Official Luthiers Forum!

I had one of those "you win some you lose some moments" in my
waterbourne finish adventure.

Last week I had dropped the body and put 2 dents and a scratch on my
newly buffed-out top. The good news is I was able to drop fill with
product,
level and rebuff. Turned out great with one exception. In leveling out I
ended
up sanding through and didn't notice until buffing it back out.

Any good ideas on how to fix this little mess?

I was thinking of taking a diluted mixture of the varnish and applying a
skim coat then feathering the edges with micro mesh. Either that or
possibly a skim coat of diluted shellac and again, hit it with the micro
mesh and feather it in. The guitar is assembled with bridge and neck
attached so I'm not really willing to attempt disassembly at this point.

Any help, as usual, will be greatly appreciated!

Struggling in the mires of finish work-Chris

_________________
Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

http://www.yardsaleunderwear.com
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.cordle

my worry at this point is that you have buffing compound embedded in the wood. if this is the case i think you are probably going to have to redo your top.

however, it will do no damage to anthing other than your patience to first attempt to gently clean the top wood with naphta, lightly sand the raised grain, and see if the finish will adhere without the witness lines being too objectionable and with consistent colour, gloss, etc.. then if you are not satisfied, you can still remove bridge and neck and refinish the top.

good luck. finishing is probably the hardest physical task to master in basic guitar building.

I would try the naptha like Michael suggests. After sanding wipe with alchohol which will help the WB Varnish to adhere. I have had good luck using a decent air brush for stuff like this. Gives you great contol in putting the finish where you want it. I think 1 coat won't be enough. You may sand thru it again.

_________________
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1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hi Chris,! Bob is right, you will need some build-up there. And there probably is rubbing compound or something in the wood where it's bare. The naptha should clean it.
The trouble with the water-based stuff is that it doesn't always "burn in" to the surrounding finish when you put it on over exisiting dry finish. There are tricks to getting a good burn in, and if you don't you may see witness lines when you buff out.
Let's hope someone who knows more about this than I do will come by and address the burning in issue.
You could also try it yourself on some scrap, a good rule when working with finishes. Some water-based stuff is better than others at it.

_________________
Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com