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Old 05-28-2012, 02:18 PM
sfden1 sfden1 is offline
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Default Poly finish repair?

My wife bought a MIC uke yesterday. Sounds great, and she got a terrific discount on it because there's a bit of finish missing on the edge of the top, lower bout, that goes through to the wood. Looks to me like someone gouged or scraped it, as opposed to just being a mistake when it was made. It's a fairly expensive uke, at least for us, so the discount really helped.

Anyway, she loves how it sounds and plays, so we'll keep it, but I'm wondering if there's any way to repair the finish to protect the wood. The exposed area is about 1 1/2" long, about 1/32 wide, if that. The finish is fairly thick and looks to be some sort of plastic material, most likely poly I would think, definately not lacquer.

Any ideas on what might be compatible with this material (or what it actually might be)? My wife suggested clear nail polish but I don't want to try that if it might harm the surrounding finish.

Any thoughts welcome.

Dennis
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Old 05-28-2012, 02:41 PM
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Kitchen Guitars Kitchen Guitars is offline
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Poly is a bummer to fix. It doesn't "re-fuse" together. Other stuff like CA Glue will be visible but maybe your best bet. Try a dab of thick or medium superglue in one small area to make sure there is no reaction between the old finish and the repair finish ( If you fish you have had Lures melt bobbers).
I would wipe the area down first with Naphtha to eliminate trapping moisture.
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Old 05-28-2012, 03:36 PM
sfden1 sfden1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars View Post
Poly is a bummer to fix. .
The beauty of a lacquer finish, afaic. , but not gonna happen on an instrument like this.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll wait to see if anyone else has any ideas before I do9 anything. Obviously, my big concern is doing something that creates a reaction with the existing finish and making it worse. Generally, I'm a "sometimes the best thing to do is nothing" kind of a guy, but if it's possible to make an acceptable repair, I'd like to. Otherwise, I'll just leave it alone.

Dennis
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Old 05-28-2012, 04:53 PM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Shellac. As long as alcohol is not a solvent for the existing finish, the shellac is 100% reversible, if need be.
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Old 05-30-2012, 10:28 PM
John Arnold John Arnold is online now
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If you mean polyester, there is not much that will affect it. Even strong solvents like acetone and lacquer thinner or retarder have zero effect.
You can use shellac or lacquer, but I tend to favor CA for finish repair on these.
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Old 05-30-2012, 10:39 PM
sfden1 sfden1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arnold View Post
If you mean polyester, there is not much that will affect it. Even strong solvents like acetone and lacquer thinner or retarder have zero effect.
You can use shellac or lacquer, but I tend to favor CA for finish repair on these.
John, I have no idea if it's polyester or polyurathane. Not sure how to find out, but in any event, would they be the same? That is, would CA or shellac have no effect if it's polyurathane?

Also, thanks all for the responses, much appreciated.

Dennis
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