Cheap Guitar And Some Bondo?

[candyflipper7]

Repair wizards.... I bought a guitar from E bay about a year ago and it is a really thin body. So after some serious thought of upgrading this thing, I bought some new humbuckers and some other hardware and started stripping this thing down to install the new HB's. On the new installation I noticed a really bad hack job done on this thing. Bad wiring, Sawed off screws coming through the body into the Neck HB cavity, Chiseled chunks taken out of the cavity under the tone pot. I was pretty p'ed off to say the least. Anyways to make a long story short ( I contacted the seller) I am at the point now of this thing being sanded down to wood (Bass wood) and just have about another hour or so to go until it is completley stripped down to bare wood. Actually looking pretty good and super smooth. I wanted to fill in the slot and 2 screw holes with bondo and fill in the "EXTRA" screw holes where the hack that assembled this thing (In China) drilled, Missed his mark and drilled again! This guitar plays really well and is super thin and comfortable. Is bondo a good choice for filling in the 5 way slot and 2 screw holes along with all of the screw holes for the back tremelo cavity and electronics cavity. I am trying to restore this axe as it has so much potential! It is a shame that the bay has guitars that look good in the pictures until you get them home and discover that they have been put together in a sweat shop somewhere. Bondo not just for cars right??? Oh, by the way I am replacing the 5 way switch with a rotary, as the old 5 way was sqeezed into the cavity at an angle since the body was super thin. I am pretty much building this thing from the ground up. they should have just sent it to me as a kit! New hardware, New wiring, primer- paint and clear coat.

[cynical1]

Nov 6, 2012 20:47:50 GMT -5 candyflipper7 said:

...Is bondo a good choice for filling in the 5 way slot and 2 screw holes along with all of the screw holes for the back tremelo cavity and electronics cavity.

No.

Bondo not just for cars right???

Wrong. Bondo is designed to be applied over metal. Either steel or aluminum, depending on the type of automotive body filler you choose, is the design substrate.

Wanna do it right? Epoxy wood filler for holes and inclusions that will NOT have a screw relocated in that area. This is what I use, but there are other brands out there:




If you're going to fill a hole and re-drill for a screw then drilling a hole to accommodate a dowel pin glued into the location is the preferred way to go.

No offense, but to use Bondo on a hack job is just applying a hack fix to said hack job.

Hope this helps.

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[newey]

Cyn's right. The reason Bondo™ isn't a good idea is that, over time, the bondo "patch" will pull away from the wood, as the wood will "breathe" a little over time while the Bondo won't.

[candyflipper7]

Thanks guys for the advice!

If you're going to fill a hole and re-drill for a screw then drilling a hole to accommodate a dowel pin glued into the location is the preferred way to go.

No offense, but to use Bondo on a hack job is just applying a hack fix to said hack job.

No offense taken. That's why I asked before applying it.

[cynical1]

A few things to remember about the epoxy filler:

1.) Give it a few days to harden prior to sanding. Depending on the size of the job it can run out to 3-4 days before it completely sets up.

2.) Use sparingly. If it's a larger area do the job in 2-3 or more stages. You don't want to overfill too much as once this stuff sets up it makes sanding oak look easy.

3.) Be very careful not to cross contaminate the A and B cans. A Popsicle stick for each can and a piece of board to mix it together is ideal. And put the lids back on ASAP.

4.) You can use a power sander for the bulk of it, but finish the job with a sanding block by hand. This stuff is considerable harder than basswood and what you'll find is that the fill becomes higher than the original surface because your power sander "humped" over it and lowered the surrounding areas faster than the filled area. This may seem a vague or confusing in its explanation, but use a power sander to take it all the way down once and you'll understand.

Have fun and happy sanding.

HTC1

[JohnH]

I havn't got much experience here, but I fixed a neck with epoxy and its still good. I found that it was good to do most of the sanding to get rid of excess epoxy a bit earlier, when it was set but not full strength and so a bit softer than its final condition.

J

[1150lefty]

Nov 7, 2012 15:18:20 GMT -5 JohnH said:

I havn't got much experience here, but I fixed a neck with epoxy and its still good. I found that it was good to do most of the sanding to get rid of excess epoxy a bit earlier, when it was set but not full strength and so a bit softer than its final condition.

