Tinted varnish repair

[Sebastiaan56]

I expect I will get a "good luck" answer but I have to ask.

Dopey stuck his hand up to have a go at repairing a guitar. My friend was going to chuck it. An Indonesian clone of a Martin dreadnought. The head was broken clean off. The glue up has gone well and its time to look at the finish. Red dyed varnish about 0.25mm thick. It peels leaving the raw timber underneath. So if I had all the little flakes there might be a show. Of course I dont so I dont

Suggestion please, tint shellac?, a lot of sanding and a change of colour? send it back with more distress for some added character?

[astrid]

sorry,
i dont know what your aim is here.
are you trying to restore the whole finish or do you just want to tart it up a bit?
if a full restoration is what you want Ill leave you to someone with experience in instruments
if you just want to hide to raw timber
you can buy a copic touch out pen that will almost exactly match the colour
get these at a good art supplyers, there about ten dollars each

astrid

[Sebastiaan56]

Hi Astrid,

Well if I can get the repair to be unobtrusive that would be good. Back to mint is not possible or even desireable. I dont think hiding the fact that it has been mistreated is OK. It is also beyond my current abillities. From a luthiers point of view the break had to occur where it did. The headstock timber is glued to the neck 80% up the neck. The headstock grain then changes to 45 degrees to the neck angle. The neck broke about 1 cm from the join. The problem is structural.

Given that the current varnish is so thick your suggestion of the pen is a good one. I can then flood the remaining bits with hard shellac, neat.

Sebastiaan

ps I found a supplier for larger pieces of MOP if your project is still underway http://www.mopsupplies.com/

Sebastiaan

[astrid]

makesure that its well dried first and put the shellac on in one stroke dont brush it about too much, practice on an unobtrusive bit
have fun
astrit

[astrid]

thanks but i found half the missing piece
the remaining bit was so small i coloured araldite and used that
s'OK
astrid