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Greasings and Saturations!
I recently damaged a customers Ibanez bass; now I have to glue a large piece back on, and have to restain several small areas that the router bit chipped.

Luckily (I think), the bass is an oil finished instrument, and the damage is in the control pocket area which positions the damage mostly on the bottom bout and less visible part of the bass. I can mix a stain very close to the original finish.

Here is my question: Would I and my customer be better off to glue up the break and chipped areas & stain and oil only those areas?

Or better to sand down to bare wood the entire damaged area, restain it all, then oil it, and possibly re-oil the entire bass?

I have stained and oiled wood, but I have never had to treat a repair site like this.

Any and all insight will be greatly appreciated. Many thanx - Byron

Byron,

Some photos would be helpful, but I would say you should try the spot repair, but be prepared to refinish the whole instrument.

Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

I'll see if I can get some photos added. I didn't mention before that its a maple top over a neck-thru.

Refinishing the entire instrument won't be neccessary, its just a matter of whether to stain the glue lines and the chips that the router bit left, or to sand that entire area (about the size of my hand) down to bare wood, then restain it and then re-oil it.

I mentioned re-oiling the entire instrument just for consistency in the oil finish.

Thanks - Byron

Yes, give us some pictures. Be advised that "just a tiny area of touchup" can grow larger and larger while looking worse and worse the more you poke at it, its tricky stuff to do well. Damaged and glued up wood can take stain in blotchy ways, the stain will want to sink in to the damaged parts and be repeled by the glue lines, making it stick out more than blend in.

Pictures of the area, then we can give you something real to go on.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

My foto files are way too large for the system to accept; I won't be able to load any fotos in, sorry.

I can email the photos if you're willing to allow me to email them to you - Byron

You can resize pictures for free at http://www.shrinkpictures.com.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com