Cort MR 500E BK | Scarf Joint Repair

This is an early '90s made-in-Korea Cort MR 500E BK [the BK obviously stands for Black]. Cort doesn't manufacture this particular model any more. In fact, a web search reveals that 'MR 500E' has now been designated to a totally different guitar.

There were three main issues to be dealt with on the MR 500E. The first was a failing scarf joint. After the scarf joint was reglued with super glue, the areas on either side of the truss rod were routed. Two wooden plugs were then glued in place. Following this, the plugs were sanded flush with the surrounding wood. Next came grain-filling with ColorTone clear grain filler, followed by Samurai KP1 Putty Primer as the sealer coat. The color coat was Samurai 29/109A Flat Black, and the topcoat; Samurai 1/128 Clear. 

The second issue was the rusty, grimy and non-functioning preamp. As the owner was not interested in amplifying the guitar, he requested that the preamp be removed and the resulting gaping cavities covered. And so, the preamp cavity was covered with a custom plastic plate [pickguard material] held in place by four black pickguard screws. Meanwhile, the output jack hole was plugged with a maple dowel [drumstick].

The third and final issue was that four of the tuners were missing their nylon washers, which made tuning next to impossible. The remedy was a new set of Derjung DJ333C-M9 tuners, which I have found to be affordable; yet of high quality. To date, I've already installed these tuners on seven guitars. 

Plugging the unused output jack hole

Preamp cavity covered with a custom plastic plate

Scarf joint failure

Regluing the scarf joint

Test-fitting the wooden plugs

Gluing in the wooden plugs

Sanding the plugs flush with the surrounding wood

Grain-filling with ColorTone clear grain filler

Sealing the neck with Samurai KP1 Putty Primer

Top coat of Samurai 1/128 Clear

Stock tuners missing their nylon washers

Derjung DJ333C-M9 Tuners