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What tricks do you all have for preventing finish dings and scratches particularly on the top and back during the steps of attaching the neck and installing the frets and bridge, etc? I have used poster board cut to match the shape of the body and taped it to the top and back. That works pretty well, but it's not foolproof. Occasionally some small piece of something will find it's way underneath and cause a minor scratch or impression which is really irritating after all the work to that point.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

For me, it is just being very, very careful and keeping a clean work space. Keep nothing above the piece (like on a shelf...how do I know this LOL?). I use two large beach towels under the instrument. That also helps.

I bought a roll of Mylar. I cut out pieces for the top for each guitar.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Install the frets before finishing.

I apply the finish and do the final sanding and polishing of the body and neck while they are still separate. Then I attach the neck to the body and do the frets and bridge installation, etc. So my concern is avoiding dinging or scratching the nice shiny finish during all the handling required for the final assembly steps. Particularly on the back and top.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Part of doing repair work is learning how to work, where to keep your tools, how to set your bench up, etc. so that you never, never damage the valuable personal property of others.

We at times do ghost building for other Luthiers where we are shipped a neck, and box from a pro finisher and then we do the final assembly. Mind you the instrument has already been buffed to a high shine when we get it. We have to set the neck angle and attach, fret the things, make and install nuts and glue on the bridge and make a saddle and do the final set-up.

Again the instrument is highly polished and the finish is perfect.

It's very rare for us to ever damage anything although it does and can happen from time to time but when it does you fix it and being a Luthier means that you have the chops to fix what you do too.

Most of all though what I wanted to add is that after all of the handling and final assembly it's pretty much standard fare to take the completed instrument to the buffer and buff it out one final time so that it's perfect in every way (beyond maybe how it was built..).

So two take-aways for you J. First is that folks work on finished AND valuable instruments every day. We worked on a $75,000 archtop yesterday with the client present..... and one need not damage anything with a little thought to your work flow, bench layout, and I'll add using tools and vices.... that won't damage anything.

The other take-away is that it's pretty much expected that after final assembly the thing could benefit from taking it to the buffer one final time but be careful, buffers like to throw brand new guitars right across the room.... dang things....

PS: No effort is made to encapsulate the thing in protective coverings although we do use a protective shield that the guys who are coming to our fretting class will use and receive too.

PSS: If working on a finished instrument makes you nervous I was that way too but you get over it with time and experience and a track record of doing no harm helps too.

Thanks for the reply, Hesh. I understand about being careful and how to think about being careful in general. In my research science days, I worked routinely with radioactive and carcinogenic compounds and being situationally aware was a big part of never having any accidents. It also taught me to use whatever simple precautions are available. That's why I was wondering if people here have hit on any protective measures that help to prevent damage such as particular materials between the guitar and the bench top or masks over the top and back, etc., that I may not have thought of or be unaware of.

I can see how if you are doing this stuff every day, all day that over time you become less likely to slip up. This brings to mind the old man I met on a climb of Mount Baker, a glacier-covered 10,000 foot volcano here in Washington. He was climbing solo on a glacier route involving things like crossing crevasses on snow bridges. He had climbed that route solo every year for many years. Now this is generally considered by climbers to be a very stupid thing to do, but if you are lucky and make it through some number of climbs without dying, you can develop a sixth sense of where to go and where not to go as he apparently had done. He made it up and down safely that day yet again. The lead climber on another rope team in my climbing group on the other hand, broke through the ceiling over a crevasse and was saved by the rope and her two climbing partners. Since I don't get to work on guitars every day, I would rather take precautions if possible.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I can almost hear the ice cracking and your excellent analogy reminds me of Hemingway! Thanks for that Jay, great analogy!

I felt the same we but you do get over it but not getting completely over it is a good thing too since we never want to do any harm.

Beyond a protective shield for the upper bout that's about all I ever use. I may use lots of masking tape at times too but never, never, never leave it on over night especially with fresh finish.

I lay a fresh towel over some soft carpeting on the bench and it has always worked well. If you do eletronic work then make sure you have a special carpet for that as you are guaranteed to have little solder balls stuck in the carpet somewhere.

Another tip I learned the hard way, don't have cabinets or shelves above your finish work area

I've used Contact paper, the shelf lining material for kitchen cabinets. Test, test, test beforehand, though. It could affect some finishes.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

lots of low tack drafting tape for me as well as pieces of cardboard.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I've used (in addition to a clean soft towel over carpeting) flocked (felted) photo frame matting cut to the shape of the box. Nothing beats being careful.

Actually, this is one of the reasons I switched to polyester. It used to drive me nuts when I'd leave a mark with a thumbnail or some other very minor miss-hap when doing final assembly and set-up. I have found that polyester is hard enough that, unless you do something really bad, once finished it stays finished.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Years ago I bought a rolled protective sheet used by professional draftsman. The material is like a rubberized plastic and is .045 thick. Once flattened it works great for protecting finished tops from the bridge mounting through the set up stages. It should be available at any art store. I was referred to it by Ed Claxton after asking your same question. I really had a problem with the ball ends of strings during set ups. Used to really bug me that no matter how hard I tried there was always a couple of small dings in the top. For the back I just lay it on an old freshly cleaned towel, and I rotate my pile of towels to keep them clean. Like Hesh everything gets a light buffing for the final.

Tim

I spend a morning cleaning and vacuuming the shop and bench. Then cover everything in bath towels. Wash the towels after each use just in case they picked up some spec of grit. I also banish all tools I'm using to a separate cart..even things like pencils

No finish is immune. None. Not even polyester. But particularly nitro, even low tack tape can leave marks in the finish. All finishes sink. All of them. Polyester too. Sometimes it will be simply falling into the pores, other times there will be a dimple in the finish on the top and no amount of sanding, leveling and buffing will correct it. It will sink again. Be careful of plastic shields because you can leave a burr that can get pressed into the finish. Cut it and make sure it is filed and sanded away. Use compressed air ritually to blow filings and so forth off the finish. Mask off and get the job done fast and remove the tape. Don't leave it there as it will leave a mark.

I always plan to buff out a few scratches after setup. (on new builds, that is.)

Good topic. I learnt a few things. I have used nitro, acrylic and blonde shellac, and end up polishing out small marks which is more time consuming than all the prep and clean up takes. The last one was completed mark free, then a month later I dropped it a foot or so when the tuning machines were changed.

I find in many situations protective covering can have revenge effects. Either causing me to loose focus and move more like car mechanic and less like a dancer or believe falsely that a surface is now fully protected from mistakes.
I defiantly use them but like a railing on a high deck, if it can't hold two wrestling teenagers crashing against it, it's better not to have one at all.
Seeing a nice finish gleaming up at me can keep me inline.

Be carful buffing with strings on! Soft wheels are forever scheming on how to get there satanic hands on them! I've seen it twice!