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I am wondering if there is a way to repair fractures in the lacquer (nitro) at the tuner holes without having to sand the finish off the headstock and respraying.
Something like......spraying thinner over the surface will melt the lacquer and make it look like new??????

I blundered, and now I need to fix it. I got too close on my tolerances for headstock thickness and the thickness was not even, and when I went to install the Gotoh tuners yesterday I found that the nuts would not go on over the washers on the two tuners closest to the nut. The other 4 I could just barely catch some thread. So, I thought, I will just mount them without the washers, it will look fine. So I did that, and I saw a tinnie tiny little fracture around a couple of the nuts (I probably also tightened them more than was really necessary, thus making the problem worse.). When I strung up the guitar........which buy the way sounds great, the fractures spread, I assume from the pressure on the posts/nuts. I have few options to fix the tuner issue; one, find a thinner gold plated washer that will fit and allow the nuts to find threads and cover the fractures; two, sand off the back of the headstock down and 1/8" and refinish, three, sand off both sides, thin the back, and respray both sides.

So I'm hoping for a fix that allows me to leave the thickness, mount the tuners properly and get rid of the fractures.

I am looking for someplace that sells gold plated washers that are thinner than the ones supplied with the tuners. These are .060" thick. I think .030" thick will work. A quick look on the web last night found a place in Canada that has some, but I have to check the ID and OD dimensions.

Any experience with fixing the fractures would be helpful. The only thing I thought might work short of sanding it off is the spraying thinner idea, and then of course covering them with the washers, or both!!

Thanks guys.

Kevin

This is not an uncommon problem -- it is the reason I often machine a shallow counter-bore for the turning machine washer. This system eliminates the coating fracture issue. The counter bore is a two step process that requires a drill press and a bottom cutting end mill slightly larger then the washer. Clamp a piece of wood to the drill press table. Drill a 10mm hole (standard post diameter) into the wood, then place a 10mm plug in the hole and leave it proud of the surface. Now you will be able to place the headstock on the drill press and center each hole under the mill cutter. Perhaps a Forsner bit would also work -- hope this makes sense.

If your other option is sanding it off to respray I would try the lacquer thinner. Try to get it to flow and close up a bit, and as far as touch up goes you could try a french pad or tampon (not the one for female application) and use a product by Mohawk I believe called Wilpro. What that does is polish on with the french pad and smooth out the surface a bit. If the thinner gets the cracks to flow a bit and it's just minor flaws from there on the wilpro should soften it or redisolve it a bit so you can get it burnished out with the pad.

-Dan

buytle acetate . Anything that reamalgamtes the lacquer will be your friend

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate the ideas. I bit the bullet and did the right thing.
I sanded down the face of the headstock, and I thicknessed from the back down 1/8", then fit the tuners and they fit fine now.
I managed to get 3 heavy coats of lacquer back on today too; I'll spray 3 more tomorrow and 3 more Wed, so all should be good in about at week or so. I present this guitar in 11 days, warts and all. I guess the pics will have to wait until next weekend.
This is one mistake I will NOT make again.

Kevin