Ross of OttawaMar 5

A little time on my $15 thrift shop guitar repairs today. I've been experimenting with finish repairs for the top dents, gouges and splits, and seem to have something that works pretty well… after lots of tests.

It's time intensive, with lots of steps, and building of layers, but it seems to preserve the wood tone and I'm hopeful the damaged areas will be subdued quite well.

#yamakiGuitarRehab #hackLuthier

Show threadRoss of OttawaMar 5

Incidentally, I stumbled across an identical guitar to mine for sale online ( 2yr old posting).

It appears to be in very bad shape, see pic below, worse perhaps than my $15 thrift-shop one, and yet the seller asked $1100 for it. 😲

Looks like a major split badly repaired (I had one of those too) plus a terrible coat of varnish globbed onto it.

Happy to have low bar to define success for me on my project. 😂

Show threadRoss of OttawaMar 5
This other pic is also pretty egregious. Looks like they had added a pickup w large equalizer interface. But that finish, ugh. Maybe they coated it while also re-doing a boat?
Show threadRoss of Ottawa

Back to my guitar work - did a bit more effort on the back too. Here's the before-and-after pair.

I think it can still be better. Will return to it after the top stabilizes.

#hackLuthier

Mar 5 at 11:13pmTusky
Show threadTricia WoodMar 5
@ottaross Wow! Nice job!
Show threadRoss of OttawaMar 5
@Pkbwood thanks. 😁 More to do, but I am happy to retain a bit of patina. I am shooting for a nice glossy back like the original finish eventually.
Show threadHotter, More Cross BunnyMar 5

@ottaross

So what is the finish used? Is it a lacquer?

Show threadRoss of OttawaMar 5

@HCBunny the guitar's original finish is polyurethane. The previous owner had tried to repair it with woodfiller and a coating of shellac.

I was able to strip that all off with acetone.

The back shown there is only polyurethane thankfully and I'll do another coat over that once I'm happy with the scratch repairs.