I’ve just realised I’ve posted this in the wrong section, it should have been in the Guitar ER section. Doh! 

It could look classy if you plug nicely with a contrasting wood and re-route? I'm sure that's one of your ideas anyway...

You probably won't like this but my advice is to just leave it! I've seen a lot worse... You can ruin something by trying to get it perfect (ask me how I know...(no please don't))

It won't move under string tension as the strings will be pulling it hard against the body, but it will move and fall off if you remove all the strings...

Some 'bodge' ideas

You could use a strip of self adhesive, 1mm thick neoprene, around the outside to hide the gap?

or

Maybe glue it in? - you'd have to be super careful not to get any on the finish (mask off - scalpel round the hole) but you could use epoxy resin - that will fill all the gaps and look not too bad.

• Put the guitar face down with a couple of strings on to hold the block in place
• Carefully mask up
• Fill the gap with epoxy up to the top and let it settle so it sits flat
• Clean up any excess with Acetone or meths (ugh..) Check it doesn't mash your finish first!
• Then leave it alone for a bit...but you probably want to remove any masking tape before the glue goes too hard...

If you want the block to be removable you could cover it in beeswax first?

The 'proper' fix of course is probably to fill with wood and re-route but of course that will affect the finish.

or

Maybe make a new string ferrule block that fits? Aluminium would work?

or even better next time check everything fits first before you apply the finish!

Sorry...to mention that...but I have to - its my job ? 

Let me know what you decide...or if you need any more help...or if you have a better idea!

Cheers

M

Ooooooooo....... I hadn’t thought of that actually Herb, great idea! 

I thought of just gluing some shims on either side of the cavity so it will be a tighter fit. I don’t mind a bit of a gap on the top bit where it is visible, I just want the inner part to be a tight fit so it doesn’t move. 

Thanks for that idea though Herb. 

moved ? 

Right, thanks for all that Mark and I’m not going to ask how you know. ? 

I think what I will do is string it up and see what happens when I put it through some rough playing. If it doesn’t affect the tuning stability, I may leave it. The thing is, it doesn’t really matter because I will learn from this and do it right next time on a future build. 

Thanks for all the advice Mark, I appreciate it. 

Ill let you know what happens. 

Incidentally -

This is why I highly recommend 'size for size' cutters and patterns for copy routing.

Makes things A LOT easier... ? 

Point taken. ?

Posted by: mark bailey

Incidentally -

This is why I highly recommend 'size for size' cutters and patterns for copy routing.

Makes things A LOT easier... ? 

 

I have to admit I didn’t realise I would be using a bush on the router until I had the thing delivered. It’s an acceptable way of cutting but if you did what I did and use the wrong size cutting bit, there is room for user error. I thought it was going to be a set of templates for use with bearing cutters but it wasn’t to be. 

The thing is though, I don’t blame anyone but myself, it was my mistake. I’m not too bothered about it, I just want it to play ok and I’m sure it will. 

Onwards and upwards. 

Posted by: mark bailey

moved ? 

Yes! It is now in the right place. ???✌️

I decided to cut up some pieces of an old credit card and use them to jam the ferrule block into the cavity, it works well. I’m going to relacquer the whole guitar first before permanently gluing the ferrule block in place. 

Thanks for your input.