Wood finish question

[Monkeyleg]

I just bought a guitar that the previous owner had for just four weeks. It's like brand new. There's no marks, scratches, anything on the front. On the backside I found a few fine scratches, most likely caused by shirt buttons. I was able to rub those out easily.

There's also a slightly deeper mark near the bottom of the rear. It's may 3/32" wide and 1/32" or 1/16" deep. I don't think it's 1/16".  I don't think I can rub it out without risking taking the whole area down through the polyurethane coat.

Is there a way to fix this without sanding through the finish and re-spraying or re-coating the area? Can the little divot be filled a bit at a time with clear and then lightly sanded and polished?

I know with an auto paint job it would mean doing a spot repair or, if the color can't be blended, doing the whole panel..

[Tallpine]

Sorry, all I ever did was new production.

Minor blemishes in laquer could sometimes be wiped out with a bit of acetone, but I don't think that works on poly.

[bedlamite]

Leave it, and come up with a really cool story about how Kieth Richards had to borrow your guitar for a concert ...

[rcnixon]

So, what kind of guitar is it?

Russ

[geronimotwo]

if it's poly, you should be able to use a fine brush and throw a little poly of the same gloss until it builds up to the surrounding finish.  make sure to clean the area well, and use the edge of some crocus cloth to rough up wherever you put the new finish.    that being said, i usually buy my guitars with a couple of dings so that i don't feel like i have to baby them.  

[RoadKingLarry]

Krylon.

[Monkeyleg]

Buncha wise guys.

Thanks, geronimotwo. I'd want to try that on some other object that's not as important.

The guitar is a 2014 Gibson Les Paul Traditional 120th Anniversary model in Honeyburst. It's really beautiful. I lucked out on this, as I was thinking about buying it from the Guitar Center. I saw this on Ebay for $650 less ($900 if you count taxes), and it's every bit as new except for these very few marks. I may have even put the little ding at the bottom, but I doubt it.

I play my guitars every day for two to sometimes six hours, and there's not a scratch or ding on any of them. I remember seeing an ad on Ebay for a used Stratocaster, and the seller made some reference to the "inevitable" scratches around the guitar cord jack. The scratches aren't "inevitable" if you watch when you insert the plug.

[geronimotwo]

sounds beautiful, good luck!

[RoadKingLarry]

THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES!


I don't play guitar, or anything else for that matter. (but I'm pretty fair with a radio or CD player and I used to be hell on wheels with an 8-track player)
But I do appreciate fine craftsmanship.

[Tallpine]

I play my guitars every day for two to sometimes six hours

Sitting around in your moccasins, no doubt 

[Monkeyleg]

The moccasins are defective.  They keep falling off.

[charby]

Buncha wise guys.

Thanks, geronimotwo. I'd want to try that on some other object that's not as important.

The guitar is a 2014 Gibson Les Paul Traditional 120th Anniversary model in Honeyburst. It's really beautiful. I lucked out on this, as I was thinking about buying it from the Guitar Center. I saw this on Ebay for $650 less ($900 if you count taxes), and it's every bit as new except for these very few marks. I may have even put the little ding at the bottom, but I doubt it.

I play my guitars every day for two to sometimes six hours, and there's not a scratch or ding on any of them. I remember seeing an ad on Ebay for a used Stratocaster, and the seller made some reference to the "inevitable" scratches around the guitar cord jack. The scratches aren't "inevitable" if you watch when you insert the plug.

The dings and scratches are why you got it for $650 less than new for a relatively new guitar. I wouldn't want you to criticize my guitar, hell the body has a big dent in in the side from the previous owner.

[vaskidmark]

Not that I agree with your fetish/phobia re: dings, but you can watch late-night TV infomercials for car paint scratch fix kits.  Get both the paint scratch fixer and the headlight lens restorer.  Fill in the ding with the microcrystaline wax and then polish/fill with whatever the crap for headlights is.

Beats the hell out of learning how to steam shellac (which you do not have) and feather  it back with the rest of the surface.  Although I have heard that some folks have been able to do that with urethane.

stay safe.

[geronimotwo]

poly can be touched up with decent results.   ml, have you contacted gibson to be sure of the type of finish?   i believe they use a nitrocellulose based laquer on their acoustics, but i have no idea for the solidbodies.

[Monkeyleg]

The dings and scratches are why you got it for $650 less than new for a relatively new guitar. I would had for you to criticize my guitar, hell the body has a big dent in in the side from the previous owner.

It was advertised as having no scratches, and there weren't on the front. There's none on the back now, either, except for this one. I went over it very carefully, and I don't remember seeing this ding. It's not big, though. I don't know why the seller sold it for so much less. There's other places selling lightly used ones for much more.

I know all this seems silly, but I like to keep my stuff looking as new as possible. The Mustang has a few stone chips that would need touch up and buffing, but otherwise it looks showroom. The interior is perfect, as is the engine bay. My guns get fine scratches from cleaning, but nothing that can't be polished out. My bike has 120,000 miles on it, but looks more like 20,000 after 24 years.

I look at "stuff" this way. To get that stuff, I had to trade away some portion of my life to pay for it. Hours, days, weeks, whatever. Time is irreplaceable. The most precious commodity. If I'm trading away my life, I'm going to make damn sure that what I traded for isn't diminished.

If it's something that has as part of its appeal its appearance, I do my best to keep the appearance up. I tried polishing and applying Meguiars Ultimate Detailer to my ex, but that just didn't work, so I divorced her.

[zxcvbob]

What about filling it with clear nail polish then sanding/buffing it?

[Sawdust]

I have never had success touching-up poly (and not being able to see the repair in a raking light).

Unlike lacquer or shellac, successive poly coats do not burn-in to the underlying coat. Each poly coat lays on top of the previous.

If it was me, and I *had* to fix it, I would be sanding the whole thing down to bare wood.

SawImveryanalaboutfinishingdust

[Tallpine]

Is there a treatment for OCD ?   

[Monkeyleg]

Is there a treatment for OCD ?  

My '91 Saturn is so disgusting that most people wouldn't ride in it. I'm neat about my house, but not obsessive. There's still leaves gathered in corners of the yard, and the flower bed in front is filled with  weeds. I have one room where I just throw boxes and stuff. I just keep the door closed.

My Kimber Pro Carry is a gun I bought to carry. There's pretty much no finish left on the flats of the slide, and the grip frame finish is wearing. But I didn't buy that because it was good looking.

There's things I buy because they serve a function---shoot, play music, drive, ride---but which I also buy because they're attractive. I could spend less and not get a Stainless Gold Match, or a Les Paul Traditional, or a Mustang GT. I pay a premium for the looks. If the appearance is going to be less than perfect, I might as well buy something already beat up, like Stevie Ray Vaughan's beat-to-hell '62 Stratocaster.

[Monkeyleg]

Somebody asked for a photo:

[Tallpine]

If the appearance is going to be less than perfect, I might as well buy something already beat up

Seems to me that you did 

[Monkeyleg]

You really like to live up to your username, don't you?

[tokugawa]

Ask Gibson about repair procedures. Send a good photo. Maybe you will get useful advice.

[RoadKingLarry]

Somebody asked for a photo:

Shiny!

Now we need youtube clips of you playing it.

[tokugawa]

If the chip is not into the stain, just the clear topcoat, you may be able to fix it.
 If it is into the wood/stain, IMO, leave it alone, as anything short of a full refinish will, likely as not, make it worse.