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I put a ding in a new Recording King resonator.
The finish (modern poly finish most likely) is white on the edges where it broke.
What is a good way to erase these white edges while drop filling with CA?
The finish is really hard, and thick. I can’t cut it with a new scalpel.
A test on another guitar (I put a similar ding in it) was “invisible” except for a I can’t get the white out.
It won’t accept straight transtint dye either.
I’m stumped. I haven’t touched the real ding yet

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

CA will usually remove the white bits from my experience. I use GluBoost for this and once it coats the shattered edges of the finish, no more white.

Thank you, I drop CA'd it and the white disappeared.
The black guitar I did a dry run on actually had a thin white primer coat under the black; I removed a tuner and scraped back to the white. Go figure... You seldom know what you're getting into fixing cheap instruments.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

Done and done. Good.

A question about resolving dents similar to this one: If the surface is broken, doesn't that allow steaming the dent with a clothes iron or hobby covering iron, potentially reducing the amount of fill?

Thanks!

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Peter Havriluk

Karl my friend my business partner and I often joke about the guy who comes into the shop and is acting like the world is going to end. He tells us he is so upset and he sure hopes we can help.

This is NOT directed at you my friend just sharing what a dent means to us these days.

He opens the case and says "look" and stands back as if he is looking a pile of dead bodies.... Dave or I will look and we can't see anything untoward so we invariably say "what?" He says again "OMG, it's awful look?" That's when I might say "WTF I don't see anything..."

Then he points out a very small scratch or a ding of some sort and he looks as dejected as can be.

Dave and I look at each other and we both have a look on our face like we had better not say what we are thinking..... So we usually don't. But if we know the client well we might say what we were thinking which is "great, now that you f-ed up your guitar you can relax and learn how to play the thing...."



Sorry could not resist.

We would not recommend fixing this because the scope of these things, the project will creep. You start out with a dime sized blemish and then it becomes a quarter and so on and so forth.

If you do want to fix it I am not sure if the white will go way with the following, probably not but the dent will go away. Try steaming it with a soldering gun and wet rag (have fire extinguisher charged and ready to go...). I did a tutorial on the OLF that may be called "Steaming out a dent" that shows how to do this.

So I would try to reduce the dent (or eliminate it) with some steam first and then if need be drop fill with a quality thin CA, never use accelerator unless you are using Glue Boost. We wait over night and then scrap back the CA. A couple applications may be necessary. Once it's leveled from scraping and filling we wet sand. It likely from my experience will show a little but will be better than it is now and most important since a guitar is a tool for a musician you won't be able to feel it and get distracted when playing.

I don't know if anyone ever said this before but guitar building is an exercise in making some mistakes along the way and then getting old enough to forget that you did I've forgotten a lot....

Yes and good point Peter. Different finishes have different permeation rates with poly being the worse for this but it's worth a try especially if the dent can be felt.

A ding on my personal guitars: character.
A ding on someone else's new out of box guitar that I smoothed the sharp fret ends on, is a different kind of "character" that reflects more on ME.....

Lucky me, I put a nasty ding on a new build I'm finishing up.
I get to test out the point- of- steam- from- a- soldering- iron method. Wish I had an adjustable one to lower the temperature (note to self). Most stand-alone Weller models use a calibrated thermal switch module, in the barrel, that switch's the tip current on and off.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

I have never had any success with steaming out dents under finish. Just get the GluBoost and fill it up.

I think you're chasing there wrong horse...look for a 'sealing iron' (Tower Hobbies, Horizon Hobbies). These have small shoes and are either variable by rheostat or temperature controlled via thermostat. Used ones are on Ebay.

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Peter Havriluk

I think you are right Peter. I actually have a Hanger9 iron that might be perfect. I'll probably be trying it out in a week or so. If it doesn't work, I'll just fill it with glue boost like Barry Daniels said.

BTW, I bought that Hnager9 at the Hobby Shop last year for $30.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum