How to fill in and finish small cracks and dings?

[terry dean]

Hi there,

New to the repair world ... looking for advice on basic "setup" and finishing older guitars.  I have a couple of older Yamaha guitars I am practicing on.  I would like to bring them back and give them a basic repair.  Question ... if you fill in a small crack or ding with super glue - scrape it down with razor blade and taped sides - sand with micro mesh - What or how to I finish it to match the old lacquer or poly so the repair looks good?  Thanks!

[Thomas James]

Hi Terry. If have not discovered it on your own; Frank's a highly enjoyable sort of forum prerequisite articles.

http://frets.com/FretsPages/pagelist.html#Luthier

[terry dean]

thanks ... i will check out - looks like a ton of info

[J. Ensalaco]

Might not be a popular response, but if it ain't broke don't fix it. 11 times out of 10, a drop fill or repair to a cosmetic issue turns out being more obvious than just leaving it alone and loved. I've been doing repairs since around 1978 or 79. I find its best to fix the structural and performance issues and just leave the others alone.

To me, the job of a good luthier is to leave as little "tell-tale" sign that I was there as possible while making the guitar usable again. It's not to hide or camouflage the amount of use or love it has seen.

[terry dean]

good point ... thanks for your response.