Official Luthiers Forum!

OK, so I'm stuck. The endgrain on the top of the peghead has a few dull areas. I sealed it, finished it with lacquer and it looked good, wet sanded it with 600 and the endgrain seems to have raised up and is rearing its ugly head. The rest of the instrument looks great with a nice dull "sheen" but that one area is a problem.

So, my question is...what to do? Do I add layers of lacquer or what?

Not totally sure I understand your issue. You say there are dull spots at the top of the headstock which is end grain, yet you also say that the rest of the instrument also has a dull sheen. So what's the difference in the dull sheens?

A couple of pictures would be good.

End grain certainly can soak up more material than flat or quarter sawn woods, that's just the nature of end grain. What does the heal of the neck look like? That's pretty much end grain too so it should be about the same.

You may have sanded through the finish in those dull spots so it might be worth while just to add several more coats to the neck (it won't hurt anything but your time). Also you don't have to worry to much about leveling the top of the headstock, it's a pretty small area and will hold what ever sheen you're looking for with little sign of imperfection.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I think it's a combination of soak in and sanding through the finish. I'll spray a few more coats on and see what happens. I was just hoping to get this sanded, buffed up and put together this weekend. Guess it may have to wait for the new year.

Thanks!

Joe my friend as Rod said we love pictures here at the OLF so if you can post a few you are bound to get more people who may have an understanding of how to help out.

Should end grain be sanded with finer grit paper than flat sawn before finishing? Does that help?

_________________
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

My digital camera has fritzed, for a while it was taking off exposed images, now nothing. Hopefully "Santa" brings me the new one I "deserve." I too love pictures, but not for a bit...

Sometimes on end grain, if I "burnish" it by hitting it with a powered directional sander like a belt sander, I find that it allows the finish to be more uniform. This won't necessarily help in this case, but in the future.

Darrin