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I came across a 1989 Charvel 3DR that had been disassembled. The body had been painted with blue automotive paint, then repainted in grey, then repainted in black. At some point someone used paint remover and a scraper to remove paint, leaving very very deep gouges in the lacquer top coat, down to the original paint in some areas. I have significant woodworking experience, and have removed all old paint and gouges. Here's my question:

The original paint and lacquer top coat is deeply cracked along some edges and rims of the body, with small bits of both flaking off in a few areas. Should I "seal" the cracked areas with CA (cyanoacrylate) glue, use a careful application of epoxy, leave it alone?

I do plan on playing the guitar when its put back together.

Thank you,
J Tuffnel

for some reason I can't upload pics...

Find the Img button and follow the steps. Photos must be pretty small, I use Paint to resize them.

If you are going for an opaque color, believe it or not Bondo is a pretty good wood filler. Pictures will help a lot.

A few pics attached, I can take some of the cracked/damaged edges tonight if it would be helpful.

I'm assuming that was done intentionally as some sort of relicing process.
Are you trying to maintain the look or completely refinish? Do you know what the actual layers are?

Trying to apply finish on top of “who knows what” is asking for trouble. Better to sand it down to wood and start fresh.

DO NOT sand it unless you have to. Strip the finish with a chemical stripper. The wood has already been sanded. If it's really lacquer, you can clean up afterwards with lacquer thinner.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

The finish was very heavily damaged - I couldn't keep it with the deep gouges so I did sand. I also knew that I don't have the skill to reapply a quality clear coat, so I guess it will be a satin type finish. It still needs going over with 400 and then a final with 600 grit.

1. Attached are pics of some damage, this was done long before the guitar came to me. What do I do to keep the damage from spreading?

2. My experience is that when I try a clear coat, it never looks professional. What about waxing the body when its done?

Thanks for you help

JT

I told you what you need to do. I've been doing guitar repair and building for over 45 years. But you think you know better. I'm done with you.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I am not a professional, I’m just a guitar player who found a cool old guitar and is trying to bring it back to life. Thank you for your patience, you’ve been really helpful.

I still don't understand. Are you trying to recreate the orange/black relic job? Or eliminate it completely and start over? Second question, have you tested the finish with lacquer thinner to see if its really lacquer or some sort of catalyzed poly something? Lacquer can be stripped chemically, poly something usually can't. After you get the old finish off then you can start over with whatever you are comfortable with.

If you are trying to salvage or recreate the relic I can't offer much help.

I should have worded my posts better. This guitar was headed for the trash when it was given to me. I wanted to get the bad paint off and keep the original black and orange crackle. The guy who gave me the guitar said he tried over and over to get the bad paint off, and that it was virtually impossible - neither one of us thought about a forum like this one, asking a professional. Anyway, I took home a paper bag of pieces and parts and decided to sand off the paint - obviously the wrong approach. I was thinking that if I could get the bad paint off, at least it may be somewhat salvageable, but never what it once was. To be forthcoming, I thought that when on stage, the fact that I had sanded it wouldn’t really show very much. Not sure if the guitar was ever really played much, the neck looks new with no wear.

Anyway, when the body was about 80-90% sanded, I contacted this forum about the chips - again, too little too late. So where I'm at now is a body sanded smooth, which still has at least a thin overcoat of whatever type of clearcoat they used in the 1980s - it's tough as nails. However, there are big chips that I want to keep from getting bigger. Before I get at the chips, I'm looking for someone to point me in the right direction. Could you help?


Thanks

When I start working on a guitar with an unknown finish I put a small drop of lacquer thinner or acetone on it somewhere where it won't be obvious (pick up cavity, under a tuner). If the finish softens its solvent based lacquer and lacquer thinner or chemical paint stripper will remove it. If lacquer thinner won't soften it is is some sort of moder catalyze or cross linking or other wonder finish that I can't deal with. The accepted method of stripping is heat, a putty knife and abrasives.

Trying to partially strip while leaving some of the finish sounds like a nightmare, but might work if the orange and black are poly and everthing else is lacquer. Your solvent test will tell you that. You can drop fill damaged finish with lacquer if its lacquer and CA if its poly. There is a very good product called Gluboost that is made for this

https://gluboost.com/product/fill-n-fin ... ess-lines/

Good luck with your project.

Thank you, I appreciate your help and the gluboost link!