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Fantastic!!

Yes that would be a very fine thing!

Filling in some of the deepest damage on the Jaguar before I add some larger plugs.





Adding an eighth of an inch to the neck pocket




Turning a 4-string bass neck into a 6-string bass neck
(I needed to extract 6 broken-off screws from the neck too!)




The neck I picked up is about 4mm less thick and a bit wider than the original - I added some mahogany to patch chips in the neck pocket and glued a shim to the bottom of the neck pocket (with a little cutout to show some factory markings.)
...I also did a bunch of sanding and measuring to make sure that the strings would be centered on the bridge when the neck is bolted in.

Beautiful, and very useful to me as well!

What a great project, especially the Jag! After your Vox'd JM, this one will be a walk in the park.

Looking forward to watching your progress.

will wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 02, 2024 5:15 pm

I chiseled out the plug and found more CAR evidence

^^ seeing that trem route intact at the bottom is super helpful. I'm sure you have the repair mapped out already, but I would make a custom template for a large "plug" that covers the whole area as deep as you need it to go. Glue that in place, and mark where the trem route is hiding underneath.

Then drill a 1/2" hole on your mark and get a router with a 1/4" flush trim router bit down the hole (the kind with a guide bearing at the top and it'll follow the path of the original trem route underneath.

Good stuff! Enjoy the project.

Surely the guide bearing at the bottom, in this case?
EDIT unless that refers to the "top" of the bit sitting up from a router table? anyway it seems like the bearing would need to be on the far end from the router.

That's pretty much the plan - two more large plugs to fill in the damage, using the original routs as much as I can as guides when I get it back to normal.

- then routing and adding a 1/8" thick piece of alder to the center of the top and back, so that glue lines don't appear through the finish (no telltale Fender Custom/Maverick plug showing on the back from the hardtail patch.)

MattK wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:51 pm

Surely the guide bearing at the bottom, in this case?
EDIT unless that refers to the "top" of the bit sitting up from a router table? anyway it seems like the bearing would need to be on the far end from the router.

Might just be a matter of semantics. I was thinking in terms of the guide bearing at the tip of the router bit (opposite end from the router).

will wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:59 pm

- then routing and adding a 1/8" thick piece of alder to the center of the top and back, so that glue lines don't appear through the finish (no telltale Fender Custom/Maverick plug showing on the back from the hardtail patch.)

It’s possible to eliminate patch lines without putting a veneer on the guitar. Getting a tight plug fit through woodworking, then using two-part epoxy over the seam lines (sanding it back down, essentially as a filler that doesn’t shrink over time). Then later use a heavy sealer coat and block sand it well, the seams should be invisible.

Highnumbers wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:35 pm

will wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:59 pm

- then routing and adding a 1/8" thick piece of alder to the center of the top and back, so that glue lines don't appear through the finish (no telltale Fender Custom/Maverick plug showing on the back from the hardtail patch.)

It’s possible to eliminate patch lines without putting a veneer on the guitar. Getting a tight plug fit through woodworking, then using two-part epoxy over the seam lines (sanding it back down, essentially as a filler that doesn’t shrink over time). Then later use a heavy sealer coat and block sand it well, the seams should be invisible.

Even after a few years of the wood expanding / contracting? The filler might be stable; wood often isn't.

Steadyriot. wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 26, 2024 1:58 am

Highnumbers wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:35 pm

will wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:59 pm

- then routing and adding a 1/8" thick piece of alder to the center of the top and back, so that glue lines don't appear through the finish (no telltale Fender Custom/Maverick plug showing on the back from the hardtail patch.)

It’s possible to eliminate patch lines without putting a veneer on the guitar. Getting a tight plug fit through woodworking, then using two-part epoxy over the seam lines (sanding it back down, essentially as a filler that doesn’t shrink over time). Then later use a heavy sealer coat and block sand it well, the seams should be invisible.

Even after a few years of the wood expanding / contracting? The filler might be stable; wood often isn't.

Wood explanding and contracting has more to do with the climate in your part of the world.

I have guitars that I repaired a decade ago as described above, and no seams show through.

Besides, adding a 1/8" veneer just leaves you with a huge seam all the way along the edge where the veneer meets the original body on the sides. If you're concerned about seams showing, that will only increase the chances.

I'm pretty sure that everyone will have their own way of repairing damage. I've already figured out how I'll be approaching this project. Personally, I don't like it when patch lines show up across the grain of the wood and I live in an environment where there will be changes in humidity over time. The glue lines for plugs would be on large flat areas of the body where waves and ripples are easy to spot, especially since I'm planning on using a darker color. Using some thin alder to cover the plugs will keep any glue lines in line with the woodgrain instead of across the grain, except for an area on the radiused edge of the body where variation in the surface will be less likely to stick out.

Nice, looking forward to seeing it come together, Will!