Repair advice

[CavalierKingCharles]

Note to self: Never lend your Finger style Guitar to a flat picker.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

SA

[tippie53]

you may need to drop fill Did the score go into the grain?

[Darryl Young]

Man, that's just character.......live and let live.......

[B. Howard]

First things first what type of finish? Can you estimate how deep? There are lots of ways to do this, the first trick is picking an appropriate one.

[CavalierKingCharles]

Thanks guys,

It's WRC with around 10 coats StewMac rattle can lacquer. The scratch is fairly deep and seems to skip like a dotted line across the grain lines.

SA

[tippie53]

if you look with magnifiers you can see if you are on the wood. If not you can drop some naphtha on it and if the wood darkens you are through.
If not you can drop fill level and rebuff. Like a new car , it is inevitable that the first scratch is the one the hurts the most

[B. Howard]

Even if it does go to the wood it can be fixed. You may want to try steaming the dent out first, cedar can respond well to that. Use a small section of folded up paper towel soaked with water, at least 4 layers thick under your soldering iron and scoot it around over the dent. If it doesn't raise in 15 minutes it most likely will not. Let that dry a day or so and drop fill. Cut the first layer of the drop with some thinner, about 50/50, this will act as a sealer for the wood. I like to lay my drops in with the cut off end of a wound string, you know the end you cut when you re-string that has the core poking out about an inch, I use that end, like a whisker and put one very small drop at a time in and spread it. Don't try to fill it all in one layer, plan on 3-4 layers, maybe more, with at least 8 hrs. in between. Let that shrink for a week or so and then turn an edge on a razor blade and wrap the ends with cellophane tape leaving about a 3/8" open surface in the middle and use this to scrape down the repair. The tape will stop you when you are a few mills proud of the surface. Wet sand the rest of the way with 1000 and buff.

[CavalierKingCharles]

Thanks guys, I'll try to steam it out and then drop fill as suggested

SA