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Bass Guitar Repair Question

Vaughn McMillan

Vaughn McMillan

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Question for the hive mind here: My bandmate Jeff is wearing through the face of his acoustic bass guitar (where he rests his right thumb) and wants to put a plastic pick guard on it to prevent it from wearing all the way through (like Willy Nelson's Trigger). He has a thin self-adhesive pick guard blank (about 1/16" thick), but before he sticks it on, he's looking for a suitable material to fill the depression his thumb has worn into the wood. It needs to be stable, and it needs to adhere well to the wood. My thoughts are either Bondo or Durham's Water Putty. Any suggestions? I asked the same question on an Amateur Luthiers group on Facebook, but the only semi-workable suggestion was a product called Wonderfil, but that seems to be more of a grain filler and nail hole patch. (I've noticed a lot of luthiers have a pretty limited range of woodworking experience.) I know Durham's or Bondo can be sanded to a feathered edge that will hold up and not shrink, and I'm hesitant to try an unknown like Wonderfil.

Here's a picture of the same model of bass that I found on the Internet:
Washburn Bass.jpg
 
I'd be worried about Durhams being to brittle for this and it either cracking or messing up the "tone" (and we know how bass players are about their .. tone..). I love Durhams for some things.. but I'm not sure it's the best solution for something like this.

Maybe one of the Dap latex fillers?
 
Ryan Mooney said:
I'd be worried about Durhams being to brittle for this and it either cracking or messing up the "tone" (and we know how bass players are about their .. tone..). I love Durhams for some things.. but I'm not sure it's the best solution for something like this.

Maybe one of the Dap latex fillers?
Click to expand...
I think any patch as well as the pickguard itself might have some effect on the tone, but tone's not too critical since this bass is always played amplified. I'll do some studying on the Dap latex filler, though. I'm curious to see how flexible/rigid it is. I need to have a closer look at the bass and see the actual depth of the depression he's trying to fill, too. I'll get a chance to do that Friday night.
 
I can't see the depression how big/deep, but when I was working on my Ovation to fill a bunch of dents I used Glu Boost.

I know the aesthetics aren't that important in this case, but it worked great with the non-blooming accelerator they use. It built up pretty quick and dried nice and clear. I was able to then use a razor blade with a little tape on the edges as a safety scraper before I sanded it down flat.

1678463782032.png
Dent
1678468534871.png
Filled
1678468555131.png
Fixed Still noticeable, but not nearly as visible.
1678468671475.png
 
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Brent Dowell said:
I can't see the depression how big/deep, but when I was working on my Ovation to fill a bunch of dents I used Glu Boost.
Click to expand...
This spot is quit a a bit bigger. This is a grainy crop from a photo that was taken in the summer of 2021, but you can see the size of the blemished area between Jeff's thumb and the slotted soundholes. It's a lot more prominent in person, and it's bigger and deeper now, almost 2 years later.
Angel Fire July 2021 Just Jeff.jpg
 
There is a thicker formula of gluboost that should build up even thicker.

for some reason, I'm just kind of dead set against using autobody filler on a guitar, lol. I know it wont show through the pick guard. I do know that this glue would stick and is able to be sanded relatively easily.
It just makes me think of some of the diy repairs I've seen on GrantsGuitars on facebook, LOL.

That being said, I'm sure you guys would do it appropriately with whatever you would use. I'm just thinking the Cyanoacrylate solution would fill it well and hold up over time and not really affect the tone, at least as much as the pick guard will.

but with a sound hole like that and being played amplified, I'm sure it really doesn't matter that much what gets used.

What kind of bass is that?

1678477518860.png
 
Figured I'd update this thread now that the project is done. I was only a consultant (and sandpaper supplier) on this one. I also made a small sanding block out of some scrap wood. Jeff did all the patch work, leveling, and the design of the pick guard. He ended up using the DAP Latex wood filler as Ryan recommended above. The pick guard material was thin enough to be cut with scissors, only needing minor sanding to touch up the cut edge. All in all it should add years to the longevity of the bass. :thumb:

Jeff's Bass 800.jpg
 
I don't know a thing about guitars or making music by any means so this question may really show my ignorance. Usually I adhere to the old adage "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt". But this question entered my mind as soon as I saw the pick guard.

That pick guard covers a relatively large area of the top of the guitar. Since it is just a layer of plastic applied on top of the wood does it in any way affect the sound quality of the guitar? Does the guitar sound different before and after? It would seem that it might affect the tonal quality of the vibrations carried by the wood.

It looks like it was very neatly done.
 
Acoustic Bass guitars like this, even with a standard soundhole typically are not that 'loud'. I've played in jam sessions with mine and the guitars easily overpower it.

This one really is well suited to be played amplified, as you can see the sound hole just has slats over it, which helps to prevent as much feedback, especially at the louder volumes.

The pick guard really shouldn't affect the tone on this all that much, if any.
 
Mike Stafford said:
...That pick guard covers a relatively large area of the top of the guitar. Since it is just a layer of plastic applied on top of the wood does it in any way affect the sound quality of the guitar? Does the guitar sound different before and after? It would seem that it might affect the tonal quality of the vibrations carried by the wood...
Click to expand...
Brent pretty much nailed it. I'm sure it does affect the sound to a certain extent when playing the bass unplugged in the living room, but I doubt there'll be any difference when it's plugged into an amp and competing with drums and electric guitars. Also probably no worse than the 3" wide strip of black gaffer's tape that Jeff has been using for the past few months.

Brent's also spot on about the overall volume of this type of acoustic bass. A regular unamplified acoustic guitar is quite a bit louder than this bass. When Jeff and I are jamming on the porch of his mountain cabin, he has to bring a small practice amp to plug into just to match the volume of my guitar. (And my guitar is not all that loud, either.)

@Brent Dowell how loud is this kind of bass compared to your upright bass? I suspect part of the reason "guitar style" acoustic basses are so quiet is because the bass frequencies really need a bigger body to resonate properly.
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
@Brent Dowell how loud is this kind of bass compared to your upright bass? I suspect part of the reason "guitar style" acoustic basses are so quiet is because the bass frequencies really need a bigger body to resonate properly.
Click to expand...
The stand up bass is significantly louder, but it's an insturment really meant to use a bow. With a bow, it seems to resonate more and louder than simply plucking the strings.

I do have a rockabilly pickup setup on the stand up. That has a pickup on the bridge and another on the fingerboard. The bridge pickup is for the the actual string sound, and the fingerboard captures the 'clicky clackety' sound of slapping the fingerboard and pulling the string so it whacks into the fingerboard as well. Really as a percussion instrument.

I did pick up a little battery powered bass amp for jam sessions with acoustic guitar players. It sounds surprisingly good and bassy with 4 4" speakers and a number of amp mods and effects.
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