Pulled Top Fibers

[Joe_guitar]

I’m currently in the process of building an OM kit from StewMac.

Getting ready to finish it, but have one problem.

When I was removing the tape I used for the binding, it pulled up a bit of fibers from the top in one spot. It’s too deep to sand out.

I’m going to finish it with Sher-wood lacquer. If I just build up the finish, once it fully cures, it will show.

Since I’m going to do the pore filling with Zpoxy, would it be a bad idea to “pore fill” the top the same way?

Any ideas on a good way to solve this problem?

[Fathand]

Usually can sand out, especially if you can glue the fibres back in?

If sanding out reduces the height of your binding too much, re cut and replace binding?

Is it possible to hide it with a pickguard or something?

[nikpearson]

It is very hard indeed to make this type of repair invisible. Any material, be it filler, wood or finish, will reflect light differently than the surrounding wood.

I’m certainly not a finish expert but my inclination would be to drop fill the offending area with finish prior to final finishing.

Using epoxy on the top is probably a bad idea. It’s never completely transparent and the rest of the top doesn’t need pore-filling. Although epoxy can speed up pore filling, my one experience of using this method was problematic. Several months later bubbles started to appear in the shellac finish. These became increasingly worse over the next few months and required complete sanding back and refinishing. I wouldn’t use Z-Poxy again for this reason although many report no issues.

I have successfully used CA glue to fill nail marks in shellac and these repairs were invisible, but none had gone into the wood itself. CA can discolour spruce so not a viable option in this case either.

One other thought if the damage stands out would be to try a sunburst finish. Having never done one this it may be as equally challenging as a good top repair, but you could then at least fill the offending section.

A tip for the future is to apply a wash coat of shellac to the top, or at least the perimeter. This really helps to avoid fibre pull-out when removing tape. Also make sure you pull the tape off perpendicular to the grain.

[Alan Carruth]

Are you sure it won't sand out? This sort of damage is generally not as deep as it looks.

[Joe_guitar]

Thanks for all the replies.

The fibers were long gone, so couldn’t glue them back on.

I did do the wash coat of shellac, heated the tape & pulled it off on an angle to the grain. Maybe it still came out because the top is torrified?

Alan, you hit the nail on the head, it wasn’t as deep as it looked; sanded out easily.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Joe

[runamuck]

Get a few coats of finish on it and drop fill it with CA. You will most likely need to fill it more than once. Let it cure for a day or so, sand it flush and continue finishing.

PS - I advise not using accelerator.

[John Arnold]

These days, the only CA accelerator I use for finish repair is Gluboost. No affiliation.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

These days, the only CA accelerator I use for finish repair is Gluboost. No affiliation.

Me too. But I've found that just a bit too much can make it bubble, which in turn can reduce transparency.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Joe_guitar

Thanks for all the replies.

The fibers were long gone, so couldn’t glue them back on.

I did do the wash coat of shellac, heated the tape & pulled it off on an angle to the grain. Maybe it still came out because the top is torrified?

Alan, you hit the nail on the head, it wasn’t as deep as it looked; sanded out easily.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Joe

Quite possibly yes, T-Wood is very brittle. Next time do 2-3 coats of shellac and you should be fine.

+1 on the Glu-Boost accelerator, it's the only one that is truly clear that I've come across. Glu-Boost in general is good stuff for filling things like that because it is super clear. The only issue I have with it is it's shelf life.