J

If this was Bondo (yuck - anything but Bondo brand), this would be called the "green stage" and if you have a feeling for when this happens you are golden and won't have much hard work to do. I was gonna suggest this, but you got it. Just take your time and know when to walk away and take a break from it if you need to. Took me a few days just to "antique" my LP clone because I got frustrated at how long it was taking. Sanding is something I'd rather pay someone to do... ;D

[candyflipper7]

Thanks everyone! I ended up using some wood filler. Also started working on a Strat body from GFetish. OMG globs of Poly in the neck pocket was outrageous. Not to mention massive amounts of poly on the body. Took forever to get to bare wood.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 18:48:43 GMT -5 candyflipper7 said:

Thanks everyone! I ended up using some wood filler. Also started working on a Strat body from GFetish. OMG globs of Poly in the neck pocket was outrageous. Not to mention massive amounts of poly on the body. Took forever to get to bare wood.

does this help eliminate some dead spots?

[4real]

Well, cheap gutiar obviously = cheap methods and short cuts...what would you expect...however...

Often with super thin bodies and such beinding teh selector sideways to fit (how else would it) or nipping the end off screws so they don't go to far through are all legitimate. Your not in china I presume, but at least they got them in while you mjissed and had to redrill...just saying, country of origin has nothing to do with it! Further, remember for all you know, these things were built for china in an indonsesian sweat shop by enslaved children...they are very good with their hands, just aske Nike and heaps of 'american brands' (apple, etc) cause they are very good with thier hands I believe...perhaps not so good with pickup screws!

It is an interesting 'thin guitar'...but it is also bass wood. This will be pretty stable I suspect, but the problem with a lot of these 'fiillers' are that the wood can/will shrink and move while the filler tends not to, often revealling anything major (like a selector slot) later, perhaps much later, under the finish. The 'professional' way for things like this tends to be with a similar wood piece...just saying!

Personally, I'd ahve not taken it back to wood, just cleaned up the finish and used that as the 'primer' and starting from scratch is going to take a lot of preparation...still good practice

While you are in theis position, if you have a mind to, there are a number of vulneable areas you might consider beefing up, especially with such a thin body. The bridge is a particularly vulnerable place (I have a bass wood strat which pullled the wood forward of the mounting screws completely out...while in storage just from the string tension!) You might consider say some hardwood let into such areas and otehr areas of such stress.

[cynical1]

Nov 26, 2012 23:58:41 GMT -5 @pyrros said:

Nov 26, 2012 18:48:43 GMT -5 candyflipper7 said:

...Not to mention massive amounts of poly on the body. Took forever to get to bare wood.

does this help eliminate some dead spots?

OK, any finish in the neck pocket is something I try to avoid. This, I agree would be an issue. Poly on the body, IMHO, is much less of an issue. The whole "thin nitro for tone" Feldergarb is just a promotion for the age old cheapest way to finish wood in a production environment.

First off, polyurethane is merely a varnish. There are three types of varnishes: Phenolic, Alkyd and Polyurethane. Varnishes consist of a resin and solvent. You apply the finish and the solvent evaporates leaving the resin as a protective coating on whatever it's applied to. In this case, with polyurethane there is a chemical reaction to ensure that the mineral spirits that acted as a solvent cannot react with the finish after curing. (Side Note: to make a wiping poly just cut the original poly 50:50 with mineral spirits...but that's another topic...)

Polyurethane uses what could be simply called a plastic resin. It is tough, resistant to abrasion and most chemical compounds your guitar will come in contact with. It performs the "protect my wood" function about as well as anything out there, aside from the industrial catalyst and epoxy finishes that require special equipment and application processes.

Before you recoil in terror at putting plastic on your guitar, let me mention Dan Armstrong. Some of you might be too young to recall, but he made clear acrylic guitars and basses back in the 70's. They sounded amazingly good, and he did it without using any organic materials in the body. Here's a version resurrected by a more recent company, Skylark:



Granted, it's YouTube, and probably a subjective representation. So, kick around a few good guitar shops for a while and scare up an old Armstrong.

And don't get me started on Fullerplast... Plastic is not the Great Satan or part of some Axe's of Evil. Get over it folks.

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[Deleted]

great info, thanx

[halfstack]

I always use hardwood dowels for the screw holes.bondo makes a tube of red patch type stuff I bought it at wall mart.says good to use on wood on the tube.great for small knicks and such.