French Polish Repair.

[ozwood]

Hi All,


I thought I would be nice and put together the Guitar I had Just sprayed (B&S) and French polished the top for one of strato's students, I put the Savarez back on he had strung it up in the white with , and as I say no good deed goes unpunished , the B string snapped (probably scored by the sharp edge that he left on the saddle) and marked the top , I had a go at spot repairing which only removed the finish I had put on weeks earlier leaving a lighter spot, Now I am shitting it big time because he wants it for a dinner on the 13th, any help would be gratefully received.


Cheers,

[Chalks]

Damn Paul. All the help you have given here I hope someone can give you a leg up.

Sorry it's not gunna be me though. I wish you well with it.

Chalks

[nnickusa]

Bugger... haven't done a repair yet, tho my first needs it in a couple spots, but from what I've read, you need to keep working the area and sort of feather out(if that makes sense)and eventually it'll blend in....

EDIT: was trying to remember his name.....bloody early on-set dementia....PM Peter Coombe. He'll know what to do...

[Craig Bumgarner]

A picture or two might help.

[auscab]

the B string snapped (probably scored by the sharp edge that he left on the saddle) and marked the top , I had a go at spot repairing which only removed the finish I had put on weeks earlier leaving a lighter spot,


Cheers,

Did the string damage go through the polish into the wood Paul ? hopefully not .

If it just put a scratch in the polish and didn't go through to timber ,and by trying to fix that you ended up with the lighter spot you may be ok by sticking with the same polish you did the original job with. It may be easier if the original was a blonde / UB hard shellac colour

You have to build it up and blend it in with the original level at the same time, with a fine brush and thin coats.
so thin layers with drying time and a very fine light cut back with fine paper in between, a worn out 400 to 800 grit could be ok. It depends how thick the original finish is . the trouble with that is the new over the old where they come together can double up and end up thicker and darker. The new would have to progressively get bigger to match in with the taper of the old where it has been lost .
If you can get that right , flatten it with the paper for the last time and go to a small dry french polishing rubber . Dip it in the thin shellac and squeeze every drop you can out and try a few swipes every five minutes then with a drop of oil and see if you can build it a little and blend it into the original finish. The problem if it does not go well is each time you re do it ,the problem gets bigger. That's what is so nice about repairing Old polish jobs with patina, the other marks can help disguise the repair. Brand new clear polish jobs can be hard . so go slow . good luck with it Paul.
And like Craig says , Pictures would be good.

[ozwood]

Thanks Guys,

I rang the Sensai , Jeff and decided to walk away and have a go at it tommorow.

Thanks for the tips Rob , that all makes sense I will get some photo's Tommorow, The String did dent the top, It's a bloody thin double top as well.

I'll have a go at it over the week end with a cool head.

Cheers,

Paul.
I

[auscab]

I forgot to mention that when building up the missing layers ,each time one goes on, pat it with your thumb or the side of your hand on the edge of each coat , this helps to blend it by making the edges of the wet patch thinner . It's feather edging it .
I do quick touch up's sometimes with a heat gun held well back . A hair dryer may be safer , the last thing you want to do is fry a patch in it.

[ozwood]

Thanks for the help,

in the end I ran out of both time and patience , and had to get Jeff to dig me out of the shit .


But the customer get his Guitar for his saturday performance .


Thanks Jeff, I owe you one.

Cheers,