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Anyone tried this on spruce? I just tore my sitka to shreds taking the tape off of the binding (AND I even used a heat gun and went slow). I am probably going to do a hand rubbed burst on the top ( water sol aniline dye) and I noticed they did say "stain-able"...any thoughts?

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma

How deep is the tear out? What was the thickness of your top when you glued it down?

Chris has some good thoughts but ou don't want to go to thin around the edges....

Also, if you fill the tear out, you'll have to almost go black to hide it...

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Did you seal the edges where the tape was applied with shellac first? It helps with the tear out problem. If not, you might want to go that route in the future.

Yes, shellac the top and learn to read grain runout. Even with Shellac applied it can tear out. The direction you pull off the tape is important.
I've no experience of Timbermate, I just doubt that it will make the tear out disappear. With Spruce it is notoriously difficult to get invisible repairs with filler of any kind. Lycopodium and HHG is a traditional filler for Spruce but you will probably have to wait for the Top to oxidise to get a close colour match. It will still show though.
The other technique is to fill with slithers of off cuts from your soundboard. Perhaps not for the feint hearted but it is possible to get very good results using this technique. I've done it on more than one occasion and if I can do it, anyone can. If you have numerous tear outs it may not be worth it.
If you have enough soundboard thickness, thinning is probably your best option.

Another trick is to warm the tape with a hair dryer or heat gun before removing and as mentioned, always shellac the top and note grain runout before taping.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Should you use Zinser shellac sanding sealer or just shellac?

Anything, as long as it dries fully. You can take the stuff off afterwards. Just don't make the mistake that I've just made, using old Shellac flakes.

Forget about using any kind of pore filler to fix torn fibers on spruce.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.