Official Luthiers Forum!

Perhaps this should be in the Repair discussion board: I very carelessly made a deep and long cut with a purfling cutter (so, more of a deep groove) on an Englemann spruce soundboard. Using glue and spruce wood powder I filled in the cut, which fortunately was not too deep to damage the soundboard, but it left a dark line and is very visible.
What would more experienced luthiers would have done to fix this kind of mistake? Because it runs along the contour of the guitar, I could install a much wider purfling but it is not worth it at this time. Thank you.

Wider purfling or retop. Or just accept the dark line.

Or, as said below, a candidate for a burst although not normally one of my choices.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It's not that experienced builders don't make mistakes, it's that they've worked hard at hiding them. Sounds to me that wider purfling would hide the problem in sawdust and there wouldn't be any damage, it'd be removed. Easier than replacing the top. Or a sudden desire for a sunburst...

I think I spoke so obliquely as to allow for misinterpretation. My 'sawdust' comment above wasn't an invitation to try to fill the damage with sawdust, but to make sawdust with a deeper purfling cut and remove the damaged area.

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Peter Havriluk

I don't think there is a way of fully covering the mark, I have found that mixing dust with PVA glue gives you a much lighter end result, the more PVA the lighter it dries, you can practice on an off cut. It will still be visible but not a dark line, would seal with shellac before spraying over to avoid any possible reactions . Good luck

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Yeah mixing glue and dust will never work. You will see that under a finish. The first thing to try is to steam it and see if the wood fibers rise up and fill it, doubtful in the case of a saw cut but worth a try. Otherwise change your binding and purfling scheme to cover it up. Or as mentioned just live with it. I still have my first guitar that I built in '92 with purfling cutter marks on it

Can you post a picture?

I've seen some pretty creative ways to cover mistakes, even turn them into a feature.

With a picture, someone might be able to make a suggestion.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Thank you very much for all of your suggestions. Right now I am considering going with the "just live with it" option!

Wider purfling or spray a burst on the top.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

When it is all said and done, if you decide you don't like it you can do a "black face" guitar.

This is s copy of a Martin Style 3 soprano uke I did in Osage Orange. That little dooflicky at the bottom of the soundboard is called a parand. You could cook up something similar to fit the style of the instrument

One option is to pop the top loose in the area and shim it up, creating a bump that will allow the groove to be sanded out.

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John