Tuner Hole Chip Out on Back of Headstock

[Darryl Young]

When I drilled my tuner hole, I backed the headstock with scrap and everything worked perfectly.......no tear out and perfect holes.

I used zpoxy for the pore filler and some of it got into the tuner holes. So I thought maybe I should run a bit through the tuner holes to clean this out before spraying. I chose a standard tapered bit hoping it would center in the existing hole. I put the bit in a hand drill and turned it by hand (used the larger diameter of the chuck as leverage to turn the bit easier). Wouldn't you know it, it broke out a bit of the mahogany on the back side of the headstock, bummer.

So any thoughts on how to repair this? Also, how could I have cleared the tuner holes without creating this damage? FYI, right after I originally drilled the tuner holes, I used thin CA to seal the holes up and I hoped this would have helped prevent something like this happening......guess not. I wonder if it would have been better to run a bit through the holes to clear them after each zpoxy coat?

Now I need to ream the zpoxy from the larger holes on the headstock veneer side where the tuner bushings fit. I don't want tearout here. How should I do this? I have the StewMac bushing reamer......think it will tend to cause tearout as did the drill bit?

Edit: I just realized the tuners will likely cover this (thank goodness). The question on how to ream the bushing holes on the rosewood headstock veneer is something I would like to see discussed.

Thanks!

[JRHall]

Won't the body of the tuners cover the tear out?

[tippie53]

post a pic but like Running dog I use the reamers

[rgogo65]

Won't the body of the tuners cover the tear out?

"Edit: I just realized the tuners will likely cover this (thank goodness). The question on how to ream the bushing holes on the rosewood headstock veneer is something I would like to see discussed."


:0)

[tippie53]

When I build I like to drill the holes when the guitar is in the white before finishing . That way if I have any trouble I can address it before finish is on . When I am done finishing I can hand ream it with a drill bit or a reamer . There are a few different reamers , Tapered reamers or Hand reamer . A hand reamer can be adjusted to various sizes .
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-New-13-16-Keyston ... 45f54ef59d
here is a link to one .