It’s happened to many. You go away for a few days, you return, your guitar looks poorly and your kid looks guilty.

So once I’ve bunged your kid that tenner I promised them for creating me a job, I can get on with fixing it! 

Something had fell and scraped down the front of this guitar, chattering it’s way through the finish. One side of the damage was noticeably deeper than the other, with a gradient between the two. The finish hadn’t been punctured completely but the fibres of the wood had been compressed under each ding, meaning there will always be some remnant of the damage visible unfortunately. That’s not to say we can’t make it a lot better, plus it needs to be re-sealed to avoid any further damage; moisture getting under the finish, etc.

First a thorough clean up with alcohol and a sharp blade, any little debris can not only remain visible but can also create a cavitation site for our CA drop fill to potentially create an air bubble – not what we want!

Once each ding was cleaned up, I drop filled some CA in and worked it around to ensure full contact with the existing finish – if we eradicate air gaps we can keep the refractive index in line with the rest of the finish and blend the repair in way better.

Once the fills had dried, it’s scraping and sanding to smooth back down flush, then a thorough polish with compound after it’s worked through all the grades of paper. On a super high gloss finish like this I go all the way up to 5000 or usually 7000 grit paper before buffing – it does make a difference.

From certain angles the compression of the fibres will always be visible but after the clear has been filled, not only is it stable again for years to come, but the damage is indeed MUCH less noticeable. 👌 Customer was chuffed. Lovely