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This is a new guitar I am building for a friend. He is paying for materials only. I did a wash of amber shellac followed by zpoxy and about 5 clear coats (em6000). The shop has a dehumidifier (no Humidifier) and RH was about 35ish (?). Crack developed and I did the thin CA thing, sanded back to wood and wiped zpoxy on the repaired area.

1. Can I save the finish, without sanding down to wood? How?
2. Provided I can get a good finish, would you sell this guitar? Probably not a problem with my friend, but....

BTW, the reason I sanded down to wood was I got a bit aggressive with the razor blade on the CA. It was not intentional.

Any advice appreciated!


Danny R. Little

I would refinish the whole top. 35% relative humidity is a bit on the dry side.

I doubt you'd be able to repair the finish without it being very obvious!
+1 for refinishing from scratch... Sorry.
As to selling the guitar, you'll have to make you own mind up on that one, depending on how it comes out when you're done. FWIW... I've seen top cracks repaired with CA glue 25 years ago, that are still holding fine.

Another vote for refinish of the top. Seems like alot of work, but if you don't, you'll always look at that spot and be disgusted. Sand it all back and it won't be visible at all. Do you have much to work with? How thin is the top now? I had a nearly identical situation with an Adi topped OOO and my bringing the finish back to the wood I think I got the top a bit thinner than usual. Turned out great - very responsive guitar.

For some reason I cannot enlarge that pic but it looks like you will have a hard time hiding that. FWIW I've found CA discolours the glue line on top wood and don't use it anymore. Titebond does a fine job and is easy to clean up. Hot hide glue is probably the glue of choice for such operations.

As for selling, if your buddy is just paying you for materials then that sounds like a good deal to me.

Thanks for the feedback. I have sanded the top back to wood and put on the Zpoxy. It will look better (already does). I did uncover a few small pitch pockets. The top was already thinner than my last OM but I didn't remove much wood in the resanding. Humidity is now 45 with the dehumidifier kicking on once in a while. Good ol' Illinois weather.