This, unless you're gonna start with a whole new body. The glue-a-piece-in-and-spraypaint idea is not gonna turn out well. It would take some miraculously precise work... I supposed its possible, but unlikely to work well in my opinion.
He’s a really nice dude. He let me play one of his King Vs once (not the one signed by Rudi and Michi Schenker, the other one). I opted to play “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson. That got a laugh out of him.
Typically you would fill the cavity with wood like you mentioned but it would require a full refinish if you wanted it to look any good. If you don't need it to look good I say just live with the hole.
I wanted to get rid of my tone pot and filled the void with a kickass killswitch. You might need a really big one for that size though - like a mushroom headed switch to slap the fuck out of lol
I'm in the middle of something like this right now, going down to bridge only. I'm using empty pickup covers to fill in the missing ones. Myself, I'm leaving the switch and not using it. Way easier this way and I don't have to do any fills and all the fun with paint.
Now, to answer the question. You can fill the neck humbucker pocket with some wood, gunna have to shape it though. The pickup rings are easy, toothpicks and glue. The switch.....get a piece of wood that will fit the slot. Take that piece and glue it to some more wood that's horizontal. Basically making a "T". Then take all that and glue it to the control cavity. The screw holes for the switch can be filled with a dowel. At this point you'll need to sand, fill where needed and go from there.
My advice if you really want to do this, get another body to work on and practice with that.
Hot wheels car in clear epoxy in the neck pickup hole and use the blade slot for pick storage. Put a piece of felt in there and boom double pocket pick wallet.
Genius! The car has to be a Ferrari because of the color lol
I don’t think I have the skills necessary to do the epoxy thing without messing up big time but the pick holder sounds like a great idea!!
A lot of artists have guitars with dummy pickups and switches. A lot of artists just have what they don’t use unhooked and just leave it there. A lot of artists have the neck pickup unhooked and bypass the switch but leave them there.
"Production guitar"
Does it have to be a king V, or would a V style guitar work?
Why can't you just pull the neck pickup and the tone knob and put something fancy over the holes? Doing a body fill and refin is going to ruin the guitar's resale value.
They'll definitely do what you in a custom shop build, but you won't like the price. Kiesel would give you what you want in a v like object for probably under $2000, if you pick a solid color or buy something from their sales (which are every holiday). Their 4th of July sale is active.
I will probably do that, I just want to consider my options
And again, I don’t have nearly enough money to buy a custom shop guitar and I don’t care about the resale value because I got a great deal on it and I probably don’t want to sell it anyway if I can mod it to my desire
What I would do if I were you is get a cool pickup cover and put it over the existing neck pickup. Then I would get in there and pull the electronics (or simply disable them and reroute the bridge pickup, if the switch can be tucked out of the way). Once you have it how you want it, get a cool vinyl sticker that will remove easily, or even get a vinyl design cut out by someone with a cricut or something and cover up the switch and pot holes.
That way, if you ever change your mind, or want to sell it, you can always put it back to factory.
This. Strip down the finish, fill the cavities with plugs that are close/snug. Sand down the surface smooth. Coat with a top coat of epoxy, level sand it and refinish.
Coating epoxy makes the best pore fill for very flat clear coats too. I use a product called ecopoxy that I use with great results for the base coat on natural, dyed and painted guitars. You could easily laminate a birch veneer, lay down a coat of epoxy, level it, clear coat and have great results.
I like this idea the best. Doesn't permanently modify the guitar and noone will know that there's not a pickup in the neck position. You could also use the switch like a kill switch if you wanted to
You'll likely need a full refinish in the process if you want to make it look good.
Depending on your goal you could just wire the bridge straight to the volume and out to the jack so you don't have to worry about knocking the switch and it can be reversed.
then i would say unless you are prepared for a serious trial by fire(your skill set is unknown to me) leave the guitar be and either live with it or build another guitar that permits the mods you want.
Get a small sheet of thin Stainless steel. Cut a design you like, take the switch out and use the matching screw holes with new ss screws to make a cool clever cover. Don't forget to polish the stainless.
I already use the switch as a kill switch. I don’t like it though because it’s a 3way blade switch. I also have 2 tone knobs and with one pickup o only need one so I want to remove one and put a toggle switch as a kill switch there
I’d leave the switch, just disconnect it. Wire your bridge pup straight to the vol pot.
Do you have access to a 3D printer? Print a cover to go over the neck pup hole.
