The Hub

First, I’m new at this so thanks for any advice. I’m re-topping my Mom’s first guitar (it’s own story). My plan is to finish the top with lacquer and in preparation I sprayed shellac out of a can and then pore sealed with crystalac. I thought I had it all sanded evenly but when I sprayed the first coat of lacquer, there were blotches everywhere. Do I just need to sand down to bare wood and start over or is there a way to fix this?

Evrybody knows it. Guitar dropped and ....chips. Often it can be fixed easily but very often you need the color. In my case it was a Jackson with a metallic red. I had all the chips but how to handle. Tweezer were no option. The chips flipped away. I used a small sewing needle. I've flattened the tip using some sandpaper on the workbench. Then I put a drop of thin superglue on a piece of paper, dipped the needle right in an pushed it on…

Just joined the group and have only built 3 guitars so far but just ran into trouble on my latest project. Long story short: I built a '57 LP Jr that came out fantastic but the neck was set incorrectly and was nearly unplayable. I cut off the body and made a new one and applied the burst and a few coats of clear before gluing in the salvaged neck. To finish up the neck joint with a bit more black, I dusted off my 20 yo Paasche airbru…

Searched a bit but didnt see anything on this I have some chipped finish on the soundboard - was a satin burst finish of sorts on a torrefied spruce top. I was thinking of putting down some shellac and then either black fill n finish or black lacquer on top. Then some scotch brite or 0000 steel wool to make it satin. Is this a reasonable approach? Anything others have to add?

Ok. Did a refret on a MIM Fender Strat maple neck. Some of the finish came off (was careful AF but....) It is not lacquer but I assume a poly finish. New lacquer did not meld. Can/should I use a tinted CA fix? Any tips, color recipes? Any help would be appreciated. VERY appreciated. Thanks -Mike

The neck on this Epiphone Les Paul was repaired by the local Guitar Center, but they left it ragged and the customer asked me to fix the finish. It appears to be very thick poly (not lacquer) and the crack has some glue left over from the repair. I would love to be able to just fill and finish the cracks, but I'm afraid it will be near impossible to match, so I'm inclined to strip and refinish the whole neck. Advice??

I am switching from NC lacquer to EM6000. I also want to switch from black WB filler to blackened epoxy grain fill. My question relates to keeping the color in the pores and off the surface wood, and whether to vinyl seal before and/or after epoxy fill, I already know how to tint epoxy black. Could black grain fill style be accomplished with black epoxy as the grain filler and would a vinyl sealer be used at all, or just use EM6000 for…

Customer brought in his D35 which he bought new 6 months ago from a local shop in here in Toronto. The way he describes it— the finish on the back of the neck began to ripple, and in one spot bubbled and chipped off about the size of a quarter. Where the lacquer has chipped off, there’s still sealer and pore fill underneath. I’ve heard about finish adhesion issues on Martins of various eras. The rest of the neck finish is starting to ri…

Just curious on some thoughts if this fan would work to prevent me from poisoning myself and my family from spraying in my basement shop: https://a.co/d/8UPeRwk I have a basement shop with a door that goes outside. I don’t have a sprayer system, so am currently using rattle cans. Wondering if I set this up with a big 25 foot hose going outside, and put my workpiece right in front of it, if I could get away with spraying in my shop to acc…

Hi Everyone. I am planning to finish my latest electric build which has a Zircote top. I am going to spray Nitro Lacquer. Is there anything I need to watch out for in spraying over such an oily wood? Thanks!

Hi! This is a new build but suddenly it's also a finish repair. I tested Ken Parker's Epoxy + Tru-Oil approach on the fretboard of this ukulele before committing to the rest of the instrument. It's a single (very thin) coat of West System epoxy (using the clear hardener), then 3 coats (so far) of Tru Oil. It's well-cured, about three months. The bad thing happened yesterday: attempting to dress a fret end, I was using thick double-side…

Hey All I am finishing a ukulele and I am getting all these weird pits. I was able to drop fill a lot of them but most of them do not want to stay filled and it is driving me mad! Anyone have an idea as to what may be causing these little pits? I used StewMac's dry power pore filler and their lacquer. I'm about to strip it and start over because at this point I've been chasing my tail so much I'm going crossed eyed. Thoughts?

I’ve moved away from nitro lately and have a number of cans left that I no longer have use for. They’re free to anyone who wants them - if they can be of any use to someone I’d rather that than dispose of them. All new & still factory sealed. 3x Seagrave Gloss L3651 1x Seagrave Guitar Sealer R-1140 I’m in the SF Bay Area so if there’s anyone local that would be awesome, maybe meet up and grab a drink. Otherwise, I would be willing to ship i…

I'm looking for advice and feedback on this touch up. It's my second one of these carbon fiber fabric repairs, my first turned out much better. I used the powdered pigments to match the color of the original wood, which was exposed along the margins of my repair, then I used glass slides to match the color of the lacquer. I then used The Mohawk brush tip marker, which I don't think I'll use again because I couldn't get straight lines.…

I consulted the Flexner book for reference using butyl cellosolve in lacquer. As expected it says ratios into lacquer are trial and error. I'm looking for an answer to best re-flow 70s Gibson lacquer to melt with new over sprayed lacquer. What's my best bet ratio butyl/lacquer to avoid adhesion issues? Thanks in advance! -Brent

Hey y'all, Got a guitar in for repair, I've got nitrocellulose and experience with it, so can repair it one way or another, but would like advice on what's best. I figure the options are stripping the headstock by itself and respraying, or maybe doing the trick of very thinned lacquer hoping it will slip underneath and hold the existing stuff down. Owner is budget conscious but also not too concerned with originality so it's a bit of a t…

I have a 70s PBass with a maple “A” neck that could use a refret. It still seems to have the original frets. I tried a level and crown on the already low frets, but I think it needs refret. The frets in the money area are pretty low, .030-.025 and I’m concerned about removing them sideways, as I’ve never had a chance to do that. I understand from the fretorama with Joel Wilkins that when they are this low it increases the difficulty of…