Dropped my Guitar...

I just finished applying the last coat of Nitro-Lacquer Solid color pigment to my guitar yesterday. So today I am moving it from my garage down to my shop in the basement and I friggin' dropped it...aaaaagghhhh.. It chipped it up real good and it left little granules of concrete embedded in the body... I cleaned out the granules but it left some really tiny deep pock- marks in the body and a few dents. I am going to strip it down to bar wood and start over. However I would have to sand pretty deep to get rid of dents and pock-marks. I'm thinking I should fill them in and then sand it smooth. What should I use to fill it? Minwax wood filler or Grain filler? What would be best? Lesson Learned: Don't carry guitar body on a wire hangar!!


thanks
Keith

Keith, man I'm sorry! That sucks bigtime. I agree you should strip the paint and fill the dents. Regular wood filler should be ok. I think some have said that filler shrinks a little when it cures but it shouldn't be an issue if you give it time to harden. The best way is to do thin coats of filler in the dent. Do you have any pics of the damage?

I will snap a few photo's today. I sanded out what I could. I will get a better idea of how bad it is once I strip it and can look at the bare wood. I will pick up some minwax wood filler today. Weather is starting to get cold here so I might go with waterbase products this time so that I can spray indoors.

Hey Keith,
Bad luck with the dents etc.
Somewhere I have read of a way to "lift" dents in wood by using a wet cloth & hot soldering iron tip to cause the wood to expand back to it's original shape. (Maybe Dan Earlewine's book?)
I am definately no woodworking expert, but there may be others here more experienced who have heard of this trick. Please don't try this on my advice alone!

Good luck & keep us updated with any progress.

Cheers

Aargh! That sounds too bad. You really don't want it this way of course, but at least you will get a lot of experience fixing it up.
Good luck!

could have been worse! You could have dropped in onto another guitar! No real consolation I know....
good luck fixing it up!

Hey Keith,
Bad luck with the dents etc.
Somewhere I have read of a way to "lift" dents in wood by using a wet cloth & hot soldering iron tip to cause the wood to expand back to it's original shape. (Maybe Dan Earlewine's book?)
I am definately no woodworking expert, but there may be others here more experienced who have heard of this trick. Please don't try this on my advice alone!

Good luck & keep us updated with any progress.

Cheers



I, as others on this board, have had good results using a damp paper towel & a household iron. The combination of the moisture & heat swell the wood fibers causing them to come back to shape, to a certain degree. Can't say in your case but it's definitely the first thing I'd try after stripping back.

Good luck

Richie

I and others do not recomend Min Wax products when finishing a guitar.



Try the paper and iron then some elbow grease and a product called Bartley Paste Wood Filler

I wipe it on with a paper towel, let it get sticky, then "level" it by wiping the excess off and just leaving it in the grain. The trick is to not leave much on the wood's surface so that finish sanding is easier.

Bartley is THE best and FWIW I suspect that it's the same stuff Reranch sells as their own.

If you try cutting Bartly with paint thinner it will get in the wood pores better.
Dont use hard pressure on sanding block or it will pull filler out of the pores.
It can still drive you nuts.

The secret with Bartly's is to press it into the grain with something like a credit card... this causes the grain pore to fill under pressure and the filler to swell outwards leaving a slight bump... then you have to let the stuff dry thoroughly, at least a day, then sand and repeat if necessary.

So today I am moving it from my garage down to my shop in the basement and I friggin' dropped it...aaaaagghhhh.... Lesson Learned: Don't carry guitar body on a wire hangar!!


See? Joan Crawford (Mommy Dearest) was right... NO WIRE HANGERS!
;O)

But I cringed reading your post. Sorry it happened.

I did the EXACT same thing. Im in the garage and the body is hanging so I can spray it, I tried to move or turn it and it fell off the hanger it was hanging up on!!! It fell straight down and hit the concrete floor and CRACKED THE FREAKIN BODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just plain sick to say the least. I used spray on sanding sealer, wood glue, clamps, and started the whole sanding process over....................... I live and learn, the HARD WAY!!

Which Paint stripper do you guys recommend? Home Depot had 3 different strengths. I bought the mildest one but doesn't seem to really work all that well. I did notice that the joint seam appears to have opened or maybe the paint thinner pulled the glue out a little bit? Is this normal when using paint stripper?

Nitro-Lacquer Solid color pigment = lacquer thinner to remove it, believe me, I know.

I, as others on this board, have had good results using a damp paper towel & a household iron. The combination of the moisture & heat swell the wood fibers causing them to come back to shape, to a certain degree. Can't say in your case but it's definitely the first thing I'd try after stripping back.

Good luck

Richie

Cant praise this ,ethod enough and I beleive Ron Kirn is the one who first made a post about it, If you dont get all the dent out the first time- do it again, I got a pretty deep gouge out using that method. I had to do it several times but it all came out then just light sanding will get her back like you want it.

Post some pics.Personally if it was for my own use....knowing that over the coming years it's going to get knocks anyway...I wouldn't strip it.It would be soul destrying for me to start over.Off the top of my head if it were mine I'd sand lightly then fill with epoxy.Sand flat then apply more light coats of colour over the top before clear coats.I know this won't appeal to all of the members out.. there but I had a similar experience by knocking one against a kitchen unit and repaired it that way to good effect.