Filling pickup rout on a Poly body

[chrisdski]

I have a 1973 Tele bass that has a jazz pickup routed into the body right before the bridge. I would like to restore this to original by filling the rout. What I have in mind is glueing a wood plug shaped like the jazz pickup into the rout, filling the cracks with something, then polying over the repair (and some minor buckle rash on the rear). Then sand the whole body to rough up the surface (not to remove the poly) and to blend the poly repair (hopefully hiding any truth lines), prime over the poly, then paint. Is it possible to refinish over poly, or is this all folly?

[jingle_jangle]

Hmmm..."poly".

"Poly" could mean polyester to some. It could mean catalyzing polyurethane (the finish that RIC uses) to others. Unfortunately, to yet another group, "poly" refers to air-dry floor or furniture varnish.

To a plastics engineer, there are dozens of "polys": polyurethane, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, just to name a few basic types.

It's common on guitar forums to see talk of "poly" finishes. (I suppose, as opposed to "nitro" finishes?)

If it's a factory, imported Fender finish, it's going to be polyester. You can do anything to polyester short of flame thrower or nuclear device, and it bounces back for more. That's the good. The bad is that it's thick, brittle, and impossible to remove, although you can paint over it with good success.

What kind of "poly" is on your bass? If it's NOT factory, then it's anybody's guess--and I have seen natural guitars finished in floor varnish. You can't put anything over air-dry floor or furniture varnish, except more floor or furniture varnish, alkyd enamel, or rattle-can enamel, or it will wrinkle and lift.

So, you can see that two different "poly" finishes have two entirely different profiles; one crazy durable and the other OK until you try to put virtually any other kind of paint over it.

Hmmm...I'll leave it up to you to figure out which "poly" you have, Chris.

The only way that this bass will ever handle the pickup fill, is if you're planning to paint it an opaque color (any Fender custom color is OK); any transparent tint-type color is going to show the fill, OK?

So, assuming you're stuck painting it black or white or ?, you can fill as you describe, but add a layer of epoxy-wetted veil cloth (the woven kind that looks and feels like a fine handkerchief) over the completed patch and blend it into the rest of the surface of the top. Veil cloth is micro-thin, and you need to laminate it carefully without any bubbles, sand it lightly once cured, and then spray a couple of coats of polyester primer/surfacer (Evercoat brand). Sand until absolutely smooth. If there's no cloth weave showing, you can apply color. If weave shows, sand and prime again.

The veil cloth will prevent the lines from your patch from printing through the painted surface with time and use. Google it and "epoxy laminating resin" for some facts and sources. Don't buy non-woven or random-woven so-called "veil cloth". It's thin, non-structural mat, and way too thick for what we're trying to do here.

And, yeah, it is a lot of work!

[teb]

I think you should get a chunk of walnut and a hunk of 3/16" birch dowel. Then cut out a walnut J-Bass pickup, bore some holes in it to insert birch dowel "poles" and think up a good line to baffle those who are curious about it. "Notice how I get such a nice woody tone when I use the bridge pickup....."

[chrisdski]

Thanks for the reply, Paul. To clarify, this is the original Fender USA factory finish that is on this bass. I have plans to refinish in Fender Black. The buckle rash on the back is down what I would say 1 layer- there is either more of the factory "Poly" or maybe the fullerplast at this area. Do I sand only to smooth or should this have the microcloth also or leveled by other means?

[jps]

I have a 1973 Tele bass that has a jazz pickup routed into the body right before the bridge.

Hey, at least when I did the same thing to a '72 Tele Bass I used a Rick hi-gain pickup(the HG was about 3" from the bridge on mine). What was the guy thinking by using a Jazz pickup?

[jingle_jangle]

Thanks for the reply, Paul. To clarify, this is the original Fender USA factory finish that is on this bass. I have plans to refinish in Fender Black. The buckle rash on the back is down what I would say 1 layer- there is either more of the factory "Poly" or maybe the fullerplast at this area. Do I sand only to smooth or should this have the microcloth also or leveled by other means?

The factory finish on this was a lacquer over Fullerplast.

Sand the whole back smooth. It should be down to #320 grit before priming. Smoother than 320 defeats the primer's adhesion.

You only need to use the veil cloth over the front in the area of the bridge fill, out to about 1 1/2" on all sides of the fill.

[chrisdski]

I pulled all the gear off of the body today. Paul, what can I use to fill the gnarly routs that are in the wire channel under the pick guard? I want to rebuild the channel to stock. As it will be under the pick guard it won't be as visible as the jazz pickup repair. Can it be filled with some type of wood putty, then epoxy resin the last 1/8" or so when the putty is dried? It's pretty deep, probably an inch to inch and a half. I was able to get the fine veil cloth (1/2 oz. per square yard) and slow cure epoxy resin (30 minute) at the local hobby store. They use it for RC planes. How many layers of epoxied veil cloth over the jazz pickup repair?

[sloop_john_b]

Cool bass! But what were they thinking putting that pickup SO close to the bridge??

[chrisdski]

I have been thinking of the best way to get an accurate rout/plug combination for the pickup repair. The X and Y dimensons need to be fairly tight. A wood mill would be best, but I don't own one so dealing with router and/or Dremel templates. I came across this today which I think will fit the bill nicely combined with my dremel mounted above or a drill press for the Z axis. I could build a little mounting pad for the bass body to secure it to the pictured vise, then be able to easily mill the needed rout and corresponding plug. Anyone use one of these before?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=94276

[jingle_jangle]

We used to have them in the shop at the U here, but they became superfluous...not bad for occasional use on a floor-standing drill press, but I'd rethink the Dremel thing, unless you're only going to take off about 1/32" (.030") at a time on the "Z" (depth of cut). It'll be slow going, and not very precise, despite what the ad copy says...

[chrisdski]

Made a simple jig and routed out the areas to be plugged. Next is to get some ash to make the plugs.

[chrisdski]

Finally got around to finishing this project. Finished with ReRanch fender vintage cream. Sanded to a dull finish- will leave it like that for awhile for that old look.