Official Luthiers Forum!

Is there a way to save the sunburst on an old finish like this that is cracking or do you just have to sand it off and start over? The finish itself is acctually what is cracking correct? The stain is under the finish, so can you just sand with high grit and try not to go through the stain?

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma

My understanding of these finishes is that the color is IN the finish.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I'm no repair expert, but . . . .

The way I do a sunburst -- and, from what I have read, the typical way to do a sunburst -- is to stain the wood with the lightest color in the burst, then apply sealer/lacquer until you can sand it level, then spray the other colors in the burst, then put on more coats of clear lacquer, then sand and buff the top clear coats.

I have tried some sunbursts without staining the wood. In those efforts, I sprayed a sealer, then sprayed the colors, then put lots of clear coats over it so I could level-sand and buff without going through the color.

Either way, there SHOULD be clear coats over the color. If that is the case, you can try sanding, spot-filling, and buffing. But make sure you don't go through the color, or you'll have a much more complicated repair on your hands.

One more note: If this is a valuable guitar, then obviously it should not be your guinea-pig for learning how to repair a sunburst finish. Turn it over to someone with significant experience. But if it is not collectable, by all means try to repair it. Worst case scenario, you strip the old finish and spray a new sunburst. Either way, it will be great experience.

And don't forget the most important thing: Post lots of pics for us to see your progress!

One quick follow up to my prior post:

For those who haven't tried applying a sunburst finish but are entertaining the idea, I strongly recommend the first method I describe above (stain the lightest color, then seal and put on 1-2 coats of lacquer, then spray your other burst colors over the initial sealer/lacquer coats) rather than the second (don't stain the wood, but put all colors over the initial sealer/lacquer coat).

Here is the reason. If you are using any kind of figured wood on the guitar (and I hope you are!), the stain will emphasize the figure much better than spraying color over a clear coat. In fact, if you really want to bring out the figure, stain with a slightly darker color, then sand the stain back until the wood is mostly bare with only a little color in the figure, then stain with the lighter color, and then put on the sealer/lacquer coats folowed by colors.

In all cases, spray many coats of clear over your burst so you can level-sand and buff without going through the colors!

If this is a vintage instrument it is worth more if the finish is not touched. Now that said there were so many application types used to know how it was done. My guess if this instrument is to be refinished so that it 's finish is to look pristine you are stuck in having to sand away the existing finish and re-burst as if new

The common process is as previously stated

Another method would be to re-amalgamate the existing finish.

There is an explanation of this process on Frank Fords website

Must admit, whether it was worth $10 or £10,000 I would leave that finish as it is. The aged patina and laquar cracking add IMHO to the instruments heritage and appeal - its a history in there that you cant fake, and I would give it a good clean and set up and love it as it is.

Fist off, it is just an old cheap kay that I am practicing some repair on. I had planed on leaving the finish on it but due to some repairs on the neck I know I will haveto refinish it. Is there a way to just spray a coat or 2 over the existing finish and then buff? I'm afraid if i buff too much a few areas will flake off.

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma

Shure it is a cheap Kay!!