Is there any professional-looking DIY way to fill in screwholes where a pickguard went?

Question

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard that is about 4 years old I just got. I love the look and feel of the Les Paul, I just hate the vintage styling I.E. all the chrome, amber volume and tone knobs.

I am in the process of working on it to where I am trying to modernize the look with black replacement parts and black witchhat tone and volume knobs. I even did a fretboard decal overlay just to make the neck pop a little. It might be a little too gaudy, we'll see.

Anyways, the pickguard was ivory/white and made of plastic.....I tried painting it another color but once I took off the pickguard and the mounts I found the look of the guitar to be much more aesthetically pleasing. But being kind of anal, if I leave it off I find it tacky to leave two rather noticeable screwholes into the wood body in the front and left sides.

Is there any way I can fill in those holes, make it look professional using some sort of DIY solution AND not mess up or have to alter the existing finish?

Please advise. I'd like to make it look proper instead of tacky,

Answer 1

Even a pro will have trouble making a screw hole "invisible". The procedure would involve filling the holes, touching them up with matching paint and blending the touch-up paint into the existing finish. If you have a stained woodgrain finish, that will me harder to hide than on a solid color. A pro can hide it pretty well...a DIYer can make it worse. Here are some "Trade Secret" tips from Stewart MacDonald which will show you what's involved:

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0040.html

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0085.html

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0082.html

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0011.html



Frankly, my thought is that you would be better off removing the pickguard and putting the screws back in the holes. They're not all that visible and might "look like they belong there" as opposed to a sloppy attempt to fill a hole. The screws probably have tapered heads which fit into counter-sunk holes in the pickguard. You may want to replace them with ones with a flat bottom head so they'll fit flush against the body. This also leaves you with the option of un-doing the customization if/when your taste changes.

Answer 2

Diy Pickguard

Answer 3

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Answer 4

band-aids.