Hidden flaws

[James Mc]

Hi All
I was planing the eastern maple sides down to thickness today and a couple of small dark marks appeared out of nowhere (P.S. horrible stuff to plane). The timber being so pale they really stand out. So I was wondering if there is an effective cover-up or should I just consider them beauty spots and ignore them? I was planning on a French polish finish using the highly refined white shellac.

[Hesh1956]

It looks like a beauty mark to me James my friend.

[hilo_kawika]

Bummer, James... I suppose it's on both sides of the piece.

OTH could this be an opportunity for a bit of tasteful wood inlay with a backing strip?

[James Mc]

There are three of them all on one of the sides... two only show on one face and the other shows on both. I'm thinking about hiding them under a swarm of abalone butterflies or something.

The guitar is for my better half and shell inlays would fit with the horrible dragon inlaid fretboard she wants me to use (which was an impulse buy I picked up for $3 on ebay when buying some MOP and bone from a Thai mob). I let her pick any timbers and trimmings she wanted from my stash and she went for all the stuff I doubt I would have ever used. Slab cut maple with flame... quartered silky oak bindings, back strip and neck laminate with a tacky inlaid rosewood fretboard and bridge. Not my cup of tea at all! but what can a guy do when his lady has spoken?

[Dennis Leahy]

Yep, Cindy Crawford's mole.

Maple has a strange way of absorbing and depositing minerals into pockets - and they can be anywhere in the wood, with no rhyme or reason to grain orientation. Sometimes in curly Maple, they form wiggly streaks. Since they are usually relatively thin, I almost never see them form a good mirror match when sliced into guitar parts. It is just one of the characteristics of Maple that shouts, "I am a natural material!"

So, Let her guitar wear them proudly unless they really bother you.

Dennis

[Allen]

It sounds like it's going to be a bit over the top in the looks department, so I'm with you on this one about hiding it with more inlay if they bother the better half. She may really like them though. I'd get her opinion first.

[James Mc]

A very wise man once said “get her opinion firstâ€

[kiwigeo]

Dont do a thing. Most of my guitars have a blemish or two.

[Lillian]

Ask thy Lady first. And unless you have to do something now, build it and see how things work out. She may change her mind about the different elements as it starts to come together. You know what this is going to look like in your mind. I doubt that thy Lady is seeing it as a whole, but rather just the individual elements.

And as my mother used to say, "Try it on. You never know. What looks great on the hanger looks terrible on and what looks horrible on the hanger looks fabulous on." I hated shopping for clothes with her.

[James Mc]

[quote="Lillian"] You know what this is going to look like in your mind.

Yep ugly.... But what can I do, she’s Romanian/Maltese! It would take a much braver man than I to suggest to her that her taste is somewhere south of dreadful heading towards Gary Glitter.

I'm going to put my work place health and safety training to use, I'll build it then point the marks out to her and offer to inlay little butterflies over them before I polish it (I can only hope she doesn't like the idea so much that she'll want me to cover the whole guitar in little blue abalone insects). As for her changing her mind about different elements, I got that sorted now. I've hidden every bit of timber that has a 'bold' flame of figure at the bottom of the stash. Just boring stuff like spruce, pau ferro and cedar in view (must admit I'm glad she changed her mind about the port orford top).

[Lillian]

James, you can always have an accident with a few of the gaudier elements and offer something a bit more sedate as a replacement.

But in the end, its her guitar. Good luck.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi James
Might be the time to experiment with side ports.......well, not much experimenting needed as you have only one choice of position I'm thinking.