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Came home yesterday to find a slot/hole in my guitar top (Ovation Balladeer). The slot matches up perfectly to a flat edge screw driver on my electronics workbench which is close to where my guitar hangs on the wall. I have a set of very active twin 4 year old boys but they are pleading the 5th. The hole/slot is a little over 1/16 deep and just under 1/4" wide. The slot is in the lower bout. Do you think this will steam out? I'm not too worried about looks but my son is about to take this on the road for a bit and I dont want it getting worse.

http://www.devincox.com/images/hole.jpg


Thank you,
Devin

It is too deep to steam it out. However, IIRC Frank Ford (or was it Dan Erlewine) had an article about how to fix this. It basically involved removing a sliver of wood and replacing it with a patch. If you are careful I am sure it can be unnoticeable unless you are looking for it.

Try Frets.com, or the Stewmac email newsletter. I am sure I saw a great article that did an invisible fix on something like this.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Devin: If you are not concerned about looks I don't think this would cause any problem if left alone. Not too many guitars that are on the road that don't have a few war scars.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Steaming will likely help, but will not get you all the way level. I would try the steam and then fill the remaining area with CA glue. Trying to inlay a patch would damage the adjacent finish making a finish touchup necessary. The CA will create its own finish.

Probably wouldn't hurt to reinforce the damage with a cleat on the inside. Otherwise, the damage may lead to a crack down the road.

Yeah, true. I was assuming it would take a bit of finish touch up.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Patching holes

Frank Ford's Frets.com:


http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Structural/SpruceHole/sprucehole.html

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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maybe the boys had been reading some posts from this forum offering opinions on ovation's backs/sides & decided to take action?

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

I've steamed out a couple of bumps in my time! A little distilled water let it sit and hit it with some heat and you might be able to lift the wood pieces with a bent sewing pin. Float with CA, level and polish. Without seeing it....

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I can guarantee you that if you try to patch this you will make it much worse.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Just drill a hole and say its a sound port

yah, i know. I'm no help.

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-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
Instagram | YouTube

. . . but then again Howard a good restorer (and a suitable spruce? patch) would practically make that disappear.

If you are not satisfied with the patch attempt (if you choose to try it), then you can get a fancy bit of pearl and inlay it for a beauty mark. You could use your initials to "customize" your guitar.

Many years ago Richard Brune knocked a chisel off the wall onto a nearly finished replica of a vihuela, or similar insturment, in the area near the neck/body joint. He inlayed a rather large piece of engraved ivory and had an improvement.

viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=20604&p=290117&hilit=bending+iron#p290117

Is this any use ?

John

I dont really need to make it disappear. I think I would rather practice that particular repair on a crappy guitar first. Since I have to get this ready by thursday night, I will just try some steam and CA and see what happens. That Hesh tutorial link, posted by John, looks encouraging.

Thanks to all who posted up,
Devin

I did multiple treatments with some steam on the screwdriver dent and managed to raise the fibers a lot but could not get them all the way flush so I filled the remainder with ca. I will level it tonight. The repair is not perfect but it's my sons new road guitar so it wouldn't stay nice anyways. My main concern was preventing further damage, and i feel good about that, so I call it a win.

Thank you to all who replied,
Devin