Pickguard Holes in the Wrong Place?

Here is a method I developed to fix those annoying pickguard holes that are in the wrong place. If they were far enough away from the correct location to match your new pickguard, you could just drill a new hole. But most always it seems like the required hole is less than a diameter away from the existing hole. There are common hole fill methods that have been successfully and widely used, but have their issues.

• Toothpick fill – This fills the hole and allows grip for the new hole. The problem is re-drilling. The bit tends to line up with the nearest valley or void in the surface left by the rough end(s) of the toothpick(s). It would be more desirable to re-drill into a completely flat surface.
• Dowel fill – This can be risky. You must make sure the dowel diameter is big enough so the new hole center is drilled in the dowel and not in the crack between the dowel. Often times the dowel diameter breaks out into the visible area outside the pickguard. It is also hard to line up the butt (depth) of the dowel with the surface of the guitar.
• Wood filler – Most wood fillers have the consistency of peanut butter. It is impossible to completely fill the hole with no voids. Push it in with a toothpick...and it comes back out with the toothpick.

The method I am describing uses a watered down wood filler, applied with an industrial dispensing syringe. The surface is leveled, then re-drilled with a handy drill guide. Since the pickguard is low mass, you don’t need a high torque on the screw. So a water soluble wood filler is plenty adequate. I do not recommend the same process for the strap button holes, requiring much more torque.

Filling the Hole

Please practice on a 2X4 or some piece of wood first to get the hang of it. I use Elmer’s Wood Filler PN# E-868, available from most any home improvement store. Squirt some out on a piece of cardboard. It has the consistency of peanut butter.

Add water to the wood filler one drop at a time and mix with a stick until it has the viscosity of mustard (or slightly less). If it is too viscous, you will not be able to dispense it out the syringe. If it is too watery, it will cause bubble voids in the hole.

Assemble a syringe with a #14GA blunt industrial dispensing needle. Use a vise to hold the syringe body upward. Bend the cardboard in the area of the filler material into a V shape and use it as a funnel to pour it into the syringe body.

From now on, always have some moistened paper towels on hand to clean spills. Do as the doctor does and depress the plunger while pointing the needle upward to push out the air. I recommend practicing on a scrap piece.

CAUTION: If you dispense too much, make sure to wipe toward the inside of the pickguard area. The smeared filler is hard to remove off the shiny finish. Avoid getting filler on the exposed guitar finish area. If you do, wipe it down with water soaked rag.

Lay the guitar on the bench, holes face up. Insert the needle fully into the hole and bring it back out about half way.

GENTLY press the plunger, until filler appears. Methodically bring the syringe upward out of the hole, dispensing more, until you leave the smallest meniscus bump of filler possible. This takes a little practice.

Fill the rest of the holes.

IMPORTANT: Rinse out the syringe with warm water before it dries out. Disassemble it to clean it good. You can use that syringe and needle over and over again if cleaned well.

Let the filler dry for at least 24 hours. If any voids in the filler are noticeable from the top, you can always re-drill and fill again.

Use a small chisel (just wider than the filler blob on top of the hole) to scrap off the blob.

CAUTION: Make sure you chisel the hole toward the inside of the pickguard perimeter so trailing scratches are not visible outside the pickguard area.

Re-drilling the Hole

This is the most important step in a good-looking pickguard installation. If you place the pickguard on the guitar and start drilling, there is no way to center the bit. You could eyeball it, and use a scribe to make a dimple in the filler/guitar. That results in less than desirable accuracy. I searched for a way to do this for a long time and I considered developing and fabricating tooling. I am accustomed to using transfer punches to make a dimple in the middle of bigger hole. A transfer punch cannot be used here because the pattern hole in the pickguard is countersunk. There is no depth for the clearance hole to guide the punch.

One day while doing some plumbing on my refrigerator icemaker line, I connected flexible polyethylene pipe that has compression fittings on the end. A brass sleeve, with a flange at the base is inserted into the pipe end, to cause the compression fitting to tighten without caving in the pipe. The shape of that brass sleeve with flange is just what I need as a drill guide. Unfortunately, this sleeve is too big for a Tele guard. After thinking about it for a few days, I found the ultimate drill guide.

A steel or aluminum pop rivet shank is the perfect drill guide!!!

Just push out the popping pin by holding the rivet shank with pliers and tap the pin against something like your workbench. The picture above shows the pop rivet before removed and the shank with the popper removed.

Lets discuss pickguard hardware and sizes of things. Fender instruments use #4 x 0.5” length oval head phillips stainless nickel plated wood/sheet metal screws to affix pickguards. You can find these at any decent hardware store (not Home Depot or Lowes). Home Depot and Lowes are great home improvement stores, but are not “hardware” stores.

The diameter of a #4 screw is 0.112”. The nominal clearance hole on the pickguard is 1/8” (0.125”) The rivet shank used here is a 1/8” shank, which fits into the pickguard loose or tight depending on the pickguard. If you cannot get the rivet into the pickguard, drill out the clearance hole in the pickguard to 1/8”. The rivet I use is a 1/8” shank (steel preferable or aluminum) with a 3/8” grip length (but shank is ~ ½” long un-popped). The inside diameter is 0.078” (5/64”). So, it turns out that a 5/64” bit is an optimum drill diameter to drill into the wood as a tap hole to screw into. Simply put the rivet shank into the pickguard with the flange between the pickguard and the body. Then drill into the shank with a 5/64” bit.

Here are the steps to drilling a perfect pickguard installation.

1. Using 1 rivet shank, line up the pickguard where you want it and drill the 1st hole.
2. Install the rivet shank into a hole opposite the 1st hole and screw down the pickguard into the 1st hole drilled.
3. Line up the pickguard with the one screw installed and drill the second using the rivet shank.
4. Remove pickguard.
5. Put rivet shanks in all other holes except the 2 that you previously drilled and reinstall pickguard, screwing down with the 2 screws just drilled.
6. Drill all remaining holes.
7. Remove pickguard and clean up dust
8. You are ready for final installation.

I found the rivet shank to be a great tool for accurate screw alignment.

©2005 Terry Downs Music™