ScottR Posted December 4, 2012 Report Posted December 4, 2012 I've got a friend with an AEG10-BK-14-02 whose girlfriend put a nice long scratch in it. It does not appear to have gone through the clear so I told him I'd look into repairing it. It looks like nitro but I haven't been able to find anything that would verify that. SR Quote
pauliemc Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 Christ, wouldnt have a clue about that. Maby the guys on jemsite or ibanezrules could help you. unless some acoustic guru on here has an idea Quote
RestorationAD Posted December 7, 2012 Report Posted December 7, 2012 It is probably a nasty Poly... I would try buffing it out. I doubt it is nitro. The major players never use Nitro anymore without specifying! Quote
redb Posted December 7, 2012 Report Posted December 7, 2012 Most of ibanez guitars are a poly finish. Id try some micromesh to see if you can polish it out. if it was a cellulose they would make a song & dance about it on their website spec page. Quote
ScottR Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Posted December 7, 2012 Southpa pointed me to an Ibby forum thread that says it's either poly or 50/50 polyester-polyurethane. My first inspection made me think it was too deep to just polish out, but I take a closer look at that. I'll tell him the odds are against an invisible repair--unless it will just buff out, and see if he wants to go ahead and try to hide the scratch. Drop filling with lacquer and spot leveling and polishing should make it less obvious. The finish has shrunk back into the grain of the spruce a bit, so I'm a little worried that buffing it out might leave the only truly level spot on the top. SR Quote
pauliemc Posted December 7, 2012 Report Posted December 7, 2012 Hmmm. sounds like you have a battle scar situation there. If the finish is ageing & sinking to allow the timbers graining to become slightly visable then polishing is gona suk. Like you said, it will leave a flat spot on an otherwise textured soundboard. But it also sounds like you have a finish that is so thin that maby polishing it would just go right thru to the timber in a flash. Personaly, id probobly try drop fil it with some realy thin CA. then level just the scratch & about 2mm either side of it - otherwise id leav it man. 1 Quote
Prostheta Posted December 8, 2012 Report Posted December 8, 2012 I did this on one of my Washburn acoustics when the nut fired off a guitar I was restringing like a bullet and dented the top ("PANG!!!"). The CA dropfill approach is correct however bear in mind that the CA might then wick into the soft soundboard and darken it in the vicinity of the scratch (ask me how I know). On that basis I wouldn't dropfill, I would use a toothpick to "paint" CA lightly into the deepest parts of the scratch to try and seal it before drop filling. Discolouration is likely. Polishing it out is as safe an approach as you can get. I just Googled your guitar....it's a black painted top....wood discolouration is a bit irrelevant! I would definitely go the route of the dropfill in that case then. Before levelling, take a craft knife blade and turn a burr on it like you would a scraper. Then wrap two small pieces of masking tape over the sharp part of the blade leaving about 5-10mm of the blade visible in the centre. This works wonderfully as a scraping too to take off the majority of the raised part of your drop fill before moving onto paper. Black is a pain to get right in a repair. No matter how well you sand this back level you will end up with witness lines which appear as a ghostly grey outline where the original paint meets the dropfill. Unless you can get a lacquer which chemically bonds to the original layers these will be there. Better than a scratch though. Quote
ScottR Posted December 10, 2012 Author Report Posted December 10, 2012 Thanks for your input guys. I've read that CA or lacquer is the way to go for the drop fill, yeah nitro was suggested on the ibby forum knowing full well it was a poly clear. You guys seem to leaning toward CA though. I'll let him know and see where he wants to go. I expect he'll go for the improvement over no repair at all. I've got to replace the saddle too, it's all cracked. His girlfriend really did a number on it. SR Quote
bob123 Posted December 10, 2012 Report Posted December 10, 2012 If the scratch isn't through the clear, why do you even need to drop fill? Sand it out and buff it.... same as a car. Quote
ScottR Posted December 10, 2012 Author Report Posted December 10, 2012 It's an option I will explore, but...... The finish has shrunk back into the grain of the spruce a bit, so I'm a little worried that buffing it out might leave the only truly level spot on the top. SR Quote
bob123 Posted December 10, 2012 Report Posted December 10, 2012 It's an option I will explore, but...... The finish has shrunk back into the grain of the spruce a bit, so I'm a little worried that buffing it out might leave the only truly level spot on the top. SR gotcha, Im sorry, I missed that bit lol. Well if it helps, Ibanez uses polyester resin for paint. Have you thought about micro meshing it? Quote
ScottR Posted December 10, 2012 Author Report Posted December 10, 2012 Yeah, whether I just polish it out or fill and polish, micro mesh is my weapon of choice for polishing up a finish. SR Quote
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