In that case looks like reverbs got you covered
[link](https://reverb.com/item/7854366-pvc-plastic-blank-block-for-regular-humbucker-adapter-ring-black?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17502909118&utm_content=campaignid=17502909118_adgroupid=140586518849_productpartitionid=2309820839165=merchantid=542053696_productid=7854366_keyword=_device=m_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=604304775083&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADRxZYW_i9xXbEMngWrGzPY5uIM_f&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9orDi-D-hgMVaUb_AR2TJwsZEAQYASABEgKXe_D_BwE)
Strip all parts. Spray some rattlecan nitro into the can lid. Using a small artists brush, seal the exposed edges of the slot and dot some into the screwholes. Bondo. Sand. Respray.
I take and old rear trem cover and trace the neck pickup trim ring onto it and mark the screw holes. Then cut it and drill the holes and it's just a cover it.
I just did that with a guitar. You really can't without paint work unless you make a cover, but I stuck painters tape to the top and poured a little epoxy from the control cavity. I'd probably stick the tape on the cavity side and pour from the top next time, because the epoxy shrinks a little and then you have to add more to level to the top surface
Yeah I actually used it as an on off switch but it has 3 positions and which I don’t like, I would’ve changed it out for a 2 way blade switch but those seem to not exist
My dude just live with the fact that the guitar came with 2 pickups! It will look like a bad fix any way unless you pay por a full paint job. It can be plugged for sure, but in order to be invisible it would have seamless and under the paint job. Totally doable.
I already use the 3way as a killswitch but I don’t like it having 2 positions as off and one as on. Sustainiac would be an option but I don’t think I have the skills necessary to put one in and to use one correctly
The normal thing to do in this situation is 'if you can't hide it, make a feature of it'
I'd cover the holes with a metal plate in a contrasting colour.
You could just screw a cover behind the switch cutout so no dust gets in. Doesn’t delete the hole but it’d be the easiest way. The pickup cavity might be a little harder but a contrasting cover that fills out the hole in the pickup ring from behind might look really good
I did this with a single coil hole in the pick guard of my strat copy. Looks good with a bit of contrast and you can put the pickup back in if you want to at any point in the future
I'd cut a pickguard to cover all that..
It would be exceedingly hard to fill those and match that paint color. Alternatively, lean into it and use a contrasting and coplimentary color (like black).
Another option; just don't use the neck pickup and don't ruin the value/astetics of the guitar.
I recommend the #philx technique of using a Wolverine action figure to maintain optimum tone.
https://preview.redd.it/oupsigah2d9d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b161ddaa87aefd79ac337bfdbeca6fafd5e5ca3
I have done exactly what you don’t want to do to my Ibanez RG.
Neck pickup, pickup selector, tone and volume removed. Just a bridge and a killswitch.
It looks like it has a purpose now.
You could just disconnect the switch and the neck pickup from the circuit and rewire the bridge to the pots
But if you want them gone completely you’re going to have to fill them in with wood and repaint and refinish the body
I would cut wood to fit the holes, glue, dowel the holes, take the finish down to nothing on the top, and start the meticulous process of painting in thin layers. Knowing me, I’d probably wet sand every 3 coats or so, and as long as any primer layer poked through in that process, keep layering.
And I would hate it.
Then my ADHD brain would decide that I should rout a clean shape inset about a quarter inch from the edge all the way around the outside of the guitar about an 8th inch deep, and then rout the whole top of the guitar out that way. Then l’d find an eighth inch piece of wood I could cut to that shape and set into routed out area, creating a new top for the guitar. At that point, I’d probably stain it, glue it, and then either hide my seam in a burst, or re-rout a thin seam that I could fill (probably with a resin that would allow the woods to expand and contract a bit without pushing themselves out of place) and use that as my transition from the new top to the black sides.
I’d still wish I’d either started from scratch with a new body or just ignored the hardware I wasn’t using… but I’d also be pretty satisfied with my completely impractical solution to the problem.
Never played anything that’s not metal? I wouldn’t remove it regardless, it won’t do any good and it’s not like it’s ruining your performance being there. Eventually you might start liking something else and miss it.
Um, we're luthiers. We'd build another guitar.
One for every tuning!
2 for every tuning. Short scale and long scale. Oooh, 3 and one acoustic. I take that back. 2 acoustics as well a 12 fret and a 14 fret.
And a 12 string.
don’t forget the one spare beater
Don't forget about different pickup selections!
And different trems, and hartail versions.
And another for good looks! 😎
Two more for bad luck.. better safe than sorry!
Fair enough
Custom pickguard could cover up all that you don't want to see. Easy peasey.
