Filler for problematic restoration.

[Dean Davis]

Hello! This is my first post here, but I’ve been following frets.com for years. Over the past few decades, I’ve built/restored around 40 guitars - some of them dumpster reclamations. I’ve found that my weakest skill is in the finishing department - partly lack of knowledge, partly equipment related, and partly lack of patience. I hope I can get some help with that here.

My present problems revolves around a 1962 Guild Starfire II that I picked up for a very good price. It is mostly original and has the rare DeArmond pickups. Unfortunately, a previous owner decided to strip the guitar and stain it brown - just the stain, no clearcoat. Also, the guitar looks like it has sustained water damage in spots. Plus, someone used a huge amount of filler to try to do something to the back of the piece, and left it with a pretty ugly looking guitar (see the pic that shows half of the back sanded). I have finished sanding the back and most of the front, and that has shown the various flaws and stains in the maple. I don’t want to sand too much since the veneer is relatively thin. There are a few spots on both front and back where it will be almost impossible to remove the stains. Those are the main issues I’m seeing right now.

What I’d like to do is bring this guitar back to decent looking, stock transparent cherry red finish. I’ve repainted a Starfire before, but it had a mahogany top and wasn’t damaged. My preference is to spray a cherry finish, but I’m very limited in my knowledge of how to go about filling, sealing, and priming the guitar. I’d like to be able to mask some of the stains, realizing that I won’t be able to create a factory level finish. Any suggestion on how filling might mitigate some of the stains? I’ll add that the picture of the sanded back looks worse than it really is. Again, how might I best prep this for painting and clear coating?

Thanks!

[Carl Dickinson]

Hi Dean,

I'd probably go for a solid color like black or your cherry idea. Not a stain but a solid opaque color. Three coats of an epoxy sealer like Zpoxy with level sanding between coats might give a good base and smooth out the dings.   Don't sand back to wood. A coat of a solid primer then 2 coats of solid color then your clear coats. What are you going to use as a finish? 

Carl

[Dean Davis]

Thanks for reply. I’m wondering if I can do the basic grain filler and perhaps a stain to see how the flaws respond. There really aren’t any dings on the guitar - just discoloration and water marks which are gray. I thought about doing an ebony finish which was used on a few Guild guitars in 1962, but I’d rather do red translucent if possible. I’m just not sure what color filler I should use. I’ve looked at some YouTube videos for some ideas. I figure if the translucent finish is terrible, I can go the solid route. As I mentioned earlier, I have time to figure things out. Again, thanks for the help.

Dean