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I was drilling a pilot hole for a string retainer on a strat, when I drilled too deep and the bit came through the back of the headstock.

What is/are the best method(s) for filling the tiny hole, minimizing visability..


Thanks for your expert thoughts...

Use scrap of the same block as the neck and make a dowel that is press fit tight. glue in with hhg being carful to align the grain orientation and cut near flush then sand flush.

How might I make a dowell tiny enough to fit into a string tree screw?

My neck is vintage tinted Maple......would a stained toothpick be a good option for a dowell?

Thanks so much....

Only if the toothpick is made of wood of equal hardness. Otherwise, the bit will just drift into the softest wood when you re-drill the hole.

_________________
Waddy

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A tooth pick is a double tapered dowel

A tooth pick is typically Suger Maple or Birch. Truth is either will work but not be totally invisible.

If making the dowel so small is a problem the tooth pick may be the best bet or use a fostner bit or a good sharp and straight brad point bit on the drill press and make a shallow hole to the size of dowel you can make accurately and follow my first suggestion. The better the press fit the less noticeable the repair will be.

Any type of plug is going to be noticeable to the person that did the repair. But that small of a hole will not likely be noticed by some one else.

I would think that you want the grain direction to match, becasue end grain will show differently when finished. Therefore, you will neeed to make your plug accross the grain. Cut a sliver of wood and start scraping or sanding.

Chuck it in an electric drill and sand it to the right size.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

If your pilot hole is in the correct location on the front, you really only need a short plug to fill the back.

Use a larger bradpoint from the back to drill two shallow holes, inlay two pearl dots and increase the price by $25.00 for "custom inlay" work.

" Use a larger bradpoint from the back to drill two shallow holes, inlay two pearl dots and increase the price by $25.00 for "custom inlay" work.

This is actually a great idea.
Seriously, I've been thinking as to how I might give this guitar a personalized touch...Such as an engraved back plate, or something....but, I really like this idea....

Thanks for all the great ideas....

Richard Brune was not embarressed to lecture that he once dropped a tool onto the completed fret board of an antique replica, so he inlaid an ivory decoration to cover the blemish.

I am not meaning to poke fun at you at all!! but I love misnomer like this.

"antique replica" = a very old reproduction of an even older object

a replica of an antique = any reproduction of an antique object

I new what you meant but could not resist.

Maybe I should have written "in the style of old stuff". I used to correct my teachers' grammar all the time. English is very imprecise, but maybe my incorrect usage was pretty good if you really knew what I meant.

While I am on again, I think that it may not have been damage to a fingerboard, but to the area on the top that is fretted in those old style things. I do not recall for sure, but a fingerboard is easy to switch out, and my vague recollection is that the damage was not repairable, hence the inlay.