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Damaged body -- is it salvageable?


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I got this 1970s Cortley (Japanese strat copy) body years ago. A neighbor was going to throw it out cause it had some holes drilled wrong and other damage. I think he was trying to mod it for humbuckers or something. 

Anyway, Im trying to use it for a build and while I have plenty of wood shop / fabrication experience, this is the most involved I've gotten with guitar building. 

A couple of the screws on the 6 screw bridge stick out of the wood on the back where it's chipped/damaged. Should I try to patch this with resin? Wood filler? Leave it alone? I'm planning on keeping the bridge flush and firm to the body. 

 

Are there any concerns with the hole going through the body? Does it need to be covered or filled? Any suggestions for how to go about this?

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looking at it it - while there's nothing to fear from screws sticking into the trem cavity... it does appear that the wood right there is in ruff shape. 

on a 6 hole trem... many people take out the inner 4 screws anyway so it probably doesn't matter at all as long as those two are holding good (I think those to are going into the surrounding wood and not poking through right?). 

Might be a fun experience to fix it.  Shouldn't be all that hard.  If it were mine I would probably rout out that area and put a block in and then reroute the pickup hole there. 

the one thing that may cause noise is the pickup hole going through.  generally the trem cavity is not shielded with shielding paint or copper tape so... probably nothing to loose sleep over but myself I would have fun fixing it.  close it up and shield it.

then again it might be adding the "next thing" in tone to your sound!  aired out!

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Other than the need to ensure that most of the trem screws and neck pocket are sound, most of the rest doesn't really matter from a functional point of view.  Certainly, a hole between the pickup chamber and spring chamber doesn't matter at all.

The pickguard will cover that and most of the rest....

 

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