Hello From Florida!

Hello All, Although I've built and sold other guitar kit builds, this ES12G is my first Pit Bull project. I've already encountered what I think is a significant issue in that all four pre-drilled bridge post holes appear to have been made too large and all the hardware posts slips easily into the predrilled holes. While I'm considering using tape of some sort to wrap the posts producing a tighter fit. I'm wondering if other's have experienced the same thing in their kits and/or what other options other's have tried short of plugging the holes with dowels and re-drilling.

Very Respectfully,

SWER

Welcome SWER. I don’t recall anyone else having this issue, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before. Plugging and re-drilling is probably the best option. But first I’d try and measure the hole diameters, it may be a hardware issue rather than the holes being too large.

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

Welcome SWER. I don’t recall anyone else having this issue, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before. Plugging and re-drilling is probably the best option. But first I’d try and measure the hole diameters, it may be a hardware issue rather than the holes being too large.

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Thank you very much for the response and information. Kit hardware diameter measurements for the posts are .411 at the end and .447 at the splines.

Pre-drilled holes in the guitar body measure .450, .452, .451 and .450 respectively.


I have some extremely thin like "skin thin" mahogany that I'm thinking on epoxying in as an inside lining in the pre-drilled holes.


Information on other options are appreciated.

Hi SWER,

I am also in FL. Welcome! I had this same problem on a kit that I got...but not from PB. Mine was on an ES style Bass. One thing to check before you do anything else is to see whether the bridge is in the right place. On both of mine (the PB and the non-PB bass), the neck slot did not line up exactly with where the bridge needed to go. I don't think that's necessarily a common problem...but any time you are in a plug-and-re-drill situation, it's a good idea to check and make sure that the holes were in the right place to begin with.

With the basses there have been some problems with post-pull out, at least with three point bridges. On your kit I don't think that will be a problem with the bridge because string tension will be "pushing" the bridge into the top. The stop tailpiece, OTOH, will have a lot of tension on it with a 12 string. Coincidentally, I have also just "given up" on using veneer to make a too-big hole a little smaller. In my case it was on a machine head hole for a bass. Even with a 17mm hole I could not get the veneer to bend sufficiently without breaking.

FWIW, Between the need to withstand tension and the difficulty getting the veneer to bend without breaking, I'd be inclined to fill and re-drill the hole.

I’ve just used some maple veneer to close down a couple of holes on my resonator kit, they are 40mm or so and even with the thin maple it was hard to get it to conform to that sized hole. With a bridge anchor hole I think you may struggle as Fender3x suggests.
I wold probably assess the positioning then plug as it’s going to be the easier option.

Thank you all so very much. After making certain via centerline and measurements, the predrilled holes seem to be spot on.
Interesting enough however something extraordinary has occurred.

After cutting some pieces of the "skin thin" mahogany I have, wetting it down and forming it around some hardwood dowels, letting most of the moisture dry-out and then inserting the wrapped dowel into the predrilled holes to see if this might work. An hour or so later, I began to removed all the dowel wrapped pieces and found that the remaining moisture has caused the pre-drilled holes to shrink. Now the original hardware is so snug that they'd need to be forced in which I won't do. I'm quite certain that as whatever moisture exists around the pre-drilled holes at this time, the holes will become larger again. If so, I plan on proceeding with the plan to use the mahogany liners and then pressing in the posts at the proper time of assembly.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to all for helping. I'll not doubt reach out again to the wealth of knowledge available on this forum before this project is finished.

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Originally Posted by SongwriterER

Thank you all so very much. After making certain via centerline and measurements, the predrilled holes seem to be spot on.
Interesting enough however something extraordinary has occurred.

After cutting some pieces of the "skin thin" mahogany I have, wetting it down and forming it around some hardwood dowels, letting most of the moisture dry-out and then inserting the wrapped dowel into the predrilled holes to see if this might work. An hour or so later, I began to removed all the dowel wrapped pieces and found that the remaining moisture has caused the pre-drilled holes to shrink. Now the original hardware is so snug that they'd need to be forced in which I won't do. I'm quite certain that as whatever moisture exists around the pre-drilled holes at this time, the holes will become larger again. If so, I plan on proceeding with the plan to use the mahogany liners and then pressing in the posts at the proper time of assembly.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to all for helping. I'll not doubt reach out again to the wealth of knowledge available on this forum before this project is finished.

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That is kinda kooky. How thin is the mahogany you are using? The Maple I had on mine was 0.5mm/0.020" and i thinned it slightly with 80 grit before I bent it. It's in now so its just a matter of cleaning it up, but i should have probably tried to pre-form it as you did first.
live and learn i guess!

I've just refurbed a friend's mid-70s Hondo II LP copy (where the bridge holes were definitely located too far forwards and I've had to set the saddles all the way to the back to get anywhere close to the correct intonation) and swapped to gold hardware (as it is supposed to be a black Custom). The new post sockets were loose in the existing holes, so I wrapped copper shielding tape around the posts and they went in very snugly indeed.

You do get the copper being pushed up the posts and a small amount protruding under the lip of the insert, but I cut it away with a scalpel and it now looks fine.

Welcome songwriter!

Forget the copper tape around the posts being a good solution - it worked for the bridge but not the stop piece, which slowly pulled its posts out of the guitar.,

So now I'm gluing veneer shims in around the sides of the post holes. I'm not trying to do it all at once, so far I've glued in four pieces of veneer, about 4mm wide, around each hole. I've now got to go back and glue some more in the gaps left. It's a lot easier than trying to do it all at once with a single piece of veneer.