Gav's MKA-2

[gavinturner]

Hey Ho Let's Go!!

It's on again. My MKA-2 arrived today and she's a beaut. The ash body is quite dark, with a subtle grain running top to bottom. The neck is nice with quite a bit of grain to be seen here as well.







I bought a tremelo and roller bridge the other day for another build, but would really like to use them here. Trouble is, the post holes for the stop tailpiece aren't quite covered by the tremolo. I can easily fill them with dowel, but the fix is going to show. I wanted to stain this bad boy (tobacco burst) so now I'm in a quandary.





Is there anything I can do? Maybe I need another tremolo (eg. bigsby with adapter)? Any suggestions greatly received.

cheers,
Gav.

[stan]

if you cut an ash plug an aligned the grain it might blend in pretty well... You could take a piece from down the bottom between the pups that will be covered by the scratch plate: just shorten the rectangular bit that separates the pups then cut it from that.

I presume the trem is not where you want it if you simply slide it all forward a bit more...

[wokkaboy]

hey Gav, nice looking kit you scored mate. Is that headstock the maple grain ? looks very nice.
Maybe with the tailpiece post holes I'd fill them with dowel then could you cut a small black acrylic surround to cover the holes. Would be a unique look but would look better than a veneer covering the holes.
Doesn't have to be big, maybe similar shape to a tele coverplate, and drill holes through if necessary to mount the roller bridge. Just needs to cover the dowel

[gavinturner]

@stan - yeah the tremelo can't come much furher forward as it'll be too close to the bridge. Unfrtunately the tremelo isn't wide enough to cover the holes completely anyway.

@wokka - yes i think it's all maple. i've never seen one with so much grain. i had also thought about something like your coverplate idea as well. extend the black as a cover plate to sit under the trem. i'll think a little bit more about it.

thanks for the quick feedback fellas!!

cheers,
Gav.

[wokkaboy]

that may also work what Stan suggested Gav, if you can try match the grain as best you can. Or as Stan suggested can the roller bridge move a bit more forward to cover the post holes ?

[stan]

dowel it, put a black stripe (or any solid colour) through the centre, stain the rest

[wokkaboy]

yeah a one piece pickguard that covers the post holes would be cool Gav, bit of work, maybe Pablo can cut one ?

[stan]

there are really only a couple of options:
Hide it
make a feature of it

or,use the original hardware...

[stan]

see if a big fat Bigsby will cover it...

shape up a thin steel base plate

[wokkaboy]

hey Stan on another topic, you are only 93 posts off 2nd ever overlord of music forumite !
join the elite club soon mate !