Filling Strat Tremolo Cavity

powerhand

I've got a strat body and I want to fill the tremolo cavity so I can repaint the body and there'll be no sign it was ever there.  I have neither the tools nor the skills to make a solid wood cavity block like hipshot make, and it's left-handed, so I can't buy one ready made.

I had an idea to create a 'paste' from wood glue and sawdust and then fill the cavity with this.  Once it's dry, sand it flat, repaint the body, fit a hardtail bridge and hey presto!

I won't be the first person to have thought of this, so are there any pitfalls?  Will it work at all?  Will the dried 'paste' be strong enough to screw the hardtail bridge into?

victorludorum

Will you hear any other answers than?... sell this body and buy a hardtail one, bearing in mind you want to paint it anyway.

paulnb57

victorludorum said:

Will you hear any other answers than?... sell this body and buy a hardtail one, bearing in mind you want to paint it anyway.

What he said, sounds like a lot of pain for not much gain, bite the bullet and buy a hardtail, keep the current body for a later project or sell it....I bet Guitarbuild will make a lefty...

sawyer

Check out Guitarbuild body's. They sell them on ebay a bit cheaper or they have there own site. New body the only way to achieve what you want to accomplish.Even if you do manage to fill the cavity you'd still see it through the paint. Wood moves so you would end up with an outline of the fill beneath the paint.You'd have to veneer over the back of the guitar to make it completely invisible. It's doubtful your paste would be strong enought to screw into. There's a massive amount of pull on a set of guitar strings. You could block off the trem which would essentially make it a hard tail. Other than that a new body is your best option. Sorry:(

WezV

The paste filler won't hold the screws.  It's also likely it will shrink and crack.  It will certainly be far from invisible when finished.

if you were doing it properly even the properly shaped plug won't be invisible after a year or two of natural wood movement.  

ICBM

You could always do what I came across once on a 70s Strat…

1. Set the bridge tightly flat on the body.

2. Turn the guitar over and fill the trem cavity up to the top of the block with clear casting resin. Do not remove the springs first.




As the others have said there's no way to do this completely invisibly even if you fill it with matching wood and paint over it with a solid colour - you'll always see the outline once a bit of wood movement occurs.

If you want it invisible, you need a new body. If not, just block the bridge.

powerhand

I'm sensing a common theme here: if you want a hardtail, buy a hardtail body. Received and understood! Thanks.