repositioning a strat pickguard

jaymenon

I have a Warmoth Strat body on which the previous owner drilled the pickguard screw holes in the wrong place (1mm off).

So the pickguard is sitting a little oblique.

Is it a relatively straightforward task to plug the 11 screw holes with toothpicks and superglue and re-drill them in the correct place?

Anything to watch out for? Any practical tips please?

Funkfingers

In which direction are the holes in the body displaced? Are they already countersunk?

My first move would be to slacken all of the pickguard screws a couple of turns. There may be enough slack to wiggle the pickguard into the correct position. 

It is possible that the pickguard is being shifted out of position by a physical obstruction in the routed cavities.

If neither of those is the case, the next possibility is to widen the screw holes through the pickguard with a small round file.

jaymenon

Thanks @Funkfingers ;

Holes in the body not countersunk. 

Not enough slack I’m afraid, and since the holes in the pickguard are counter sunk, the pickguard will move to its resting place, when the screws are tightened.

Excellent point - but no obstruction in the routed cavities.

Widening the screw holes in the pickguard would indeed give me the slack I’m looking for but, wouldn’t the countersunk holes once again pull the pickguard back to where the screws go into the body?

ICBM

Enlarging the holes in the pickguard won't work at all, the screws will still centre in the countersinking.

You will need to plug the holes with something as hard as the body wood or the screws will just try to 'find' the old holes again.

It's a shame that body has been so messed up... I'm assuming it's the one with the misaligned bridge screw holes as well.

Jonathangus

I've found cocktail sticks and a dab of wood glue work well.  Then make the holes with a small bradawl.

jaymenon

That’s right John - the bridge screw holes are misaligned only half as much as I first thought (by perhaps 1°) The fact that the pickguard is misaligned the opposite way (again by perhaps 1° or so) makes the perceived misalignment seem worse.

The guitar stays beautifully in tune (and I’m very, very pernickety) so the bridge can’t be that far off...

jaymenon

So if I plug the holes with toothpicks and then infuse some low viscosity superglue then I’d have something hard to drill into?

ICBM

jaymenon said:

The guitar stays beautifully in tune (and I’m very, very pernickety) so the bridge can’t be that far off...

It's definitely quite off, just consistently so . As long as the screws are all in a uniform line then it will return to pitch perfectly well.

jaymenon said:

So if I plug the holes with toothpicks and then infuse some low viscosity superglue then I’d have something hard to drill into?

That won't be hard enough. I would use maple dowel, and make sure it's a force fit in the holes. The good news is that if they're out by about 1mm that will be right on the join between the dowels and the body, so there shouldn't be that much tendency to wander.

jaymenon

11 holes starting clockwise with the one at 12:30 o'clock

1. Okay
2. Must move North
3. Okay
4. Must move east
5. Must move east
6. Must move east
7. Must move east
8. Must move east
9. Must move east
10. Okay
    
11. Okay

If I install one more screw the pickguard rotates clockwise / the bridge end more left.

Are those distances within the limits of allowing my drill bit not to wander? Before I start drilling...

https://i.imgur.com/p47BEa3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/V2UySxM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/r5rmEz7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aRJWDME.jpg

jaymenon

On reflection 
drill hole out to 3mm
plug with a basic 3mm dowel
Re-drill
So the new hole is entirely within the dowel...?

and it’s only for pickguard screws - so non-weight bearing...

Jazzthat

I would definitely use something bigger than toothpick as @ICBM ; mentioned .
You could use small dowel , just make sure they are hard wood so the drill won't wander off .

jaymenon

Thanks @Jazzthat @Funkfingers @ICBM @Jonathangus ;

Actually with a set of strat pickups, with the oblique orientation of the bridge pickup it does look too bad at all.

I might enlarge the bridge cutout in the pickguard on the treble side...

For the bridge pickup (52.5mm spacing) string-to-polepiece alignment of the outer two strings seems okay too.https://i.imgur.com/Ipq6cU8.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SoLVHsi.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ew98ajn.jpgWhat do you think?

andy_k

With the screws in along the treble side of the body, does that improve pickup alignment? It looks like you will need to shave out the treble side of the bridge cutout (to match the gap on bass side ), and it may leave a bigger gap than you like along the bass side of the neck pocket.
I think that would mean you have less holes to plug anyway.

ICBM

I would leave the pickguard where it is and enlarge the bridge notch slightly so the bridge doesn't bind on it. That will keep the good polepiece alignment, and is far less work than any other solution.

For what it's worth I think this version with the cream single coils looks far better than any of the previous options too. (Despite my dislike of flame tops on anything Fender-like .)