Drop filling a poly finish

[BradHall]

A friend dropped part of a music stand on the top of his prized Taylor. The ding is very deep and about 3/16" on each leg of a triangular divot. I've done several drop fills with ca and have had good results. However, the spruce top is nicely aged and the divot is bright white. My first thought is to try to amber the spot with Schellac. Any other suggestions welcomed.

[redir]

That would be my first thought too Brad. Shellac can be tinted too. I finally jumped on the Glue Boost train a few months ago and like most people who finally decided to try it, I won't ever go back to using regular CA. The stuff is just fantastic.

[mirwa]

What is it about Glue Boost you like so much, for note, I have never used it

Steve

[redir]

Originally Posted by mirwa

What is it about Glue Boost you like so much, for note, I have never used it

Steve

The accelerator actually works as they say it does for one thing. I've found most accelerators make the glue brittle and change the color even. But this stuff comes out crystal clear and you can scrape it and it's not brittle. Also when you drop fill it with the GB it really self levels well.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by BradHall

A friend dropped part of a music stand on the top of his prized Taylor. The ding is very deep and about 3/16" on each leg of a triangular divot. I've done several drop fills with ca and have had good results. However, the spruce top is nicely aged and the divot is bright white. My first thought is to try to amber the spot with Schellac. Any other suggestions welcomed.

I would convince my friend to leave the spot alone (colour wise).

Definetly fill the void, if you colour it, it will age differently to the rest of the guitar and will stick out like a sore thumb pretty fast. Leaving it alone, natural uv light will age the fresh clean wood faster than the existing surrounds, it will blend in within a few years nicely and as it ages it will look better and better.

For me when doing repairs, its not about the mommentary colour matching, its about the thought process of what will this look like in a year or two, how did the manufacturer colour the wood to start with etc

Steve

[BradHall]

Thanks Steve, I hadn't considered the difference a couple of years down the road. Food for thought.

[B. Howard]

Be warned, if bare spruce is exposed and filled or repaired with CA it may turn an ugly yellow/green that will be permanent. This is a chemical reaction and will occur with all CA, even Gluboost. Which I will say I am less than impressed with.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by B. Howard

Be warned, if bare spruce is exposed and filled or repaired with CA it may turn an ugly yellow/green that will be permanent. This is a chemical reaction and will occur with all CA, even Gluboost. Which I will say I am less than impressed with.

Is this chemical reaction not avoidable by treating the bare spruce with shellac prior to doing the fill?

I have seen this yellow/green effect in some rosettes and have always assume that it only affects end grain spruce.

[BradHall]

Well, I cleaned the divot with lighter fluid. Made sure it evaporated. I purchased the Glu Boost drop fill ca and wicked a drop into the bare wood dent. It immediately turned the wood a medium chocolate color. Now the fix is far more noticible that the lighter wood I expected. Any idea what went wrong?

[mirwa]

Photo?

Steve

[BradHall]

Here is the photo. Spruce top. Ding was deep and very white.IMG_1535.jpg

[joe white]

A closer and more focused photo might be necessary. That photo really doesn't offer any clues to what happened. Just a couple thoughts based on that photo. The solvent you wiped into the crushed area wicked something out of the finish or your rag/towel and into the raw and exposed wood or the fibers of the spruse are crushed in such a way that once wetted, give the appearance of a darker color. Just spit balling though.

[joe white]

A closer and more focused photo might be necessary. That photo really doesn't offer any clues to what happened. Just a couple thoughts based on that photo. The solvent you wiped into the crushed area wicked something out of the finish or your rag/towel and into the raw and exposed wood or the fibers of the spruce are crushed in such a way that once wetted, give the appearance of a darker color. Just spit balling though.

[BradHall]

Joe, you are right. There are some crushed fibers. I did use a white t-shirt to apply the naphtha. Likely some ca wicked around the poly finish also. I'm going to try a test sample with various dings and see if it repeats. This is the best close up I could get.

[joe white]

I know this is a silly question but we better rule out the obvious. The gluboost you used was clear and not a tinted version?