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I was changing the strings on one of my guitars this afternoon. My string change always includes polishing the whole instrument.
When polishing, somehow(???) the polishing cloth got caught up with the clippers I use to cut the old strings. And "clunk" ; a nasty little ding in the lower bout of the face of my lovely BRW negra.
Not much, but enough to bother me. About 1/16 inch in diameter, and just scratched below the surface of the French polish.
What, if anything, can I do about this?
Any advice much appreciated.
Will try to attach a photo to illustrate.
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RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
A little dab of shellac wouldn't hurt but, personally, I probably wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't trust a guitar, especially a flamenco guitar, that didn't have at least a few dings. Just call it a "character mark". As Pete Townshend of The Who said, "I don't have a love affair with a guitar. I don't polish it after every performance. I play the f+++ing thing!"
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to C. Vega)
quote:
ORIGINAL: C. Vega
A little dab of shellac wouldn't hurt but, personally, I probably wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't trust a guitar, especially a flamenco guitar, that didn't have at least a few dings. Just call it a "character mark". As Pete Townshend of The Who said, "I don't have a love affair with a guitar. I don't polish it after every performance. I play the f+++ing thing!
Posts: 1770
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
The first mark is allways difficult.......
A few years ago I was invited with some gipsys to eat Paella at their Caravan We eat, drink and played, and one gipsy, Raffa, played too on my guitar. His brother tapped with his nails on the soundboard the rithm......sounded good the two together on my guitar........when I got it back again to play, I saw all little nail marks in the top. Hardly vissible, but it was there. Well sh@t happens, so leaved it that way. In that time I was feeling a bit sorry for the marks, and now, the marks are a part of a very nice memory.
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
quote:
ORIGINAL: britguy
Have you ever used this on a guitar face?
Is there any danger of it spreading out and causing a blotch over a wider area?
It's best not to use anything that penetrates. I haven't used "tru-oil" but think it would be much more safe to put a tiny drop of shellac or clear nail polish in the ding just to keep dirt out.
Posts: 1108
Joined: Sep. 29 2009
From: Back in Boston
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
britguy-- do you know the color of your french polish? filling the ding may result in a darker spot especially if you use tru-oil. nothing worse than trying to explain a botched job. if you are hellbent on filling the ding and cannot get the shellac shade the luthier used, it seems to me that it would make sense to use the lightest colored shellac, tape around the hole and pray. personally i would come up with a better story and leave it alone.
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
"A flamenco guitar without a ding is like a day without sunshine."
that makes it pretty bloody sunny at my place , all kind of things happened to my guitars , including the head-stock getting completely snapped off ....wheres my sun glasses ......
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
Anita Bryant is a former American beauty queen and entertainer. She had a few Top 40 song hits in the 1960s. As her singing career began to wane she became a spokesperson for the citrus industry and appeared in TV commercials where the tag line "A breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." was used.
She was also rabid and vocal anti-gay activist. I recall a funny incident back in the 1970s when she was delivering one of her paranoid rants to an audience at a local hall. A number of people from the gay community and their supporters showed up outside the hall to protest, one of them carrying a sign that read "Anita, go back to the oranges and leave the rest of us fruits alone."
Posts: 1708
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
It can be repaired by a luthier by drop filling with shellac and then French polishing over it when the fill is dry. I wouldn't recommend putting any other kind of finish on it. On the other hand, I agree with Stephen that it actually needs some dings.
Posts: 4530
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to C. Vega)
quote:
ORIGINAL: C. Vega
Anita Bryant is a former American beauty queen and entertainer. She had a few Top 40 song hits in the 1960s. As her singing career began to wane she became a spokesperson for the citrus industry and appeared in TV commercials where the tag line "A breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." was used.
She was also rabid and vocal anti-gay activist. I recall a funny incident back in the 1970s when she was delivering one of her paranoid rants to an audience at a local hall. A number of people from the gay community and their supporters showed up outside the hall to protest, one of them carrying a sign that read "Anita, go back to the oranges and leave the rest of us fruits alone."
RE: Help! Dinged the face of my gui... (in reply to britguy)
I wouldn't worry about it too much. It seems that sometimes we think of our instruments as possessing a soul and that a ding like on your's is somehow an offense to its being. Really, I think of my guitar as a "tool" of the trade and no I don't want it all dinged to hell but I bought it to play it so I've accepted that it will get a bit beat up. At some point down the road, I'll probably have the top refinished but hopefully not for a long time... Sig--
It can be repaired by a luthier by drop filling with shellac and then French polishing over it when the fill is dry. I wouldn't recommend putting any other kind of finish on it.
Yes. I'm lucky to have a really good ( and very friendly) luthier (Tony Karol - builds world-class steel stringers - ) .http://www:karol-guitars.com living about ten minutes drive away.
He was kind enough to check the ding - which was actually quite a bit deeper than I originally thought - and fill it with a few tiny drops of shellac on a toothpick, then polished it up again. Looks great.
You can still see the mark, but it's nowhere near as prominent.
I have several more dings on the back, but I don't worry about them as much. . .
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