Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello,

I've been using waterborne finishes for like ten years now, never really happy with it. So on this build I am trying lacquer once again. Anyway all was great till I turned around while holding the guitar and hit a metal stand on the ground

So there is a one inch long soft scratch in it. I say soft because it's not like a v-shaped razor channel but a cupping u-shapped gouge. Not terrible deep either.

Question? I sprayed the last coats on yesterday. Should I drop fill the dent with lacquer? I hear some people drop fill on lacquer finishes with CA too. Which do you think is better in this situation?

Regards.

Use lacquer. You have to wait for the whole thing to cure anyway. Why mix CA with the lacquer now? What if it does not come out how you like it and you need to sand it off? More work. Just go with lacquer.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

CA is harder than lacquer and won't sand or buff at the same rate. It will be very noticible once the repair is done. I let a small jar of lac sit out for a day or two (somewhere it can gas off without smelling up the shop) and it will thicken up. If you use the thicker lac to drop fill it will save having to apply many coats to build up the finish. If you use some thicker lac just be sure to watch for air bubbles. Also I found it helpful to put a drop of acetone on the spot to be filled first (or in your case paint some acetone on the scratch first). This softens the lac a bit and I found it helps the coats tie together.

With enough dry time your repair should be invisible.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Ok Lacquer it is then, nope not all the way to the wood so it should be and easy fill.

If in a hurry you can speed things up by poring a bit of lacquer on a flat surface and stirring it with a popsicle stick. The relatively large surface area exposed to air makes it thicken pretty quickly.

I don't know about the rest of the clan, but I have never had drop fills go completely invisible, even with the McFadden's. They are always there at some angle of light unless I shoot another flash/finish coat over the top. I once had good luck with byutal celosolve over a drop fill on an older finish. Once the fill was leveled it was still visible as a small ring. I used an air brush to shoot a thin top of BC and let it cure out and it was well melted. WARNING: This increases the wait time for the cure out. I had to let is sit a full two weeks before I did final fine sand and re-buffed.

Alan D.
And on the 8th day he put instrument finishing on the earth as a trial for mankind...

No problem, I can spray a coat or two over the whole thing. I was planning on waiting 14 days or so after the last coat anyway.