RCE Floyd Rose to Hardtail Conversion | Part 3

Related Posts

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Filling the Trem Cavity

With fretwork taken care of, we'll shift our focus to the back of the body. Here, the trem cavity needs to be filled; and I've decided on a block of pine as the filler. However, none of the pine planks on hand are thick enough to fill the full depth of the trem cavity on their own. To solve this problem, a layer of chengal wood will first be glued onto the trem cavity floor, and the pine block then glued onto that. 

Now, the block of pine I've crafted does not strictly follow the outline of the cavity. Instead, it's a slightly oversized rectangle with rounded corners, and the cavity will be routed to accommodate this shape. Last but not least, to ensure a solid bond, I've chosen Titebond Original Wood Glue.

Pine Filler Block

Pine Block in Place

Area to be Routed

Trem Cavity Routing in Progress

Routing Completed

Test-Fitting the Chengal Layer

Test-Fitting the Pine Block

Titebond Original Wood Glue Applied

Pine/Chengal 'Sandwich' Glued In and Clamped

Well, it's a new day and the clamps have just come off. The next task will be to remove material from the top of the pine block until it is level with the surrounding wood. Just going at it with a sanding block would take too long, so I've opted to remove the bulk of the excess pine with a rasp plane, followed by an orbital sander. And once things are relatively level, I'll be able to even things out with a sanding block and 240 grit silicon carbide paper. There'll be a fair amount of refinishing to be done later, no doubt, but that's a story for another day.

Initial Leveling with a Rasp Plane

Next, an Orbital Sander

Finally, a Sanding Block

Here's the Result

Filling the Floyd Rose Recess

With the trem cavity taken care of, I could now flip the guitar over and work on filling the Floyd Rose recess. Once again, I enlarged and reshaped the existing cavity quite a bit, with the aim of fitting a rectangular block of hardwood there. Sadly, my first attempt at crafting a filler block was unsuccessful, as the block ended up just a hair too small for a snug fit. For the second attempt, I used a block of merbau wood. This time around, I was really careful and worked slowly, not wanting history to repeat itself. Frankly, it took me nearly a week to get to the point where the merbau block fit nicely with just a few taps of a rubber mallet. 

Enlarging the Floyd Rose Recess

First Block of Hardwood

Second Attempt - Merbau Block

Glued in with Titebond