones he has bought, to save me the hassle of ordering them, and him the cost of yet another set of heads (he is a friend too).
Thoughts and advice?

Tom, I do not personally have the skill, nor the experience to do this. But I will stick my neck out and say definitively that it is not only plausible, but achievable. I've seen several very old Italian violins with worn out "bushed" peg holes that were plugged, re-drilled and re-reamed to a precise taper. If that can be done almost as a matter of course with old violins, I'm dead certain it's possible on a guitar. But I will never pretend to know enough to tell you how to do it.

I'm sure some very experienced professionals will chime in shortly. Have patience until they do. Best luck with it!

Patrick

Tom, I think it can be done no problem, assuming you mean the 3/8 or 10mm holes. I had to move 2 holes about 1/8" - I used a plug cutter the same size at the existing hole and cut a face grain plug (not a dowel, which is long grain) and glued it in, let dry and redrilled. I used face grain so the drill wouldn't wander cutting into end grain. Let the glue dry for several days if it's a small shift, so the little sliver of new wood stays put after drilling. Good luck!

Steve

First - are we talking screw holes or tuning post holes?

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Stew mac sell conversion bushings to fit the 10mm hole. cheap and effective

Tuning post holes, the instrument and the machine-heads he has bought should be coming into the shop some time today hopefully, so I'll be able to get/ give you guys a better idea of what I'm dealing with once I have seen it for myself.

If it's a Gibson with a black peghead it can be done.
The holes were really off on this head and not even from side to side either and the customer wanted MOP inlay instead of the decales.

I don't have a pic of the white MOP but the Gold MOP is the same end result.
But the bushings would be a real time saver as you can see.
You could also veneer over the top and back of the head. Also much easier to decale the inlay.

Nice, job, Chris!

Boy, that's nice!

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's a great job, chris The guitar will be coming in tomorrow, so I will be able to have a good look at it and possibly post some pics so you guys can see. Fingers crossed it'll be a straightforward job, it certainly doesn't look to be an overly complicated task

Chris, nice job!

Sorry for the minor diversion, but it always amazes me to see inlay done. Did you hand carve that?

mike

Dremel to cut the channel. With the black head you can over cut it and either use black epoxy or pack the edges with ebony dust and CA.
The trick with this is to have the inlay pretty much dead on level since the banner was engraved and filled. No room for sanding or a tad low and covered with CA. I had to refill the engraving with ink on one since the waxed/ink stuff came out with CA. I also masked off the inlay and shot a black color coat and then followed up with a few clear coats and leveled after some build. A couple of dry coats at first as to not have the color coat bleed and then some wet coats to build.
The inlay came from Andy DePaule as the owner had Andy make up the Banner inlay and he already had that style of the Gibson logo.