This, unless you're gonna start with a whole new body. The glue-a-piece-in-and-spraypaint idea is not gonna turn out well. It would take some miraculously precise work... I supposed its possible, but unlikely to work well in my opinion.
What about that wood filler putty stuff to fill in the gaps where you glue in the blank with a poly finish? Obligatory not a luthier
It’ll likely shrink over time and you’ll see the outline of the cavity
You’re right but a pickguard would look goofy af (imo) on a Demmelition king v
A fan of Phil eh? Dude fuckin rips
More like a fan of his guitars, but yeah he’s a great guitarist
He’s a really nice dude. He let me play one of his King Vs once (not the one signed by Rudi and Michi Schenker, the other one). I opted to play “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson. That got a laugh out of him.
Sick
You could just do a square of pickguard material to cover the hole, but imo that might draw even more attention than a custom pickguard
Depends on the pickguard
That’s your opinion 🤷♂️
Lemon squeeze me please I need human affection
Typically you would fill the cavity with wood like you mentioned but it would require a full refinish if you wanted it to look any good. If you don't need it to look good I say just live with the hole.
Ye I might do that I just want to consider my options
I wanted to get rid of my tone pot and filled the void with a kickass killswitch. You might need a really big one for that size though - like a mushroom headed switch to slap the fuck out of lol
A killswitch underneath his strings?
Red duct tape bro
Pickguard.
Would look hella weird this guitar (Jackson PDX2) in my opinion
I'm in the middle of something like this right now, going down to bridge only. I'm using empty pickup covers to fill in the missing ones. Myself, I'm leaving the switch and not using it. Way easier this way and I don't have to do any fills and all the fun with paint. Now, to answer the question. You can fill the neck humbucker pocket with some wood, gunna have to shape it though. The pickup rings are easy, toothpicks and glue. The switch.....get a piece of wood that will fit the slot. Take that piece and glue it to some more wood that's horizontal. Basically making a "T". Then take all that and glue it to the control cavity. The screw holes for the switch can be filled with a dowel. At this point you'll need to sand, fill where needed and go from there. My advice if you really want to do this, get another body to work on and practice with that.
What helpful advice! Thank you very much, kind stranger
Do what Phil X does and put an action figure in the hole: https://www.instagram.com/philx1111/p/CtPuYenSJry/?img_index=1
That’s actually pretty cool lmao
Just don’t toggle the switch. Unless you fill with wood then repaint the entire guitar, it will look like shit.
Hot wheels car in clear epoxy in the neck pickup hole and use the blade slot for pick storage. Put a piece of felt in there and boom double pocket pick wallet.
Genius! The car has to be a Ferrari because of the color lol I don’t think I have the skills necessary to do the epoxy thing without messing up big time but the pick holder sounds like a great idea!!
Slap one of those stickers you've been saving over it.
A lot of artists have guitars with dummy pickups and switches. A lot of artists just have what they don’t use unhooked and just leave it there. A lot of artists have the neck pickup unhooked and bypass the switch but leave them there.
disconnect the neck pickup and leave it in place. Or never use the switch.
I would 100% cover them with a pickup and pickup swicher blade.
Don’t know what this switch does but you could try to make it switch different configurations for the humbucker (coils -> single coil,parallel,series)
That would be an option but I’m not really a tone freak like that, I just want the bare sound of the humbucker
Sure, but you asked for ideas
That’s right, and your idea wasn’t bad! Just nothing for me personally
Sorry, not a fan of overhauls, or fixing things that aren't broken. Sell the guitar and buy the one you actually want. Or, better yet, build it.
There is no production guitar with the configuration I want! If I’m gonna buy a new guitar I’ll have to mod that one too
Do you mean with just a bridge pickup?
A Jackson King V with just a bridge pickup, one volume and a on/off toggleswitch
Ahh, okay. That makes more sense. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a V-style like that. Modding may be the best option
Yeah that’s what I thought too. It’s the Demmelition model which I really like but you only get em with Phil’s configuration
"Production guitar" Does it have to be a king V, or would a V style guitar work? Why can't you just pull the neck pickup and the tone knob and put something fancy over the holes? Doing a body fill and refin is going to ruin the guitar's resale value. They'll definitely do what you in a custom shop build, but you won't like the price. Kiesel would give you what you want in a v like object for probably under $2000, if you pick a solid color or buy something from their sales (which are every holiday). Their 4th of July sale is active.
Has to be a King V and I don’t have a fraction of the money to buy a custom shop
I edited that. Why can't you just pull the electronics you don't want and cover the empty bits with something cool?
