#1
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The Cat From Hell. . . .(nitro help needed)
OK, here's my story (and bear with me as I'm looking for some advice)
I was installing some new Waverly tuners on my Martin HD-28 which is finished in the most beautiful Ambertone I've ever seen. I got the Waverly's with the ivoroid buttons on it to replace the Grover Rotomatics that came on it. As I was reaming out the tuner holes for the bushings I went a 1/4 of a turn too far on the very first one and the hole was a bit too big for the bushing. I hate it when that happens but it normally does, at least once when reaming just to remind you to be careful! So I got out my trusty bottle of CA glue and put a dab around the bushing lip and all was fine. Of course, that's always a messy procedure so I got out my trusty bottle of CA remover and put that on my fingers where I got some of the CA glue on it. Then I stupidly set the bottle of CA remover down as I reached for the small clamp to put on the bushing so it would set correctly. At that very moment, the "shop cat from hell" decided to jump down onto my work bench from somewhere hidden among the shelves which caused my guitar to shift, which caused the bottle of CA remover to jump into the air. . . . (Keystone Cop Moment Alert) which caused me to try and stop the guitar from falling AND catch the CA remover bottle in mid-air. . . . .(which I did!) And of course, due to an obvious "karma violation", this action caused a reaction. . . .and a small blob of CA remover to hit the upper bout on top of my Ambertone. That caused me to grab a rag and wipe as quickly as possible. . . .(along with an attempt to kill the cat who was now headed for the woods behind the shop) The end result of all this was the small drop-lette of CA Remover melted the nitro in that spot and turned the outside part of the anomaly white on the border of "the melt". It's not very big, but of course to ME, it looks like a HOLE IN THE TOP with a neon sign pointing right to it!! I've done all I know to do to mitigate this "whitening of the nitro" on the border of the melted area, but to no avail. So I am throwing myself at the mercy of you folks to see if anyone has any idea's. I can certainly refinish the spot with some nitro. . . but I need to make the white stuff go away first. I don't really want to sand away large parts of the nitro so I can just touch up the spot in question but I'm not aware of any tricks to make the whiteness go away. So if anyone has a trick to mitigating the whiteness of melted nitro, please let me know! Help me OB1!
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Keep on Rockin' in the Free World...... |
#2
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Whiteness could be a sign of blushing, which is due to trapped moisture.
Try wiping some denatured alcohol on the area. This should draw the moisture to the surface. It may still be white, but only on the outer surface. Let the lacquer harden for a while, then use some fine sandpaper or steel wool, then polish. Alternately, get some lacquer retarder and brush it on the area. |
#3
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Most CA remover is a blend of Acetone and Nitromethane. The whiteness was likely a product of reaction between the plasticizers in the finish and the Nitromethane as it is a heavy oxidizing component. I would be careful with the retarder as it will soften all the lacquer it touches and may make things worse. If more neutral solvents like DA or Naptha and a bit of work with some fine scotchbrite don't pull it out it I would not try anything heavier. At that point i would try carefully removing the whitish part with a hot dental pick. It will be arduous work but you may be able to slowly pick out the damage.
All that said, in the end a larger repair may be better looking. In a lot of instances with tinted finishes just repairing a small spot where the damage was still leaves something that looks like a spot, just a different one. A larger area sanded out will give some room to feather the repair and blend the tone making a much better looking repair. Good luck. |
#4
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Thanks for the words of wisdom. . . while I've finished several guitars - this whole repair thing on a spot has made me quite nervous!!
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Keep on Rockin' in the Free World...... |
#5
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And one more question. . . . if I do decide to make a larger repair on the top - how big of an area do you think I should shoot for??
The actual "spot" is about the size of a nickel.
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Keep on Rockin' in the Free World...... |
#6
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As a general rule on things like that I figure about twice the size of the damage or a bit more. Something that large I would use my airbrush on, that's rather large for a drop fill or a brush on repair.
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#7
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Thanks for the reply's Mr. Howard. . . .
I have an airbrush that I could blend in with but that stuff really scares me. This top was so perfect that it just makes me sick. I'm going to try and lift some moisture and see if the clouding issue can be mitigated first and if not, then I guess I'll sand and shoot and hope for the best!
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Keep on Rockin' in the Free World...... |