Lowden finish
 

hi folks anyone take a guess if this would be hard to touch up the dents/dings here ??
https://images.reverb.com/image/uplo...pgqfkcsixs.jpg

https://images.reverb.com/image/uplo...iwkaml09w4.jpg

Very difficult, have repaired the finishes on these before, they are listed as a satin finish, but they have a moderate level of gloss which makes it hard to match any new applied finish into the existing finish.

Lowden also make their tops very thin for a cedar top, so its risky sanding the existing finish off and doing a new one

I wont respray / refinish another manufacturers top that for cedar is under 2.9mm or spruce under 2.6mm, just to much risk to destroying the top

Steve

looks deeper than finish damage. Enjoy the mojo, a cedar top will never stay perfect.

I had one . It was so delicate, I couldn’t live with it and sold it .
A shame . It had a wonderful tone.

Is there damage under the pick guard?

If you don't care about originality, shellac could be applied to fill that wear. I'd French polish over the finish, sanding every 2nd or 3rd coat with 400-grit wet/dry paper lubed with olive oil. Use 800-grit last few sandings. I use a wooden backer with a piece of paper about 4 inches long. I do this until the depressions are filled.

Deep areas can be drop filled with thickened shellac to reduce number of coats. It might take 15 to 20 coats to level. Each coat takes less than 5 minutes.

You'll only add 1 or 2 mils (inch) because you keep sanding off the high areas. Finish ends up similar to satin.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/R1QM4Qb.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/0iqtgtr.jpg[/IMG]

ok thanks for replies

Drop fill
 

You have a lot of nicks to fill. It will take time and patience, with that many dings you will have to sand and spray the entire top. Starting with 220 sand until you cannot see any glossy scales oe spots. Too get a good look before you spray wipe the top with naphtha to get any spot to show. Shelac would not be appropriate to drop fill unless your guitar has a shelac finish. Shelac is methanol based and will turn lacquer white. Since most guitars are lacquer I would recommend that. Best to check with the manufacturer.
All that being said, it looks like cedar, if it is you will have dings and impressions.
I have a couple of small impressions right behind the bridge frame the excess string being bumped an leaving a string impression.
I would recommend leaving it alone. I would charge $300-$400 to fill an refine that top.

Very tricky indeed!
 

Lowden use a nitrocellulose finish but hand rub this with very fine wire wool to give the lovely satin look and feel.

The dings you have are in the wood as well as the finish. As mentioned previously the cedar top on this instrument is not very thick. Looking at the soundhole you may think it is but Lowden use a soundhole reinforcement patch similar to those use on classical guitars so the actual top thickness will be half of what you see. To remove the dings you’d have to remove some of this thickness which would change bot( the sound and structural integrity of the instrument.

The only option I can think of would be to drop fill the dents and then try to match the finish on the rest of the guitar using 0000 wire wool or the white Scotchbrite pads. Worth speaking to Lowden directly though.

Cedar is a very soft wood and is therefore prone to this sort of damage. My advice would be to leave well alone and just enjoy what is a lovely guitar.

Shellac is fine over lacquer. It works fine for me.

Frank Ford also thinks it is:

"What's it good for?

Shellac is the friendliest finish in the business. It's the ideal undercoat for any wood finish, including itself. It's the only finish that sticks to all other finishes and can be used as an intermediate or "barrier" coat to separate two "unfriendly" finishes, like varnish and lacquer. It can be used as a top coat over any finish, although it's not so durable as most other finishes so it's seldom used for that purpose.

Shellac is the perfect wood sealer under lacquer. There, I've said it again. Shellac sticks to wood, plastic, glue, and the other items we're likely to encounter in instrument construction, and other finishes stick well to shellac, so it's my first choice every time." from http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luth...c/shellac.html

You can also remove finish with media blasting, I use walnut or plastic media takes around an hr to remove the finish on the top of an acoustic guitar, but it does not damage the wood. Takes 2 hrs to strip something like this ricky in attached photo.

One of the issues with stripping paint the conventional way (sanding) is it removes not only the paint but some of the wood

http://www.mirwa.com.au/images/tg.JPG

Steve