Cover up a humbucker cavity

[dk1ben]

Just got done putting a EMG 81 in the bridge position of a old Epi SG. Turned a cheap sounding guitar into a active emg machine. Surprising it sounds good. I did it more as a project and not really expecting it to sound good. So now I am stuck with a empty humbucker cavity in the neck position. I dont have a need to stick another pickup in it so any suggestions on how to get rid of or cover up the cavity? Thanks for any help.

[skorb]

what kind of pickguard does it have? if it has the kind that goes all the way around the pups, you could order a custom one (Warmoth?) that only has the one pup hole at the bridge. if it's an open pickup not hidable with a new pickguard, then the only way I can think of is the right way. strip down the guitar and bondo in the neck pickup route, sand down and refinish the body of the guitar at the very least.

[emperor_black]

The 1 pup pickguard is an excellent idea. But if the guitar came with direct-mounted pickups, you could put a sticker in the cavity that says "This space is for rent" :ROTF:

[Powerglide350]

I wouldnt strip it and fill it......that damned hole never really goes away.

[skorb]

I wouldnt strip it and fill it......that damned hole never really goes away.

of course it does, if it's done correctly.

you should see the work our member mm2002 has done on exactly this kind of refinish. you cannot even tell there was a cavity there at all.

it's not easy, and takes a fair amount of work, but again, if you want it done right...

[Powerglide350]

Okay fine....it can be done....but it takes skill and patience....and not just bondo.

[Racerx2k]

I don't know. I lack the skills, AND the patience, and I filled in a strat jackplate hole, and sidemounted the new one, ala Charvel/Jackson, with a little inspiration and guidance from MM2002's original post, and it worked out, just fine for me. The trick is not skimping on quality filler. Bondo is crap, and will shrink. Used the same stuff to re-shape the neck pocket front face on my Chandler body (original flat-face pocket, standard curved-face neck), and still looks wonderful.

[CharvelRocker]

You could just always put the original humbucker there and leave it unwired, and only use the bridge.

[dk1ben]

Yea but it has the open coil look to it. The bridge is a EMG 81. I thought of that and actually tried that. I didnt like the way it looked. Ill most likely just stick a sticker over it. Not really interested in spending a lot time reworking the guitar to fill the hole in. Thanks for all the advise.

[emperor_black]

how about putting back the old passive humby and using one of these to cover it up so it looks like an EMG...



here is the eBay link

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-EMG-Style-Pickup-Covers-No-Holes-Set-of-2_W0QQitemZ280125173616QQihZ018QQcategoryZ41427QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

in fact, I had thought about doing the same thing for my ibanez a while ago but the humbuckers were still functional. It seems with these covers on, you do lose a lil output. but in your case it should work just fine cause you are not using your humbucker.

[Model1VH2]

Filling it with a "dummy" pickup is obviously the easiest and fastest solution.
I also like the custom pickgaurd suggestion.

If you do decide to "fill" the cavity, you're probably looking at a total refin job too in order to make it look decent.

I'd suggest using marine epxoy, not bondo.
The trick to hiding the lines from the cavity is to remove some of the wood surrounding the cavity at an angle, thus removing the extreme 90-degree drop. Then just simply feather out the filler and sand flush.