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Hey there,
I had to remove the bridge on this because it was starting to separate. I made the stupid mistake of not protecting the top enough, and I made a small gouge in the finish. So I decided, since it is my creation, and any experience is probably good, to sand back and re-french polish the top.

My question is: should I sand the whole top back or just redo the part that is sanded in the picture. I'll be using the exact same shellac and alcohol as I did to start with. I'm afraid I will have a witness line if I don't sand the whole thing. But I'd rather not go to all of that work, and I don't want to thin the top any more than I have to. What do you think?

Thanks for any input.

Kirt

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Horton, MI

Just went through the same thing. Spot sand and don't worry about it.

Steve

You probably didn't even need to sand the spot that you did. Did you sand down to smooth out a gouge?

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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

Don't begin to sand until you've used some Scotchbrite wet well with alcohol. It will thin and spread your FP'd shellac and begin to take up the finish in the matrix of the Scotchbrite. Turn the Scotchbrite frequently and don't hesitate to use a new piece. You'll be able to judge if and when to stop and it's much easier than trying to sand the entire top or even a specific area. I've used this technique many times on FP repairs and it always works well without having to sand and thin out the top in an area that already may be questionable.

When you've removed enough finish you can attempt to spot sand the area of the gouge but do it carefully and slowly. Rewet the Scotchbrite and go over the area once again to unify the finish with the adjacent areas. This will help in not resulting in a mottled looking finish as you again build up your shellac when completed.

YMMV..... good luck!!

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Peter

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I sanded back to just bare wood in the area and stopped. The gouge is still there. I tried steaming it out with an old flat iron and a wet paper towel. Got some of it out but not all. Are you saying I could just fill with more shellac? Here's a better close up of the area. Man, I can't believe I did this, learned a lesson there.

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Horton, MI

Thanks Peter, I didn't see your post till now. I did use some alcohol on the gouge before trying to steam, on a small folded piece of paper towel, thinking I would have better results if all of the finish was removed from the gouge. It's too late for not sanding the area though.

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Horton, MI

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to go ahead and smooth this with some 1000 grit, and start building finish again. Then I'll try your technique Peter, and see how it goes. I don't think I've thinned the top very much because I used 1000 grit to sand through the finish. Any more advice would be appreciated.

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Horton, MI