Poor Man's Quick and Dirty and Cheap Stain and Varnish

[Paul678]

Is it a lacquer finish? If not there may be compatibility issues with it i.e. the type of finish you use.

Is there a test to find out what the finish is? This is why they tell you
to test it in an inconspicuous spot first.....

A bit of acetone will be sufficient to test to see what finish is on the guitar. Touch a Q-tip soaked with acetone in a inconspicuous spot. It will etch lacquer deeply and immediately, where it will have virtually no effect on catalyzed finish. Tip from Frank Ford. I wouldn't use too much acetone.

http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/ShopTips/038.html

Ok, the acetone did nothing. So would it be safe to assume this is
a polyurethane finish?

If so, would the spray lacquer I just bought not be compatible?

[Tim Benware]

Check to see if you can put on a layer of shellac and then use the lacquer over it.

[Paul678]

Ok, here are the results:



I left it at 200 dpi so you can zoom into the details.

Turned out better than I thought my first guitar re-finishing job would be!

Just to be fair though, the first picture was not an accurate depiction
of reality, in that the glue never looked that white in real life. But
nevertheless, I consider this DIY job quite a success, as I can imagine
someone not noticing the repair at all.

Lessons learned by this newbie (which you all probably already know):

1) A brown permanent ink pen (Sharpie) can work wonders
with tinting and blending into the natural grain of
the wood. The first clear coat did not darken the
natural wood enough, so I had to go in there and
be an artist, faking the grain pattern. It wouldn't
surprise me if the original finish had some sort of
tint.

2) Don't attempt CA super glue repairs in between coats.
I tried filling some pores in, and although they sanded
out fine, the next lacquer coat appeared to dissolve the
previous coats, but left the CA glue alone, like little
islands. But they sanded out fine after the final coat
was dry, and buffed out fine.

3) Even 14 day blue painter's tape will lift out cheap "gold"
foil logo letters! It was quite disappointing to see the
"D" in Delta get lifted off, and stuck backwards on the tape
as I removed all the masking. Bum deal, but I do have some
gold oil paints.... :)

4) Buffing out the lacquer to a shine makes all the hard work
worth it!


Thanks for the feedback fellas....I may have some recordings of this badboy soon enough.....