Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all, I need to repair a 2007 Ramirez 4E Classical guitar. I purchased it as a scratch & dent and need to repair a large chip of finish that is missing. The guitar is not french polished. It looks like nitro but I have no way to be sure. I was thinking of sanding back the area of the chip, sealing same with de-waxed shellac, and spraying the spot with several coats of Nitro with the surrounding area masked over. It is on the top, right at the apex of the upper bout and runs along the binding about 1.2" x .5". I tried brushing on some thin layers of CA but it bubbled. If anyone has idea or guidance I would appreciate the help. Never done a spot repair before. Thanks!

_________________
John Nowicki

A picture would greatly help us help you. It's good to see the extent of the repair to analyse what to do.

Also, you do have a way of checking if the finish is nitro: dip a Q-Tip in acetone and rub a small hidden section of the finish (like under the tuners, for example). If the finish looses its shine, than it's nitro.

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Here is picture, will get some acetone.....

_________________
John Nowicki

This can be repaired, but it will show for sure.

Not that I want to rub it in, but you certainly made it more difficult to repair by applying CA. Normally, without sanding down everything, you can just 'clean' the area by removing flakes and widening cracks in the finish. Then, you start applying coats of thined nitro. The thined nitro will allow the old nitro and the new one to bond together, making the entire area clean again. You then continue one with applying less and less thined nitro until you have enough.

But now that there is CA all over the place, I don't see anything else to do than to scrape/sand the damaged area and apply nitro again. I wouldn't spray, but rater use a small brush. Less messy for such a small area. Just make sure that you have enough laquer in there so that there will be a thick enough film. Leave for 2 to 3 weeks resting, sand and buff.

Good luck!

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Thanks Alain, I checked out your website....very nice. I was curious to see three horizontal beams on your flamenco top. Why the extra. What does it add to the guitar? Inquiring minds want to know..LOL

_________________
John Nowicki

Thanks!


It adds strenght under the fretboard extension where the string tension exert a great deal of pressure. It kind of my own little version of the popcicle brace, with a little bit of structural strenght added.

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)