Mustang body fix

[blooze]

A relatively new friend of mine has given me a '64 Mustang minus the electronics.  Everything is in good shape except he and some of his buddies at one time decided to drill a hole into the edge of the body in an attempt to attach an edge-mount cable jack.  They obviously did it with a hand drill and then decided that it wasn't going to work so put a plug of wood in the hole and filled the space around it up with epoxy.  Is there any way to fix this totally botched job as the rest of the body is in good shape?

[ohm-men]

Do wanna leave the plug in? Or make a new one.
If you leave it in, you can do a patch up of the paint.
Try to match the colour as close a possible and buff it out. Normally is will "blend in" with the original colour.
I did smaller erea's using this method. Worked out fine. I guess a "64 has a nitro based paint and finish. So perhaps try re-ranch.com for some tips and tricks.
They have a great "how to do it" section on the site and you can order nitro paint from them.

[blooze]

Thanks for the reply.

The paint was nearly gone off of (looked very, very bad--way past cool vintage used look) so I've stripped the paint and grain filled and sanded.  But the plug job they did was horrible and still has some dips where the epoxy shrunk in around the plug.  I was thinking of putting some Bondo over that spot to even and smooth it out before repainting as it will look like junk if I don't.  Would this be a good way to go?

[ohm-men]

Well Bondo would do the job, since it does not shrink. Carefully sand smooth afterwards.
Or you could drill a nice round hole and make a new snugg fitting plug.
But if you are doing a solid colour, the bondo will be more then good as long as the filling is done completely and after priming it is no longer visible.
Perhaps you can post a pic of the plug as it is now?
But getting a Mustang body is always nice imo....

[blooze]

Ok, here's some pics.  I haven't finished cleaning up some of it up, so please don't be too harsh.

[theworkoffire]

Wow. I love them when they're naked like this!

I don't know where you've come from but you're certainly never going to get harsh responses to posts like that here  .

The plug looks fine to me - just make sure you fill right around and over it about 1mm thick then sand it down with a block as much as possible, finishing off with your fingers so you can feel any irregularities. Give it a bit more sealer than the rest of the body just to be sure, sanding down well with #320 between coats. Once the sealer and primer go on you shouldn't be able to tell it was ever there.

[ohm-men]

Wow, stunning looker. Could'nt of said it any better then the workoffire did. Plug looks good. No need to drill it out and replace it.
Keep us posted on your progress

Are you gonna refin it in CAR? Looks like it was CAR given the cavety colour. Hmmm CAR with a Race stripe
I always liked Competition Mustangs.

[the older brother]

Nice!

Keep us updated on the progress!

Looks like it's been both OLY and CAR - or maybe the white isn't OLY, but primer...  :-\

Anyway - it's been tinted yellow and my suggestion is that you do that too - it's one of the ingrediens that makes an old guitars wear looking awesome!

[blooze]

The original color was Dakota Red.  The primer underneath was probably white at one time, but had a faint tinge of yellow to it when I stripped it.  The white spots and such are where I filled the grain and little gouges with a white colored paste filler. It let me see where I had missed.   I haven't decided on a color yet, but since the body is "damaged", I was thinking about painting it a 1970 Chevy green.  It had a very slight metallic to it.  I saw a rebuilt Camaro with that color and it was a nice dark green.  We'll see.

The neck is in pristine shape without a scratch on it.  The frets are a little tarnished, but that's it.  The chrome hardware looks new as well.  All the electronics will need to be replaced, though.  Thoughts on pickups?

[theworkoffire]

I can't stand dark green metallics, and I think the idea of copying a colour from a car is just ridiculous. What the hell are you thinking?





...but each to their own, whatever 

Curtis Novak will do you good pickups - Mustang's aren't (or never used to be) listed on his site, you just need to email him about it.

[Stratelejazzuar]

that is one damn fine piece of poplar! 

do a 50s 2-tone burst! or mary kay white! 

[Ryan]

Li'l Bondo'll fix'er right up!

[blooze]

I can't stand dark green metallics, and I think the idea of copying a colour from a car is just ridiculous. What the hell are you thinking?
...but each to their own, whatever 

Curtis Novak will do you good pickups - Mustang's aren't (or never used to be) listed on his site, you just need to email him about it.

Thanks for the pickup info.  Yeah, I know the green is not standard.  But from what I understand most of the early Fender colors were taken from cars.  Such as the Dakota Red that this guitar was.  I'm thinking that I will never sell this guitar, so it doesn't necessarily have to match the original colors.  I would love to do a two-tone, but I don't really have the equipment nor space to do it right.  And I definitely am going to have to cover the grain completely, at least on the body edge where this plug is.
http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/dakredaer.html

[Ryan]

A sunburst mustang would be HOT. That grain is really nice, it would look beautiful under a tinted finish.

[theworkoffire]

I can't stand dark green metallics, and I think the idea of copying a colour from a car is just ridiculous. What the hell are you thinking?
...but each to their own, whatever 

Curtis Novak will do you good pickups - Mustang's aren't (or never used to be) listed on his site, you just need to email him about it.

Thanks for the pickup info.  Yeah, I know the green is not standard.  But from what I understand most of the early Fender colors were taken from cars.  Such as the Dakota Red that this guitar was.  I'm thinking that I will never sell this guitar, so it doesn't necessarily have to match the original colors.  I would love to do a two-tone, but I don't really have the equipment nor space to do it right.  And I definitely am going to have to cover the grain completely, at least on the body edge where this plug is.
http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/dakredaer.html

Sorry, I was joking about the green and the car! - click the blue text...