Rat damage to vintage guitar

[donnyb]

Thanks again for these replies.
Revenge on the bettles using shellac ! I like that.

[donnyb]

Originally Posted by JonWint

Oxidation won't cause damage other than discoloration. I bleach out discoloration with oxalic acid. I'd wire brush lightly to remove loose wood and dust and coat with shellac sealer by brush to protect the wood from dirt.

The damage appears to be through the top veneer of plywood. "Restoration" can only involve patching the wood so anything you do locally won't affect future work. Restoration could be effected by routing the top veneer, leveling, and patching new wood. Wood grain painting would help blend a final finish.

Thanks Jon. Makes perfect sense.

[Henning]

Originally Posted by tadol

You sure that isn’t insect damage? I think the repair would be the same. But you may want to add a little fumigation -

yup! if it was rats they would have left traces of being there. Did they? (No, I don´t want to know! )
Looks exactly like traces bugs would leave.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by Henning

Looks exactly like traces bugs would leave.

Not a furniture beetle or similar kind of borer (including wax moths, carpenter ants. It does indeed not really look like the damage rodent teeth would leave, rather like the traces slugs leave on fruit (but I wouldn't expect slugs of the mollusc persuasion to live under a bed or attack guitars).
If the damage is caused by insect larvae you should find shedded skins, old puppae etc.

AFAIK roaches can only gnaw soft materials, but feed by pre-digesting their food externally. Googling suggest they don't cause damage to wood that isn't already rodding or soaked.

Another thing: was there any similar damage to the wooden parts of the bed, or to the mattress (rodents would probably have nested in there, or ripped out filling material to make a nest elsewhere).