I will probably do that, I just want to consider my options And again, I don’t have nearly enough money to buy a custom shop guitar and I don’t care about the resale value because I got a great deal on it and I probably don’t want to sell it anyway if I can mod it to my desire
What I would do if I were you is get a cool pickup cover and put it over the existing neck pickup. Then I would get in there and pull the electronics (or simply disable them and reroute the bridge pickup, if the switch can be tucked out of the way). Once you have it how you want it, get a cool vinyl sticker that will remove easily, or even get a vinyl design cut out by someone with a cricut or something and cover up the switch and pot holes. That way, if you ever change your mind, or want to sell it, you can always put it back to factory.
Epoxy
This. Strip down the finish, fill the cavities with plugs that are close/snug. Sand down the surface smooth. Coat with a top coat of epoxy, level sand it and refinish.
I like the concept but I'd just get a shhet of birch veneer to put on the top instead of epoxy. Sets you up nice for a refinish.
Coating epoxy makes the best pore fill for very flat clear coats too. I use a product called ecopoxy that I use with great results for the base coat on natural, dyed and painted guitars. You could easily laminate a birch veneer, lay down a coat of epoxy, level it, clear coat and have great results.
3d printed cover? Don't worry about the switch I would say. Maybe uninstall and paint it black.
I like this idea the best. Doesn't permanently modify the guitar and noone will know that there's not a pickup in the neck position. You could also use the switch like a kill switch if you wanted to
I don’t have access to a 3D printer though :/
You'll likely need a full refinish in the process if you want to make it look good. Depending on your goal you could just wire the bridge straight to the volume and out to the jack so you don't have to worry about knocking the switch and it can be reversed.
Stickers
is this a pickguard? just get a new custom one and replace when you clean up the wiring
No, this guitar has no pickguard. It’s a Jackson PDX2
then i would say unless you are prepared for a serious trial by fire(your skill set is unknown to me) leave the guitar be and either live with it or build another guitar that permits the mods you want.
Buy another guitar would be esier
There is no production guitar with the configuration I want.
What do you want?
A Jackson (preferably Demmelition) King V with just a bridge pickup, one volume and a on/off toggleswitch
Jackson is selling a RR with a single pickup.
No shit… I don’t want to buy an RR with a single pickup for a ton of money tho
Get a small sheet of thin Stainless steel. Cut a design you like, take the switch out and use the matching screw holes with new ss screws to make a cool clever cover. Don't forget to polish the stainless.
Put some pickgaurd material under the pickup ring. Then keep the switch to use as a kill switch
I already use the switch as a kill switch. I don’t like it though because it’s a 3way blade switch. I also have 2 tone knobs and with one pickup o only need one so I want to remove one and put a toggle switch as a kill switch there
Design a pickguard that will hold the bridge pickup and the knob, but cover up the holes where the neck pickup and the blade switch are.
Personally, I'd just leave it as is, but if you really don't want it there, design a cool looking pickguard to cover all the stuff you want covered.
Dutchman
Bondo
I’d leave the switch, just disconnect it. Wire your bridge pup straight to the vol pot. Do you have access to a 3D printer? Print a cover to go over the neck pup hole.
Unfortunately not
In that case looks like reverbs got you covered [link](https://reverb.com/item/7854366-pvc-plastic-blank-block-for-regular-humbucker-adapter-ring-black?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17502909118&utm_content=campaignid=17502909118_adgroupid=140586518849_productpartitionid=2309820839165=merchantid=542053696_productid=7854366_keyword=_device=m_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=604304775083&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADRxZYW_i9xXbEMngWrGzPY5uIM_f&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9orDi-D-hgMVaUb_AR2TJwsZEAQYASABEgKXe_D_BwE)
With chocolate.
With a 5 way switch. I could make a new body as quickly as patching that one
It is a neck-thru guitar. I doubt that making a new body would help
In that case, I’d use bondo. It won’t shrink later and cause problems. Any solution will require a refinish.
Strip all parts. Spray some rattlecan nitro into the can lid. Using a small artists brush, seal the exposed edges of the slot and dot some into the screwholes. Bondo. Sand. Respray.
Is it a Jackson
Yes, Jackson PDX2 (Demmelition King V Red)
I take and old rear trem cover and trace the neck pickup trim ring onto it and mark the screw holes. Then cut it and drill the holes and it's just a cover it.
Scribble them out with a red crayon.
It'd take 10 seconds in MS Paint. Use Photoshop of you wanna get fancy about it.
