[tahoeguitar]

If you get a really really good match when pressing the hole back into the sides then you might be close enough to worry about finish repair. If not, it's gonna look like you gobbed some vaseline on there so why worry... To get good finish repair results the two areas must be at lest optically level or even. Existing finish here is most likely polyurethane or other catalysed resin which does not burn in well. If you do end up sprayng, Stewmac has lacquer in rattle cans.

Here's how I'd handle this whole repair.

1) Make sure you do a dry run on everything you do, meaning try it dry before you glue.
2) Find a small rectangular piece of wood big enough to overlap the hole about 3/4" all around and flexible enough to conform to the bent sides.

3) cut another piece of the same stuff slightly smaller to use as a caul

4) Tape the caul to the patch using just enough double stick tape to hold it long enough to get it in place, leave a long twisted tail (6" or more) on the double stick that you can use to pull the caul and tape off later. Tape the caul and patch to a dowel. Dry fit to ensure you can get it into place quickly without smearing glue all over the guitar. Remove any small bits of the existing hole or edges that fight re-alignment too much.

5) Plan to either sit and hold this while the epoxy sets up or rig some sytsem to clamp it by wedging the dowel against the inside braces or something. the hard thing about this last is the patch will be slippery once you glue it and will want to slip sideways, easily counteracted by hand but not so much if you have a fixed clamping arrangement. If you descide to hold it put your favorite program on the TV or some music on the CD player. 5 minutes is forever when you got nothin to think about.

Wet some rags with solvent alcohol for cleanup, keep them handy.

Mix up some 5 minute epoxy and brush it evenly on the patch, shove the patch in place and hold it til it sets up and then a few more minutes for good measure. Wipe up any exterior squeeze out with the alcohol rags. Let it set up a few hours before you pull the caul or tape.

6) Once it's all set up, if you have voids on the outside mix a little more epoxy, fill the voids,and carefully wipe them flush with your finger and then clean up with alcohol. I would not bother with finish for the reasons listed above.