I bought this guitar from Paul Warnik. He told me the Bigsby install was done professionally. He was right. The holes are just a tad smaller than the cuts through the finish. In fact, I can cut some discs like those in the photo that will drop right in. I'll probably go ahead and dowel them, but I don't think it's necessary. These discs are about the same thickness as the finish. With just a touch of flat sanding I can size them to fit perfectly.
I had some scrap vinyl gutter covers layin' around. Heavy duty thick mil.
I used my hole punch set to cut these out. Forgot I had it. [I'll probably need to go one size larger on the small ones.]
Still, the vibrato has left an impression in the finish, so I guess I'm back to stripes or decals to cover up after the hole patching.
I want to thank everybody for all your input and encourage anyone considering Tele/Bigsby installation to use the Vibramate kit or ZZ plate like in Dave's post, as it's completely reversible. Looks like they are getting harder to come by though and available only for 4 hole STB bridge plates. I saw some on eBay starting around 65 bucks. You get the adapter plate, also the bridge w/saddles.
I can't use the T bridge on my '51, but I'm holding off the install on it hoping to find just the tailpiece adapter like Dave's.