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I installed my binding and everything went well.....except I got got some on my gloved finger (the real thin stuff is what I used) and got some on the unshellaced portion of the top (curly redwood top). I have used 60 grit to get it out but have not been able to get it all. How much trouble am I in???? The finish schedule I was going to use is sand to 220, put two or three coats of shellac, then use waterlox varnish as my finish coats and buff to satin.

One option is .....well I was not planning on trying to pore fill and I know one method used is to use superglue to fill. I could do this so the top is evenly "stained" and then proceed with my schedule above. I do not want to do this however and any advice is welcome. I could continue to try to sand but that would push the already thin top and it would create a large shallow area.....well what would do?

thanks
Matthew

If you are going to seal the top with an epoxie sealer, there is a big chance the CA will become invisible under the epoxie. You can try this in a piece of scrap wood.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I have known that super glue and redwood don't mix for a good while. Not many folks here use redwood so it rarely comes up. I've tried it on small cracks and whoa, it isn't a good fit. Gluing with Hide glue would be better or with PVA glues, more compatible.

I know your situation was accidental, and there just may not be a fix if you can't sand it out. It's like it moves pigment in the wood and stains.

Burst that baby if nothing else or maybe a black lacquer top, think Hesh's guitar?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I wouldn't use waterlox as a top coat on a guitar.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Matthew what the others have said.

Next time seal the end grain of the binding channel with shellac and an area a few inches out too to help the binding tape avoid tear-out when removed.  This seal coat of the perimeter and channel of the top is then sanded off the top when the bindings are glued in place.

I think that Peter is right and what I would do from here is wipe on a coat of 50/50 denatured alcohol/epoxy finishing resin to the top with a lint free cloth.  If it does not completely blend in with the CA stain it will at least lessen how noticeable the stain is.

If you are going to do the 50/50 wipe do not seal the top in shellac prior to using the 50/50 mixture.  Epoxy does not stick well to shellac although shellac will stick well to cured epoxy.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

You can try an epoxy wash coat (on scrap first) as others have suggested, but if you have grain alcohol available to you, use that instead of denatured. The stuff is nasty bad for your health.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks for the reply.....

Hesh....I did seal the channel, top(few inches), and sides prior to binding. The stains were from an accident from my gloved hand more towards the center of the guitar. I put some on some scrap last night and will give it the same sanding treatment then use the zpoxy 50/50 treatement with no shellac under it as recommended to see if it will work.

Howard.....can you elaborate on why you would not recommend the waterlox as a top coat? I tried to look here and elsewhere a great deal and have not come accross any bad issues with this. I would appreciate your feedback. The alternative that is right behind it is Rockhard varnish and will use it if the waterlox is not an option.

Thanks for all your help here.

Lots of ideas for next time, but for this time, the fix is very easy.

Just seal the entire top with more super glue. It's a good sealer, will add dent resistance, and the color will be dead even with the drop you spilled.

Would superglue solvent be a good option to try before anything else?
What do you all think?

the first curly redwood top I did 5 years ago or so, I sealed the whole top with CA ... it worked out fine, the colour was even, and it pops grain to boot ...

I doubt the solvent will work .. there is no way to draw the CA back out of the wood .. it will only remove the very surface level with wiping ...

IMO, like Mario says .. simply wash the whole top in CA, then a scuff sand then finish ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Hey Don,
How would you know

Wear a respirator and have good airflow when you apply that much superglue. Actually, you should use a respirator with organic vapor cartridges when you apply any superglue, but especially that much. Unless you have a helmet type forced air respirator that protects your eyes, good airflow is needed.

I wouldn't use Waterlox for a guitar topcoat because it isn't a very hard finish, and because it darkens wood a lot (which in some situations is desired). Waterlox is a long-oil varnish. In an oil-based varnish a resin (phenolic in the case of Rockhard and Waterlox) is dissolved in an oil at high temperatures. Part of the oil becomes chemically linked to the resin, but part remains free. A long-oil (meaning a lot more oil than resin in the mix) varnish acts more like oil and less like resin; it stays softer, it penetrates more, and it doesn't build a glossy film as much as a short-oil varnish (Rockhard is short-oil) . It will darken the redwood top a lot, and potentially dampen sound more than Rockhard; on the neck it will feel a bit softer. I think (not sure) that the high-gloss Waterlox has more resins.

You may like the look of the darkening from Waterlox, for example to "pop" the curl on the top. In that case, you might wipe on a coat of it and wipe off any excess that isn't absorbed, and then top coat with a different finish (but don't build up a film of a softer finish and put a harder finish over it). However, given your superglue situation, if you used Waterlox you would make the superglue spots really stand out as lighter in color, since the glue seals them from the oil.

Waterlox is a quality product and a lot of people like it. My biggest objection to it in the past has been the solvents, which smell like gasoline and take a long time (like days) to stop smelling. They may have changed solvents since I used it last.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks for the safety advisory Howard - I was wondering if anyone was going to mention this very important issue.

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Ann Arbor Guitars