Hi there I am trying to upgrade my tuners on my strat to proper genuine usa fender tuners with the 2 pins. I noticed when I installed one of the tuners an old screw hole shows from the old tuning peg on the back of the neck. Is there anyway to cover this hole and not make it noticeable? I have spoken to a pro about it and they will do it for 180 dollars and im not really keen to pay that. Im familiar with spraying and doing clear finishes but someone may have an easier soloution then paying so much for this. My neck is a maple neck with a normal wood finish with a tinge of yellowish wood stain to it with a clear lacquer over it. Any tips guts would be excellent.

Thankyou for your time.

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"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
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Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

I think there is a wood filler compound that might work,try a hardware store to see if they have a maple color compound and experiment by drilling small holes in other woods that is close the same color as maple then filling them and knife or rub over to make it flush,let dry and then see if it matches,if so You can fill the holes and You should only see a dot where a hole once was.
hope this helps?

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Everything belongs to JESUS!

1998 Fender Deluxe Super Strat
2008 PRS SE Singlecut

Marshall MgHD100FX single
Line6 Spider ll
Crate Kx 15


Digitech GNX1
Boss DS-1 pedal

Ohhh ledgend I never knew you could get different wood filler colours for diff variety of woods. Thanks mate ill give it a go and see how It turns out cheers

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"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
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Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

The screw hole is on the back of the headstock? No one will see it or care. Leave it alone or you risk just making it worse.

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Bill

My apologies for offending you. I wasn't aware that I'm not allowed to offer my opinion.

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Bill

Hi samborafan1122: smoothly side-stepping discussion of better-or-worse, here's how I do it, just to offer you some options.

This was a tuner screw that sheered off inside its hole:



No way to get it out except drill it out, wrecking the hole in the process. So it needed filling and redrilling, and being a total anal retentive I wanted to keep it looking nice, even though it was going to be hidden by the tuner casing. (I know, I know...):





So the smart bit. You take a leather punch, for making holes in belts and such like. Very cheap from tool shops and hardware stores. You then punch out some little circles of maple veneer (which you can buy in small pieces very easily and cheaply at timber suppliers or online):



The tricks are first to punch out the right sized disc for the job. And second not to try to match the grain - because you can't. Instead you choose the plainest bit of grain from the veneer and then use some artist's paint and sable brushes to touch on a few lines to match the grain and hue of the surrounding wood. Then a drop of new lacquer to finish:



If someone wants to tell me this is over the top and totally neurotic I cannot disagree.

This is the type of leather punch I'm talking about - it cuts out a small disc of leather, wood or what you will. Different sized holes are possible, as you see, to be matched to your drill bit of choice:





It is possible to cut dots out of maple:



- or for that matter ebony, or anything else you like:



And as it happens I also use a similar technique for making real wood dot marker inlays. Here are maple dots on an ebony 'board:



(That's a Ceri neck halfway through being built.)

So. Possibilities...

Cheers - C

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Is that build being documented in another thread here?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

In my opinion, if the repair can't be done the right way (as Ceri illustrates), doing nothing is better than slathering some wood filler around and in the hole (which should be enlarged and tapered to fill it properly).

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Bill

Not yet - "coming soon"...

Are those your Strats in the pic? I don't remember those ones. Or do I?

Cheers - C

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That's a mid-80s photo of my Strat collection. From top to bottom: '64, '71, '54, '75, '74. I see a few still had after-market pickups in 'em. Which ones do you remember?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Ceri has a good post....I'd do that if I never planned on returning to the original style tuners. Otherwise, do not use wood filler, that just looks terrible, and it will dry and shrink and eventually fall out. You could glue in a dowel that fills the holes. But there is really no ill effects of just leaving the holes like they are, especially if you ever decide to sell the guitar and put it back to original condition.

Well, I remember the '54 - naturally! And I remember that you have a big headstock lefty set up for a right-hander, for respectable Hendrix related reasons, if I recall correctly. And I have a vague notion there was a story about the body on that '74, but that is where my memory is running out.

I also remember that you have a '54, a '64 and a '74, but no '84, '94 or 2004. Which worries the latent obsessive-compulsive in me...

Cheers - C

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I suppose that it's never too late to correct that oversight. (I do have a '95 Tele and a couple '05 Strats, which is close to covering a couple of those missing years, but no cigar.)

On a different note, I thought of something for your "recreate famous album covers" hobby ... where's that block of flats that the Fab Four was hanging out of on their first album?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

This?



Ha, good call! I had the same idea and looked it up in my copy of London's Rock Landmarks: turned out it was EMI's headquarters building from 1960-95, located in the center of town. I went past one day hoping to do the photo - only to find that it was demolished more than a decade ago.

So the only Beatles location I could get was the inevitable one at Abbey Road...:



Cheers - The Pre-Fab 1x4

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We're looking for results, not excuses!!

Start that time machine build thread, put the Blue Badger's discretionary fund to work.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.