Official Luthiers Forum!

I put the finishing coats on the top this weekend. I used shellac with a little Behlen Violin Varnish (stew mac sent it to me in error and told me to keep it) added. This is my first guitar, first time I've used a HVLP sprayer, and first time I've spent more than 5 minutes applying finish to any thing wood. I used tru-oil (we don't need to go into the pros and cons of using tru-oil on a musical instrument again) on the back and sides and needed to touch up the binding edges on the top after removing the masking.

I wiped the guitar down with a fresh rag and a few drops of naphtha to remove fingerprints. I properly disposed of that rag. I waited a few seconds and rubbed the guitar down with another fresh rag. I set a small mixing cup upside down on my work surface, put the rag on the cup, and laid the guitar top down on the rag covered cup. I rubbed on the tru-oil and called it a night. You can see where this is going...

This morning I went in and was pretty pleased with the touch ups. Until I flipped the guitar over and saw- THE RING. Apparently there was just enough naphtha on the guitar and thus on the rag to melt the finish where the cup made contact with the rag and guitar top. Looks like I'll be sanding all the way down to wood and starting over on the top.





These compressed pictures don't do the damage, or the pretty decent first spray job attempt, any justice.

_________________
rono

Nice guitar. Keep your chin up. I bet it will turn out just fine.

_________________
George :-)

LOL, I feel your pain. I just ruined my fresh finish job tonight by using the wrong solvent to clean of CA glue. This was to fix the bridge that misaligned itself under clamping pressure. So now I get to redo the finish.

Yeah, we'd need to see the 'after the bandsaw' picture for it to count as a candidate.

(Now let's see ...Where's the one of that neck I was working on last year? )

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

If it can be fixed it is just educational not a real screw up. If it can be fixed easily it is only a speed bump. I have found the best thing with a boo boo is to walk away for a while before trying to repair.

Fred

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

If you don't have to redo it 3 or 4 times over a period of about 3 months, you'll be doing better than I did on my first finish job.

_________________
"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Ouch! Upon discovering a mistake - no matter how big or small - smile as big as you can. I mean genuinely smile.

Then accept and appreciate the learning opportunity that has been given to you. Learning is a wonderful thing.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Chuck

_________________
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

I feel your pain. I was level sanding the varnish finish of the soundboard of my latest and I sanding down to the wood in a tiny spot. It's barely noticeable and I was to just move on and pretend it didnt happen, but I know it'll haunt me forever in the right light! So I'll be joining you in sanding off the finish and starting over!