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Hey everyone --

I know I've seen mention of this here before, but my searches have yielded very little regarding peoples' methods for concealing their boo-boos. You know, taking lemons and making lemonade.

To be more specific, a while back, when I was routing the purfling channel on my SJ, I had a massive lapse of awareness -- just as the router was approaching the tail end, I realized I hadn't fitted the butt wedge in place, just as the bearing was falling into the trench I'd already cut. Of course this resulted in a perfect little crescent-shaped cavity the depth of the purfling channel in the top. It's too deep to sand out without making the top very thin in that area, so I did my best to patch it with the corresponding addi cutoff. It's a decent match, but noticeable nonetheless. I moved forward with the build, getting it ready for finish, then set it aside in order to build #5, with the intention of finishing them both together.

Well, here I am, ready to start the finish process, and I'm feeling the need to come up with an alternative to the patch -- some sort of decorative flourish that's subtle enough to harmonize with the overall design, and not draw one's attention instantly to that spot. It's sort of a catch-22, since if I leave the patch, it'll only be noticeable upon close inspection, and if I camouflage it, it becomes a focal point.

Any advice or words of wisdom? Thank in advance.

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Maybe you could do something like Howard Klepper did on this one. Looks tricky though.
Warren.

put a "Made in the USA" sticker over it. I did the same thing routing then going into the neck block and making a nice little gouge. Live and learn i guess.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

put a "Made in the USA" sticker over it. I did the same thing routing then going into the neck block and making a nice little gouge. Live and learn i guess.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Or inlay a piece of abalone or other material over it...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I probably don't have to tell you, but it would have been easy to fix this by adding a couple of more purfling lines, if you'd done it at the time of the mishap (provided your linings are wide enough). If it really bothers you, you could still rout the bindings and purflings off, and do it over I guess. As I see it, your other options now are a) decorative inlay, b) sunburst or c) leave it.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I have learned that when something like that happens, walk away and give it a day, then think about how to correct the mistake, not how to hide it. Arnts suggestion of extra purfling or some sort of a inlay would be easy to do at that time. I have a guitar with extra purfling on the binding on the sides due to a dremel bit comming loose and cutting the binding rebate about .030 too deep on the one side. After several bad words and some time away, I routed all the binding to that depth and added the purfling. I get complements on how good the extra purfling looks, but I get pleasure describing to booboo that caused it.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Perhaps you could add something like this guitar has:

I did something similar i and messed up the back on my first at the heel and tail - matching mistakes. I fixed it with this, similar to the shot Clay did. That one looks easiest to exectute.

I've gotten several 'complements' on my 'unique detail'

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
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