Quick Tip 2: Filling Bridge Holes in a Guitar Body with Wooden Dowel Rods

[@benjaminwallace6740]

Super helpful video. Thanks for posting.

[@hacksguitarhobby]

You're welcome!

[@iLL_Corvo]

You should squeeze your dowel rod using the teeth of slip joint pliers. The grooves will allow air to escape and glue to flow freely.

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Interesting, will try it, thanks.

[@iLL_Corvo]

@@hacksguitarhobby check out a man named Larry Potterfield on a channel called Midway USA. He's a gunsmith but a master of precision would work

[@gabe2968]

Useful video. I stupidly miscalculated the anchor point for my 2 point tremolo on my Partscaster. Thankfully I realised before I went up in size so it's only a 5mm hole instead of 10mm. Simple fix though. Thank you for the tips. Hard wood dowels, no flutes and try to match the vertical grain of the body to prevent the drill bit from jumping right?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

That’s right, and I’m glad it helped.

[@gabe2968]

@@hacksguitarhobby Update. I split the body all the way through knocking the anchor points in

[@kalleankaa7536]

Can i use dowels made of birch wood for floydnrose stud anchors.

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Should be ok. I try to use dowels of similar hardness in case the woods expand and contract differently, but the reality is that once a hold is doweled and redrilled, there isn’t a great deal of dowel that remains.

[@TheForce_Productions]

Hey! Any idea of what are those three rounded holes for in Fender strats bodies?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Locator holes for their CNC machines.

[@tmmuscics2753]

Thanks bro my partscaster bridge is of centered it needs recentering

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Glad it helped!

[@jangrube2397]

The Last one is exactly what i looked for. The Bolt-Holes on my Floyd-Rose are not straight anymore. The Hole "opened" a bit to the Neck, which made the holes slightly Oval-shaped. Main Problem is, that it can't hold the Tune after touching the Floyd-Rose after years. 8 years it was perfectly working. Changed the String-manufacturer and strength, adjusted everything and kept level. But if you touch the floyd-rose to bend up or bend down, it detunes the string about 20 to 80 cents in the direction you Pulled/touched the floyd-rose. Plan is fixing the Bolt-Holes, replace the bolts with new one and file the edges of the floyd-rose, where it gets in contact with the bolt, thinner. hopefully that will work. Otherwise i have to buy a new floyd-rose or in relation to the price and the guitar, a new guitar. Do you think that my plan can work out pretty well?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

I would think so. It doesn’t sound like the guitar has a lot of monetary value, so there’s not a lot of risk in trying, and it would be very rewarding to fix yourself. Just be aware that you’re in for a full action/intonation setup when you finish the work. Intonation on a Floyd is fun. :) Guitarfetish.com has a heavy duty brass and steel Floyd for a decent price if you do replace the bridge.

[@badarmenia]

Can you use fluted dowels, or cut smooth sided dowel rods?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

I wouldn’t. I always use smooth ones for the most contact between glued surfaces. Maybe rough the sides up just a bit for glue adhesion.

[@archelo69]

If you are planning on re-drilling for new posts, use some type of hardwood dowl. Dont use the standard soft wood dowels at home depot. The soft wood wont hold the string pressure. Ask me how i know….lol

[@hacksguitarhobby]

My Home Depot sells multiple types of dowels. They have some that are unspecified, some that just say hardwood (likely poplar), some that say poplar (a softer hardwood), and some that are oak.

[@archelo69]

⁠@@hacksguitarhobbyIm in South Florida and cant find any hardwood dowels at any Home Depot down here. Asking only yields confused looks. I have to order or drive to a specialty hardware store and hour away. Nice work.

[@wizz3974]

How long do you let the glue dry?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

The wood glue dries in about 30-60 minutes. Check the open time or suggested clamping time on your label.

[@nilsvanderplancken]

I just filed the holes of the metal bridge plate..

[@hacksguitarhobby]

It’s an option, but I use this same technique for lots of things.

[@yourbetterself7051]

Do you drill holes before putting the screws in new spots?? On my vintage guitar the mounting screws are loose .. any suggestions on tightening them up?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Yes, you definitely have to redrill the holes. You can sometimes tighten up screws by removing them, putting a piece of a wooden toothpick and some wood glue in the hole, and reinstalling the screw. The more permanent solution is to fully dowel the hole and redrill the hole at a smaller diameter than the screw size. I usually look for a drill bit that’s about the size of the solid center shaft of the screw, like if you were looking at the screw from the side and imagining if the threads weren’t there.

[@onlyusernameleft2]

You also could have gotten a bridge with the correct string spacing for the body. It would have saved you some time and effort.

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Certainly. The technique is useful for far more things than bridges.

[@ElliotMitchellR]

You'd be surprised how hard it is to find the exact same import bridge

[@Cr0zzAlpha]

I got mine worst..😢

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Sorry to hear that!

[@Cr0zzAlpha]

@@hacksguitarhobby i guess il be replacing the whole section with new piece of wood to hold the trem bridge. some one bought me a fake fender strat long time ago now fixing it..😫..

[@richardwalley2862]

Why not just use a toothpick?

[@hacksguitarhobby]

Too small/narrow