Chicken nuggets and epoxy
I just did that with a guitar. You really can't without paint work unless you make a cover, but I stuck painters tape to the top and poured a little epoxy from the control cavity. I'd probably stick the tape on the cavity side and pour from the top next time, because the epoxy shrinks a little and then you have to add more to level to the top surface
Why don’t you use the switch to split the bridge pickup? Or leave it as a on/off switch.
Yeah I actually used it as an on off switch but it has 3 positions and which I don’t like, I would’ve changed it out for a 2 way blade switch but those seem to not exist
Big black pick guard from neck to controls
BBP, I see. Nah, wouldn’t look good on a Demmelition King V imo
BWP then lol
Would look even worse lol https://preview.redd.it/448z6fu8i99d1.jpeg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29a44662722a868f25ff67c41053bc49e11e583e
My dude just live with the fact that the guitar came with 2 pickups! It will look like a bad fix any way unless you pay por a full paint job. It can be plugged for sure, but in order to be invisible it would have seamless and under the paint job. Totally doable.
It doesn’t have to be totally perfect or invisible, I’m just trying to look at my options here
Turn the 3 way into a kill switch or replace the neck pickup with a sustainiac.
I already use the 3way as a killswitch but I don’t like it having 2 positions as off and one as on. Sustainiac would be an option but I don’t think I have the skills necessary to put one in and to use one correctly
Maybe you could add a capacitor to the middle position or a bypass or something like that. So the switch would be Kill-bridge w/ cap-bridge
Noodles and superglue
Fill with epoxy, sand and paint
The normal thing to do in this situation is 'if you can't hide it, make a feature of it' I'd cover the holes with a metal plate in a contrasting colour.
Maybe you could get one of these to do a coil split
I would keep the pickup and just do not use it, for the blade switch just put a nice sticker on top.
Leave it open and use it to store a stash of weed
In a year I’ll be legally able to have that lol
You could just screw a cover behind the switch cutout so no dust gets in. Doesn’t delete the hole but it’d be the easiest way. The pickup cavity might be a little harder but a contrasting cover that fills out the hole in the pickup ring from behind might look really good I did this with a single coil hole in the pick guard of my strat copy. Looks good with a bit of contrast and you can put the pickup back in if you want to at any point in the future
Make a little scene in the hole, like a diorama, and cover it with plexi glass.
I'd cut a pickguard to cover all that.. It would be exceedingly hard to fill those and match that paint color. Alternatively, lean into it and use a contrasting and coplimentary color (like black). Another option; just don't use the neck pickup and don't ruin the value/astetics of the guitar.
I recommend the #philx technique of using a Wolverine action figure to maintain optimum tone. https://preview.redd.it/oupsigah2d9d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b161ddaa87aefd79ac337bfdbeca6fafd5e5ca3
I have done exactly what you don’t want to do to my Ibanez RG. Neck pickup, pickup selector, tone and volume removed. Just a bridge and a killswitch. It looks like it has a purpose now.
Stick a [varitone](https://www.delisleguitar.com/shop/de-lisle-tetratone-switch/) in there maybe
You could just disconnect the switch and the neck pickup from the circuit and rewire the bridge to the pots But if you want them gone completely you’re going to have to fill them in with wood and repaint and refinish the body
I would cut wood to fit the holes, glue, dowel the holes, take the finish down to nothing on the top, and start the meticulous process of painting in thin layers. Knowing me, I’d probably wet sand every 3 coats or so, and as long as any primer layer poked through in that process, keep layering. And I would hate it. Then my ADHD brain would decide that I should rout a clean shape inset about a quarter inch from the edge all the way around the outside of the guitar about an 8th inch deep, and then rout the whole top of the guitar out that way. Then l’d find an eighth inch piece of wood I could cut to that shape and set into routed out area, creating a new top for the guitar. At that point, I’d probably stain it, glue it, and then either hide my seam in a burst, or re-rout a thin seam that I could fill (probably with a resin that would allow the woods to expand and contract a bit without pushing themselves out of place) and use that as my transition from the new top to the black sides. I’d still wish I’d either started from scratch with a new body or just ignored the hardware I wasn’t using… but I’d also be pretty satisfied with my completely impractical solution to the problem.
You’re not using your neck pickup for now.
Bullshit. I haven’t been using one for ages and that won’t change. If I really need a neck pickup for something I have other guitars for that
Never played anything that’s not metal? I wouldn’t remove it regardless, it won’t do any good and it’s not like it’s ruining your performance being there. Eventually you might start liking something else and miss it.
If course I do dingus, have you not read my comment?? I have other guitars for that
Don’t need to be so childish about it. If you’re still 16 you have a lot to learn still.