Up at 6.00 am yesterday and straight into my workshop to begin the sprint finish on Danielle’s guitar. The tape is in the distance. The adoring crowd is cheering.
At 3.00 pm I flipped the guitar onto its side to carefully cut a scalpel line along the masking of the neck in order to ease it away from the polished lacquer. I didn’t notice that a very hot spotlight was just 2 inches away from the side on the lower bout. It must have been there a couple of minutes as I concentrated on my delicate manoeuvre.
I looked up to find my lovely smooth lacquer bubbling away under the heat. My heart hit my socks. I exclaimed (I didn’t even swear, honest).
I turned off the lights. Turned off the radio. Closed my workshop door and went and sat quietly in the Garden Room. I was joined by one of our cats who sensed the severity of the situation and sat quietly beside me, silently willing me to cheer up. I knew that the only thing I could do now was to sand the whole section back to the wood and re-lacquer the whole side – a patch repair wouldn’t work. This meant another 7 – 10 days work. “Oh, God of Luthiery, why hast thou forsaken me ?” “A harsh lesson. Stop when thy body is tired,” he sayeth, “for I shall move the finishing tape beyond thy sight until thou learnest.”
At 5.30 pm I sought a local watering hole where succour and solace was to be found in the busom of the barmaid my peers.
Sleep – and let the repair begin.
Maybe if you replace only the part where its damaged n then polish it, wouldn’t that work… ? Second pic really nice… Too bad it was damaged…
oops! Second pic looks really nice…:)
Thanks, MS. When the guitar is finished it should look lovely. You can’t really repair just the damaged area by replacement. Taking out a side is a major dismantling of the instrument. I should be able to repair the lacquer if the side itself isn’t burnt (which I don’t think it is). It’s just annoying and time consuming to have to do this again when I was almost there. 😦
Very nicely done. I have a raging headache right now and this was a nice escape.
Hmmm…I don’t know much about musical instruments ( In fact, know nothing at all ). I would like to believe this guitar is dear to you. Someone else might have just flicked it out & bought a new one. I sincerely hope your guitar is back in shape. Cheers * adds a meeowww along with the cats *
Ouch. So sorry. Don’t you hate it when it’s the mistakes you make are the ones you have to clean up, too?! I think swearing would have been in order, but sometimes it’s so bad it’s beyond swearing. Kudos to your cat. They can be very helpful by just sitting and commiserating in silence. I’m commiserating too. All that work. Sigh.
After you have finished the repair and the sanding have a nice ham on rye with a beer and try not to hurt yourself anymore.
Thanks to everyone for the sympathy, folks. It’s almost as though this guitar has been cursed but I shall overcome that. I shall retrieve the mojo and snake oil and kick it’s ass !!
Nah, this is no curse — it’s the beginnings of the best guitar ever. It’s a troublemaker; hence it’s got a personality. If the spirit of music is dischordian (which it seems to be), and so long as you do pierce that tape, than you will have weathered the storm and made something truly great! This is this instruments story, it’s wounded, rebellious, and yet still beautiful, three traits that make great music 🙂
That’s a good comment, Jared, and is exactly the way I will look at it. 🙂
Wounded, rebellious…yet beautiful. Awesome!
Thanks, Munira….I’m working on it 🙂 right now.
@Jared True, loved ur comment 🙂 Al c’mon few days more and this is going to bes best of Guitars… 🙂