Sunburst Repair Help!

[Fret-O'File]

Can anyone guide me in the right direction on fixing this eyesore? I understand without refinishing the whole top it will always be visible but what can be done to blend this in as best as possible? Should I get some three color sunburst paint from ReRanch or is shooting tinted lacquer my best bet?
Thanks!

[Ned Milburn]

I would want to work with a brush or a pad on this one. Layer the amber first, then the red, then the black so you can control the blend, laying the darker colours on top of the lighter. You can cap it all off with a layer of clear.

[Fret-O'File]

Thanks Ned, what do you recommend for paint or lacquer?
I don't have anything and will need to pick something up.

[redir]

That's gonna be tough. Finishing is not my expertise by a long shot but I'd think I would want to use lacquer if that finish is indeed lacquer.

[John Arnold]

I would spray tinted lacquer. IMHO, it is the only way to reproduce the shading of the sunburst, and it has the advantage of even coloration. Seal the bare wood first, otherwise the color will absorb into the wood unevenly.
The most difficult part will be blending the translucent color on a hard edge.....especially in the lighter parts of the sunburst. With translucent tinted lacquer, the more you spray the darker it gets. The hard edge almost requires you to mask before spraying, and you will have to check the match frequently by pulling off some of the mask. After you get the color close, you can remove the mask and spray very light coats of diluted color to blend it. Finally, spray some clear lacquer to seal the color and allow for buffing.
If you spray too much color and get it too dark, you can lightly sand it or use 0000 steel wool to lighten it. But that carries the danger of producing uneven coloring.
Whatever method you use, it's not going to be easy. This is some of the most challenging finish work I have encountered.

[Howard Klepper]

Buy a big decal and cover it. There are a handful of people who could make that disappear, none of whom began doing this work recently.

[printer2]

Wrong side for an arm rest.

[B. Howard]

First, what type of finish is it, lacquer or poly? That will determine the proper type of material for the repair. I use lacquer for lacquer and typically a 2 part urethane for poly. I use an airbrush for these type repairs. I cut my own shaders to match for each individual job. Premixed colors from a vendor will never get close enough for a touch up repair. I test my shaders by spraying out on a piece of glass, this can be held over the repair area and judged for color match. The darker sections left in the center that look like part of a crack repair will need stripped to bare wood if you are to even have a chance at a repair that doesn't look awful. and remember that the repair will need room to be blended out, a general rule of thumb is the actual repair will be 2-3 times the size of the actual damage.

[Fret-O'File]

Thank you all for the responses, sorry I didn't mention it is nitro.
I ordered some lacquer tints and will give it a shot and see what I get.
Not expecting perfection but will do my best.

[Dan Bombliss]

What is the eye sore? I'm having a hard time understanding the picture. Is it the scratches, or is that giant white spot not a glare, and is something in the finish??

[John Arnold]

is that giant white spot not a glare

It is missing finish.

Looks like it might have been a crack that was glued and then leveled the hard way.

[Dan Bombliss]

I'm lost as to why it's white, and not raw wood. Not a great photo for solid advice, IMO.

[John Arnold]

Looks like it might have been a crack that was glued and then leveled the hard way.

Exactly.

I'm lost as to why it's white, and not raw wood.

It is white because it is raw wood that is photographed with a flash.

[Dan Bombliss]

If that is infact raw spruce, I'll chime my .02 for consideration.

As John said, it'd be difficult to blend the translucent colors. The more you stack it, the darker it gets. That means the colored spots have a head start over the raw well, which means you need isolated coverage to start.

I like the cheap harbor freight touchup guns for things like this. Easy to keep cost down, if you don't already have the tools. Good enough to justify using, cheap enough to be disposable. I'm not sure if you have any experience with mixing colors or not, but LMI, Stewmac, Wood Craft, Rockler and many more have concentrated dyes for mixing lacquer. First step would be determining if it is nitro or not, unless you are already sure. You can take a Q-tip, dip it in acetone, and dab it in an inconspicuous spot. If it melts the finish, you've got yourself a solvent based finish. In this case, I'd dab a small drop of acetone right around the offending area (in a single dab) since you already have to fix that bit.

Once you confirm that it is nitro (hoping it is, much easier to fix), order colors. Stewmac sells the aerosols, which you'd have far less control over in both mixing colors, and spraying. The places I listed have dyes, like transtint for example, in various colors designed to mix with lacquers and solvents. If you have any experience (or not, confidence will do), you can get yourself a can of nitro lacquer (behlens instrument lacquer comes to mind), along with an assortment of those dyes (I would guess amber, red mahogany, and black). Drops go a long way, but you can pour a small bit of lacquer into a glass jar, and count your drips. Try to color match as well as you can on a test piece of spruce. It's really easy to mix too dark too fast, in which case you start over or add more lacquer.

If it were me, on this particular touch up, I would mix my colors to where I was happy with the match. I'd then seal the bar wood (after cleaning it up well). Once it's sealed I think I would do a light hand rub of the amber (the lightest), then a light hand rub of the red mahogany, and a hand blend of the black as well. What that would potentially do is accelerate the process of evening the colors, so that you could then blend with an air brush, again working from light color to dark.

The beauty of the whole thing, is that if you seal it well, and build up a light clear coat, if you don't like the colors you can cut it back again. Same goes with the air brush. You can lightly cut back what you'd sprayed, quickly and easily, with some 800-1000 grit sand paper. The key to this whole ordeal is moderation. It's sort of like a hair cut with sunbursts, as you can always add more color, but once it's too dark, you can't un-ring that bell.

Total cost in materials:
20 bucks per bottle of dye ($60)
20 bucks for can of lacquer ($20)
20 +- for air brush/gun ($20)
Misc sand paper (priceless)

Total of approximate $100 bucks in materials, so it's one of those things that if you won't use the stuff again, no point in the over head. It's a good job to out source, if you've been considering it. If it's nitro, it's a straight forward fix for any competent luthier.

-Dan